Elmer Bantz

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Elmer Bantz (born September 25, 1908 as Gustav Specht in Marienburg ; † June 3, 2002 in Lichtenau ) was a German actor and broadcaster who worked as chief spokesman for Großdeutscher Rundfunk and later for Südwestfunk .

Life

Bantzen's stage career began in the 1920s as a temporary worker at the Herne City Theater. From 1927 to 1929 he trained as an actor at the Max Reinhardt Seminar in Vienna , where he also worked at the Theater in der Josefstadt and performed together with Hans Moser and Paula Wessely . In the early 1930s he moved to the Schauspielhaus Zurich and in 1933 to Berlin, where Bantz was engaged at the Admiralspalast and played rivals with Hans Albers and Fritz Kortner in the anti-war play. Later he also worked on the "genetic folk play" "Der Erbstrom", a propaganda film commissioned by the NSDAP .

From 1934 Bantz worked as a radio announcer, first with the television station "Paul Nipkow" , since 1936 when Germany stations and from 1939 to May 1945 as chief spokesman for the United Rundfunk, where he u. a. Victory reports and perseverance slogans were announced. Bantz later justified this activity by stating that he only read what others had told him to do. He was not a member of the NSDAP. After the end of the Third Reich, Elmer Bantz was arrested by the Soviet occupying forces and interned in the Sachsenhausen special camp . There he is said to have tended Heinrich George to the end. The GDR criminal justice system sentenced Bantz to ten years' imprisonment, of which he served two years in Waldheim prison. Then Bantz was pardoned and went to the Federal Republic. After 1990 he was rehabilitated on conviction and imprisonment .

In Baden-Baden , Bantz found employment as chief spokesman for Südwestfunk . In addition to news and comments, he also read columnist articles and was responsible for training the next generation of speakers, which included Sigi Harreis , Dagmar Berghoff and Frank Elstner . After his retirement in 1974 he founded the Scherzheim Court Theater in Lichtenau in Baden. Many well-known cabaret artists appeared on the cabaret stage.

Bantz was married and lived in Scherzheim , a district of Lichtenau , until his death .

literature

  • A German career. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung , August 24, 2001 (accessed June 28, 2013).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e A German career. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung of August 24, 2001 (accessed June 28, 2013).
  2. ↑ Walter Habel: Who is who? The German Who's Who 2004/05. 43rd edition. Schmidt-Römhild, Lübeck 2004, ISBN 978-3795020385 , p. 55.
  3. ↑ a b Timo Fehrensen: Elmar Bantz was the voice of the Reichsrundfunk in: Die Welt from June 15, 2002 (accessed on June 28, 2013).
personal data
SURNAME Bantz, Elmer
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Specht, Gustav (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German actor and broadcaster
DATE OF BIRTH September 25, 1908
PLACE OF BIRTH Marienburg
DATE OF DEATH June 3, 2002
Place of death Lichtenau