Draško Antov

Draško Antov (born March 15, 1938 in Skopje ), Macedonian - Cyrillic Драшко Антов , is a German-Macedonian author , journalist , publicist and presenter .

biography

Beginnings

Born in what was then Yugoslavia as the son of a businessman, Draško Antov wrote articles for the Macedonian daily newspaper Nova Makedonija while still at school . After graduating from high school in his native Skopje, he studied English, French and art there for four years before continuing his academic career in London and Cambridge in 1963 with a degree in photography and journalism . His studies abroad, in particular his training as a photojournalist at the College of Journalism on Fleet Street in London, were supported by a grant from the Macedonian Tourist Association. After the student continued to work as a freelance journalist for Nova Makedonija and Radio Skopje in his Macedonian homeland , he wrote and photographed in London for English print media, such as the Daily Express , the Daily Telegraph and publications by the Christian Aid aid organization . The photo reporter, who specializes in close-ups and soon also ran his own studio based in Westminster , received awards for his work and was finally made a member of the Royal Photographic Society in 1967.

Relocation to Germany

In 1968 Antov moved to Germany, where he initially worked in Haltingen near Lörrach for a Yugoslav film company and then in Hamburg for the German Press Agency . But Antov's German language skills were not sufficient for a long-term collaboration with the dpa. Inter Nationes in Bonn then offered him the opportunity to do more extensive journalistic work in English. Nevertheless, Antov had to work as a factory worker, seller in a bakery and in the station bookstore in Cologne . In 1969 he started working as a freelancer at Deutsche Welle , which was based there at the time , and initially took on translation and moderation activities for their Yugoslav international program. In the same year he founded - now in a permanent employment contract - with his own broadcast the Macedonian program of the Federal Republic of Germany's national international broadcaster, which still exists today. As a freelance journalist, Antov later also worked for West German Radio , for which he also established radio broadcasts in Macedonian as part of the ARD's foreigner programs , as well as for Radio Duisburg , the broadcaster Free Berlin and Radio Wuppertal . A freelance work for the Süddeutscher Rundfunk came about.

Antov was the first Macedonian correspondent in the Federal Republic of Germany at the end of the 1960s and continued to work as such for Macedonian daily newspapers and magazines such as Nova Makedonija, Večer , Osten or Ekran until 2003 . On behalf of the Federal Press Office, he also published two new types of supplements for Nova Makedonija in the early 1970s, which were supposed to introduce Macedonian readers to the Federal Republic and its relations with Yugoslavia. Antov also wrote occasionally for Croatian, Serbian and Bosnian publications, e.g. B. 1974 a Macedonian page for Vjesnik , notably the first print of a Yugoslav newspaper in Germany, as well as for the Swedish Makedonski vesnik. He also worked as a journalist for Macedonian radio and television. From 1977 he was also a permanent employee of a publishing house for many years.

Antov was also the author of folk music programs for WDR. In this context he was later one of the co-founders and presenters of the program Vom Bosporus bis Gibraltar , which ran for a decade in the daily program of the WDR from 1984 and brought the German audience closer to the music of the then so-called guest worker cultures.

Work as an author

Antov first attracted attention in the field of fiction in Germany after Heinrich Böll had published some of his early prose works in translation by Annemarie Böll in 1969 . These were short stories written in English while they were still studying. Further literary publications followed. Later Antov, who remained in grateful contact with his sponsor Böll until his death, became one of the few authors of the Yugoslav minority who in the 1980s were more perceived as representatives of German-language immigrant literature. His works appeared frequently in newspapers, magazines (including Yugoslav) and anthologies. The short radio play We know each other, foreigners , which was first published in 1982 within the dtv anthology As a stranger in Germany and also broadcast in the German program of Deutsche Welle , which reproduces a conversation between an illegal immigrant and an employee of the German immigration authority, was particularly reflected in the secondary literature . The specialist magazine Der Deutschunterricht later recommended the treatment of this scenic text in German schools.

Another short radio play by Antov, Irgendwo in einer deutschen Stadt (1983), which appeared in Norbert Ney's widespread anthology by Rowohlt You Made Me a Foreigner - I Became One , was highlighted by the weekly newspaper Die Zeit as an outstanding dramatic text in German guest worker literature . The scene was last included in the German-language anthology Deutsche Wunder in Denmark in 2009, alongside works by authors such as Heinrich Böll, Bertolt Brecht , Rainer Werner Fassbinder , Max Frisch , Johann Wolfgang von Goethe , Erich Kästner and Siegfried Lenz , with which, among other things, at Danish schools and Universities is being worked on. The sketch Speaking in Two Languages from 1983 was published in 1992 in cooperation with the Goethe Institute as an audio cassette for German lessons in Finnish schools.

