Carl Brinitzer

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Carl Brinitzer (born January 30, 1907 in Riga , Russian Empire ; died October 24, 1974 in Kingston near Lewes , Great Britain) was a German lawyer, writer , translator and columnist. He was the biographer of Heinrich Heines , Lichtenberg and the publisher Julius Campe .

Life

Brinitzer grew up in a family of doctors in Hamburg-Altona . Since father was the dermatologist Eugen Jacob Brinitzer, his mother the gynecologist and internist Jenny Brinitzer, geb. Chaplain.

After graduating from the Reform Realgymnasium in Altona, Brinitzer studied law in Geneva, Hamburg, Munich, Berlin and Kiel , where he passed the first state examination in 1930 and received his doctorate in August 1933. He spent his legal traineeship in Pinneberg and Kiel. From 1930 to 1933 he was a lawyer in Kiel and then a public prosecutor at the Higher Regional Court in Kiel. He was dismissed in August 1933 under the Law to Restore the Civil Service - he was Jewish. Brinitzer, who until then had hardly been interested in his family history, found that his ancestors had "converted from Catholicism to Judaism as a result of the religious turmoil" during the Thirty Years' War , as stated in a genealogical document.

He emigrated to Rome , where he met the singer and broadcaster Berte Grossbard. The couple moved to England in 1936 and married in London . There Brinitzer lived in poor conditions, writing radio plays and texts for German broadcasters, some of which he published under the pseudonym Usikota.

German service of the BBC

In 1938 the BBC was looking for German-language translators, journalists and speakers for its German-language service, which was being set up. Brinitzer got a job as a translator and also worked as an editor and speaker. In the second half of the war he was appointed head of the translation team. In the news, he replaced the typical German box sentences with short statements, partly because they were easier to understand and partly because the short sentences were less easily mutilated by the German jammers. Brinitzer and the BBC's German-language editorial team, which consisted of all emigrants, tried to stick strictly to the truth - even news about losses by British associations was not glossed over. This openness, as it turned out after the war, was very well received by the German population, even though eavesdropping on “enemy broadcasters” was under threat of punishment.

After the end of the war, Brinitzer stayed with the BBC and became head of the programming department of the BBC's German service - a position he held well into the 1960s.

Fonts

  • GC Lichtenberg. The story of a clever man , Leins Verlag, 1956
  • Heinrich Heine. Novel of his life , Hoffmann and Campe 1960
  • The contentious life. of the publisher Julius Campe . Hoffmann and Campe 1962
  • The art of love in a very prosaic way - Variations on a Theme by Ovid , Rowohlt 1966 (1974 edition, ISBN 3-499-11730-4 )
  • This is London speaking. From someone who was there. Hoffmann and Campe Verlag, Hamburg 1969
  • The story of Daniel Ch. A moral picture of the 18th century , Deutsche Verlagsanstalt 1973, ISBN 3-421-01658-5
  • Little stories about beautiful women , Engelhorn Bücherei 1988, ISBN 3-87203-042-6

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ira Fiona Sebekow: Guide to the Papers of the Trude Kersten Family 1899-1989
  2. ↑ Carl Brinitzer: This is London speaking - from someone who was there , page 23
  3. ^ Hamburger Abendblatt, April 3, 1969
  4. ↑ ibid; Page 27
personal data
SURNAME Brinitzer, Carl
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German book author and journalist
DATE OF BIRTH January 30, 1907
PLACE OF BIRTH Riga
DATE OF DEATH October 24, 1974
Place of death Kingston near Lewes