Bernd C. Hesslein

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Bernd C. Hesslein around 1990

Bernd C. Hesslein (born August 12, 1921 in Wiesbaden ; † October 12, 2012 ) was a German journalist, publicist and campaigner for peace.

First years

Bernd C. Hesslein grew up in a middle-class environment in Berlin. His father Paul Heßlein was a journalist, politician of the Center Party and later press chief of the German Association of Officials . After the obligatory Reichsarbeitsdienst Bernd C. Hesslein was at the beginning of World War II for military service, the fed, the fronts experienced in Belgium , France , Poland and the Soviet Union and became 1945 in British captivity.

Political orientation

In 1947 he volunteered in a year-long political re-education program in Wilton Park , Great Britain, launched in 1944 by Winston Churchill . According to Hesslein, the program, which was primarily intended to teach German prisoners of war, among other things, the basics of democracy, had a lasting impact. He then completed an evening course in English history and literature and produced his first reports from 1948 to 1952 as a freelancer for the BBC in London .

journalist

Back in Germany, Bernd C. Hesslein continued to work as a journalist. After starting out in Hanover , he worked as an editor for dpa in Hamburg from 1959 to 1962 and as a news editor for the ARD's Tagesschau from 1963 to 1965 . He then took on various tasks for the NDR . He increasingly occupied himself with critical-political reporting, among other things as senior editor for the current affairs department at editor-in-chief Peter Merseburger , at Panorama and as the presenter of the show 40 years ago .

Commitment to peace

From 1986 onwards, Hesslein worked as a freelance journalist. In his publications and film and television productions, he primarily dealt with contemporary historical topics of the Federal Republic, with the past and present of the Bundeswehr and with peace research . He belonged to the working group for the military and social sciences . Together with his colleague Karl-Heinz Harenberg, he founded the radio series Armed Forces and Strategies , which has been on the NDR's program for many years.

Bernd C. Hesslein died in October 2012 and found his final resting place in the north cemetery in Munich. Parts of his estate are in the Hamburg State Archives and the Institute for Contemporary History in Munich.

Publications

Television documentary

  • SPD press a tragedy. Broadcast on May 18, 1980 at 10:40 p.m. on NDR television
  • Red star and barbed wire. Re-education in Soviet captivity . Report from Krasnogorsk . First broadcast on March 11, 1989 in the 3rd TV program of the NDR.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Website of the Working Group on the Military and Social Sciences
  2. ^ Haug von Kuenheim in DIE ZEIT of May 16, 1980
  3. ^ Karl-Heinz Janßen: Hear the signals. German prisoners of war fought as Antifa in the ranks of the Red Army - a forgotten brotherhood in arms. In: DIE ZEIT of March 11, 1989.

Web links

Commons : Bernd C. Hesslein  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Hesslein, Bernd C.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German journalist, publicist and peace researcher
DATE OF BIRTH August 12, 1921
PLACE OF BIRTH Wiesbaden
DATE OF DEATH October 12, 2012