In addition to satires, short stories, radio plays and literary translations, Antov also wrote television plays and poems - as broadcast on ZDF in June 1983 . He was also active as an aphorist , for example contributing sayings to the garlic candy program, which was awarded the German Cabaret Prize, Caution Freshly Integrated (1985) and the satirical band Der Andere Türke (1986) by cabaret artist Şinasi Dikmen . In the 1980s there were more and more public appearances by Antov, he held numerous readings in the Ruhr area or took part in cabaret and satirical theater events. In 1982 he and his wife Violeta (Antov had married in 1970, a son was born the following year) founded a Macedonian puppet theater and a German-Macedonian cabaret.

As an important representative of the minority literature of the time, his activities ranged from taking part in a panel discussion on the "History and current situation of a new literature in Germany" to being a member of the jury of a migrant literature competition. He also worked on the cultural and political foreigner magazine Die Brücke , which honored him with a detailed portrait on the occasion of his fiftieth birthday.

Independent book publications of various kinds followed, including the alternative travel guide Inexpensive travel: Yugoslavia (1986), the bilingual Gastarbajteri, kade ste? - Guest workers where are you? (1999) and the extensive media analysis Nezavisna Makedonija vo germanskite mediumi (2003) on the presence of Macedonia in the German media from its independence up to September 2001. Srgjan Kerim described this book as an “extraordinary testimony” to the recent history of Macedonia and the European perspective in the country.

present

Today Antov lives and works as the head of a news agency mainly in Düsseldorf. He is the publisher and editor-in-chief of the biweekly "Newspapers for Macedonians in the EU" Vest Makedonija and Vecer, as well as Makedonija, Makedonija vo svetot and Makedonija Europe, with whose editing he participated in 2001 in the provision of humanitarian aid for war victims of the Balkan conflict . Vecer Svet and Svet, a "monthly magazine with a focus on culture and music". Antov's articles also continue to appear in other Macedonian media, including the Dnevnik . In the context of the German EU Presidency in 2007 took the seven languages speaking journalist in the international conference German Presidency of the EU: Civil Society and the Human Security Agenda in the Balkans in part that, in 2006 by the Southeast Europe Association organized a number of policy Formulated proposals to strengthen the European perspective of the Western Balkans under German EU leadership.

Antov works primarily in German and Macedonian and is a member of the Association of German Writers and the German Association of Journalists, as well as a corresponding Macedonian institution. To this day, the center of his ongoing journalistic and literary work is his commitment to both Macedonia and the Macedonian minority in the EU, whereby he works extensively on the situation of foreigners in the Federal Republic of Germany. Part of his increasingly humorous literary production has remained unpublished, including many of his approximately 2000 aphorisms on the subject of labor migration, radio and television plays, a novel for children, as well as a collection of his journalistic works.

Awards

In 1992, Antov was named the best journalist in the EU diaspora by the Macedonian Association of Journalists for his many years of work as foreign correspondent for Nova Makedonija. In 2002 Antov, who lived in Cologne in the 1970s and 1980s, was included in The Cologne Authors' Lexicon 1750-2000 .

Quotes

• First I was a foreigner, then a foreigner, then a guest worker and, most recently, a migrant! Can someone tell me what I really am?
• Please don't think so loud! You disturb public opinion!

Works (selection)

Book publications

• The other Turk. Satires by Sinasi Dikmen - Aphorisms by Drasko Antov , Express Edition, 1986
• Inexpensive travel: Yugoslavia , Hayit, 1986, 2nd edition: 1995
• Žali se Marksu: aforizmi , with: Milutin Alempijević, Slobodan M Stefanović and Milutin Srećković; Književne novine, 1989
• Gastarbajteri, kade ste ?: makedonski - germanski! , Lipeks, 1999
• Nezavisna Makedonija vo germanskite 'mediumi , Kultura, 2003

Anthology articles

• We know each other, foreigners , among others in: Ackermann, Irmgard (ed.): As a foreigner in Germany. Reports, stories, poems by foreigners . Munich 1982, pp. 118-128.
• Somewhere in a German city , including: Ney, Norbert (ed.): You made me a foreigner - I became one. Foreigners write about life with us . Rowohlt, Reinbek near Hamburg 1983, p. 111
• Speak in two languages , including in: Taufiq, Suleman (ed.): This is not the world we are looking for: prose, poetry and photos of foreigners . Klartext Verlag 1983, p. 61
• Poetic Emigrant Meridians , ed. by Fidanka Tanaskova and Slave Katin, Matica na iselenicite od Makedonija (Emigrant Association of Macedonia), Skopje, 1995
• The girl on the fence , in: Querschnitte , Novum Verlag 2010

