Christian Kracht (senior)
Christian Kracht (born June 8, 1921 in Hamburg ; † August 21, 2011 near Geneva ) was a German journalist and publishing manager during the time of the West German economic miracle .
Life
Kracht, born in Hamburg in 1921, grew up in a social democratic family in Meldorf in Schleswig-Holstein . During World War II he served in an infantry regiment and was wounded once. Since December 1945 he volunteered for the newspaper Die Welt in Hamburg under Hans Zehrer in the half-destroyed Broschek house . He then worked for the youth magazine Benjamin . In 1948, after a personal interview with Axel Springer, who was nine years his senior, he came to the newly founded Hamburger Abendblatt . Shortly thereafter, he received a scholarship to the University of Montana and then volunteered at the San Francisco Chronicle . On his return he became one of Axel Springer's closest employees.
In 1953 he stayed longer in London to prepare for Springer's purchase of the newspaper Die Welt . He then worked as the publisher's personal assistant. In 1958 he accompanied Springer to Moscow, where he wanted to achieve the unification of Germany in personal talks with Nikita Sergejewitsch Khrushchev . At the end of the 1950s, Kracht negotiated the takeover of Ullstein Verlag in Berlin . Afterwards he was a general agent and received the then unheard-of salary of 1.3 million German marks. After Axel Springer was exposed to massive protests by the 1968 movement , he wanted to part with his company. In 1970 Kracht negotiated a takeover of the publishing house by Bertelsmann for Springer . This failed and Springer fired him. Kracht received a high severance payment. He now lived in Switzerland and worked as an investment advisor for a decade.
After Springer's son Sven Simon committed suicide in 1980, Kracht came back to Springer for three years and again worked as a general representative of Axel Springer AG . They separated in 1983 and Kracht lived in a stately home on Lake Geneva until his death .
The writer Christian Kracht is his son.
literature
- Michael Jürgs : The publisher - the Axel Springer case . List, Tübingen 2001.
- Hans-Jürgen Jakobs : Yoga im Verlag , Süddeutsche Zeitung , August 25, 2011.
Web links
- Christian Kracht in the Munzinger archive ( beginning of article freely accessible)
- Hans-Peter Schwarz : The Ballad of Tsar and Zimmermann, WELT from August 26, 2011
Individual evidence
- ↑ Ex-General Manager: Springer man Christian Kracht died in Der Tagesspiegel on August 25, 2011
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Kracht, Christian |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German journalist and publishing manager |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 8, 1921 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Hamburg |
| DATE OF DEATH | August 21, 2011 |
| Place of death | near Geneva |