Berthold Biermann

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Berthold Biermann (born April 6, 1903 in Berlin ; † October 5, 1953 in the Rhine near Bonn) was a German journalist, literary critic and civil servant.

Live and act

After attending school, Biermann began working as a journalist. In the 1920s he wrote for the Berlin stock exchange courier, among others . In 1928 Biermann, who politically belonged to the SPD , was appointed as a consultant in the United Press Department of the Reich Government and the Foreign Office . His colleague Werner Stephan describes him as "intellectual, almost shy" at this time.

In 1931 Biermann married Erika Müller (1910–1989), a daughter of the former Chancellor Hermann Müller .

Due to his Jewish descent, Biermann was dismissed from the foreign service in 1933 under the law to restore the civil service. Together with his wife, he moved to Paris that same year , where he worked for the German exile press until 1940 . In Paris, Biermann and his wife, who worked there as a secretary for Rudolf Breitscheid , separated, although the official divorce did not take place until 1952.

After the German occupation of France , Biermann fled to the United States in 1940 , where he settled in Cleveland . He earned his living as a packer. In addition, he continued to write political and literary articles for newspapers in exile. At that time he was particularly interested in the person and work of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe , to whom he dedicated an extensive work on his 200th birthday.

After the end of the Second World War , Biermann returned to Germany, where he initially lived in Hamburg . In 1951 he was reassigned to the Foreign Service. In the Bonn Foreign Ministry , he served as Counselor the Unit "United Nations, traffic with the General Secretariat Economic and Social Council, as far as it concerns fundamental issues, coordination of dealing with the United Nations agencies, the United Nations Special Conference".

Biermann died by suicide in 1953 .

Fonts

  • “More League of Nations in School”, in: Berliner Börsen-Zeitung of December 30, 1927.
  • “Paris 150 years ago. On the Psychology of the Revolution ”: in Pariser Tageblatt of June 16, 1939.
  • “Georg Forster in the revolution. The fate of a German freedom fighter ”, in: Paris daily newspaper of August 8, 1939, No. 1063.
  • “Thomas Mann und Goethe”, in: Deutsche Blätter , Vol. 3, Issue 25, May – June 1945, pp. 15–22.
  • “Goethe in the judgment of the Americans”, in: Neue Schweizer Rundschau XVII, 1949, p. 317.
  • Goethe's World as Seen in Letters and Memoirs , New York 1949, further edition London 1951.

literature

  • Hanno Hardt: Press in Exile , 1979.
  • Gerhard Roloff: Exile and exile literature in the German press. 1945-1949 , 1976.
  • Johannes Hürter (Red.): Biographical Handbook of the German Foreign Service 1871–1945. 5. T - Z, supplements. Published by the Foreign Office, Historical Service. Volume 5: Bernd Isphording, Gerhard Keiper, Martin Kröger: Schöningh, Paderborn et al. 2014, ISBN 978-3-506-71844-0 , p. 408 f.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Werner Stephan: Eight Decades in Germany , 1983, p. 166.
  2. ^ German-language exile literature, Vol. 1–2, p. 91.
personal data
SURNAME Biermann, Berthold
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German journalist, literary critic and civil servant
DATE OF BIRTH April 6, 1903
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH 5th October 1953