Literary articles in newspapers and magazines

• A girl grows up . Narrative. Translated by Annemarie Böll, in: Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung. 22nd volume no.236 October 11, 1969.
• Always so forgetful . Translated by Annemarie Böll, in: Saarbrücker Zeitung. 209. Vol. 205. November 6, 1969
• The girl on the fence . Studio (literary magazine), Hamburg, 3/1976

Web links

• Literature by and about Draško Antov in the catalog of the German National Library

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d} Norbert Ney : You made me a foreigner - I became one. Foreigners write about life with us . Rowohlt, Reinbek near Hamburg 1983, p. 111
2. ↑ personal record "Drasko Antov" in the catalog of the German National Library
3. ↑ ^{a b} Archive link ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed October 13, 2013  
4. ^ The Photographic Journal Volume 107, Royal Photographic Society 1967, p. 306
5. ↑ Nova Makedonija 6/70
6. ↑ Nova Macedonia 3/73
7. ↑ Vjesnik, 2/74
8. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} http://www.mn.mk/iselenici-region/3692-Drasko-Antov---uspesen-avtor-vo-Germanija
9. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from July 14, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
10. ^ Werner Bellman: Das Werk Heinrich Bölls , Westdt. Verl., 1995, p. 249 f.
11. ^ Carmine Chiellino : Intercultural Literature in Germany. A manual . (Ed.), Stuttgart / Weimar: Metzler Verlag, 2000, p. 110
12. ↑ Irmgard Ackermann: As a foreigner in Germany : Reports, stories, poems by foreigners, Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, 1983, p. 203
13. ↑ Norbert Ney : You made me a foreigner - I became one. Foreigners write about life with us . Rowohlt, Reinbek near Hamburg 1983, p. 111
14. ↑ Google Books hit: "We know each other, foreigners"
15. ↑ Der Deutschunterricht, Volume 45, Klett, 1993
16. ↑ guest worker literature. At home in a foreign country? Or an international problem of emigration ?: In the backyards of the German language . In: The time . No. 15/1984 ( online ).
17. ↑ Annette Flyckt Damkjær, Henrik Borg Jensen, Elise Rasmussen: German miracles. Facts, memories, fiction. L&R Uddannelse, Copenhagen 2009. ISBN 978-87-7066-125-6
18. ↑ http://www.worldcat.org/title/habensbewilligungen-vier-literäre-texte-fur-den-deutschunterricht-an-finnischen-schulen/oclc/58851419
19. ↑ Poetic Emigrant Meridians , ed. by Fidanka Tanaskova and Slave Katin, Matica na iselenicite od Makedonija (Emigrant Association of Macedonia), Skopje, 1995
20. ↑ Şinasi Dikmen: The other Turk. Satires , Express Edition, Berlin 1986
21. ↑ cf. Fruttuoso Piccolo: Literally cross-border literature: Documentation of contemporary German-speaking authors with non-German mother tongue , Avlos, 1999, p. 20 and Carmine Chiellino: Intercultural literature in Germany .: A manual. , Metzlersche JB Verlagsbuchhandlung, 2000, p. 110 ff.
22. ↑ Foreigner or guest worker literature ?: History and current situation of a new literature in Germany; Conference of the Evangelical Academy Iserlohn , Die Akademie, 1985
23. ^ Day of Migrants' Literature , Dietrich-Keuning-Haus Dortmund, Cultural Office Dortmund and Secretariat for Joint Cultural Work, Wuppertal, July 1987
24. ↑ Rosemarie Inge Prüfer: Draško Antov. An employee of DIE BRÜCKE magazine turns 50 . In: DIE BRÜCKE February / March 1988, p. 38 f.
25. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from July 14, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
26. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from July 14, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
27. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from July 14, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
28. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from July 14, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
29. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from October 30, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
30. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from July 14, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
31. ^ The Cologne Authors' Lexicon 1750–2000, Vol. 2: 1900–2000. Messages from the city archive of Cologne, issue 89.
32. ↑ Die Brücke February / March 1988, p. 39
33. ^ Die Brücke February / March 1988, p. 38