Ernst Klee

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Ernst Klee (born March 15, 1942 in Frankfurt am Main ; † May 18, 2013 ibid) was a German investigative journalist , filmmaker and writer .

Klee became known through numerous books on marginalized groups ( foreigners , prisoners , homeless , psychiatric patients or the disabled ). His exposure of previously unknown medical crimes, especially in connection with the Nazi murders and their poor prosecution, made him even better known. From the confrontation with National Socialism, Klee developed Das Personenlexikon zum Third Reich .

Life

After an apprenticeship as a plumbing and heating technician, Klee made up his Abitur and studied theology and social education . From 1973 to 1982 he had a teaching position for disabled pedagogy at the Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences .

In the 1970s he worked as a journalist and social worker with socially excluded groups such as the homeless, psychiatric patients and disabled people. During this time he worked with Gusti Steiner , who at the time laid the foundation for the German emancipatory movement for the disabled.

In 1997 he received the Geschwister-Scholl-Prize for the book Auschwitz, Nazi Medicine and its Victims . The historian Michael Burleigh judged that the book provided "numerous new insights" and represented "undoubtedly the most important study to date on the role of medicine in the Third Reich".

The city of Frankfurt am Main honored Klee in 2001 for the book German Medicine in the Third Reich. Careers before and after 1945 with the Goethe badge . The reasoning states that Klee's oeuvre is “suitable to promote civil liberty, moral and intellectual courage and to give important impulses to the awareness of the present”.

With his personal lexicon on the Third Reich , Klee “succeeded in creating a standard work,” praised Willi Jasper . In it Klee tries to show personal continuities between the Third Reich and post-war Germany. His cultural lexicon on the Third Reich in the 2007 edition received both positive and negative reviews in relevant reviews.

Klee's commitment to the needs of disabled people was decisive for the fact that the former Westphalian School for the Physically Disabled in Mettingen was renamed the Ernst Klee School in his honor .

He also wrote for the weekly newspaper Die Zeit . Between 1974 and 1995 he published 27 articles there. As an example, reference is also made to the criticism of the glossing over of Nazi careers published in the German Biographical Encyclopedia in 2003 or to his description of the relationship between German artists and the extermination camps. Zeit editor Karl-Heinz Janßen paid tribute to Ernst Klee: “Contemporary historical research also ignored this topic of medical crimes during the Nazi era ; [...] had it not been for the freelance journalist Ernst Klee, who took the trouble to read thousands of trial files and rummage through the prison archives, we would know almost nothing today about one of the most gruesome crimes of this century. "

Klee died on May 18, 2013 after a long and serious illness in his hometown. His editor Walter H. Pehle paid tribute to him in an obituary: “Ernst Klee was a great journalist - and he became an important historian, a Nazi researcher who broke new ground. Above all, the investigation of the 'euthanasia' crimes is associated with his name. "

Shortly before his death, Klee was still able to work on his book Auschwitz. Perpetrators, accomplices, victims and what became of them. Completing an encyclopedia of persons published posthumously in 2013.

In March 2018, Elke Klee handed over her husband's journalistic and scientific estate to the Hadamar Memorial . There it should be made accessible as soon as possible and made accessible to research.

Awards (excerpt)

Publications (selection)

As an author

  • with Otto Merk: Back then in Peenemünde. At the birthplace of space travel . A documentary report. With a foreword by Walter R. Dornberger and an afterword by Wernher von Braun , Stalling, Oldenburg / Hamburg 1963, DNB 452435137 .
  • Paths and wooden paths. Evangelical poetry of the 20th century. Stelten, Bremen 1969, DNB 457217022 .
  • The ones in the dark ... social reports. (= Documents and manifestos ). Patmos, Düsseldorf 1971, DNB 457217006 .
  • Fips manages them all (illustrated by Bettina Anrich-Wölfel). Schwann, Düsseldorf 1972, ISBN 3-508-00206-3 .
  • Prison reports. Laetare, Stein bei Nürnberg 1973, ISBN 3-7839-0057-3 .
  • Marginalized group education. Basics for dealing with fringe groups, outsiders and the disturbed. (= Topos pocket books. Volume 9). Patmos, Düsseldorf 1974, ISBN 3-491-00399-7 .
  • Guest worker reports (translation of the Greek texts by Homeros Anagnostidis). Laetare, Stein bei Nürnberg 1973, ISBN 3-7839-0044-1 .
  • The zappler. The physically handicapped Jürgen conquers his environment; a great daring adventure (illustrated by Bettina Anrich-Wölfel). 3. Edition. Schwann, Düsseldorf 1981, ISBN 3-590-37102-1 .
  • Disability is nice. Documents for working with the disabled. (= Topos pocket books. Volume 25). Patmos, Düsseldorf 1974, ISBN 3-491-00436-5 .
  • Disability report. (= Information about the time ). Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1974ff:
    1. Disability report . 1979, ISBN 3-436-01807-4 .
    2. "We will not be deported". Awareness and liberation of the handicapped . 1979, ISBN 3-596-21747-4 .
  • Live together. Disabled among us. Evangelical Academy, Bad Boll 1976 (= current discussions , 2).
  • The scrap heap of humanity. A reader on social reality in the Federal Republic of Germany; Reports and reports. Patmos, Düsseldorf 1976, ISBN 3-491-77438-1 .
  • Danger zone operation. Wear and tear and illness in the workplace. (= Information about the time ). Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1977, ISBN 3-596-21933-7 .
  • Social protocols. How we live, how we die. Lessons for dealing with people. Patmos, Düsseldorf 1978, ISBN 3-491-77392-X .
  • Psychiatry Report. (= Information about the time ). New edition. Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1981, ISBN 3-596-22026-2 .
  • Penn brothers and tramps. Sedentary Report. (= Information about the time ). New edition. Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1981, ISBN 3-596-24205-3 .
  • Men of God and their wives. Stories from the rectory. Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1980, ISBN 3-596-26402-2 .
  • With special needs. About the expropriation of the body and consciousness; a critical manual. Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1987, ISBN 3-596-23860-9 .
  • "Euthanasia" in the Nazi state. The "destruction of life unworthy of life". Frankfurt am Main 1985; New edition: Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2010, ISBN 978-3-596-18674-7 (= Fischer - The time of National Socialism ).
  • What they did - what they became. Doctors, lawyers and others involved in the murder of the sick or Jews. (= Fischer - The time of National Socialism ). Frankfurt am Main 1986; 12th edition. Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2004, ISBN 3-596-24364-5 .
  • Heinrich Kratzmeier (Ed.): Paraplegic - no life before death? Help for a positive answer. With an advertisement from Claudio Kürten. (= Help for self-help. Volume 6). Verlag für Medizin Fischer, Heidelberg 1987, ISBN 3-88463-100-4 .
  • "The SA of Jesus Christ". The churches under the spell of Hitler. New edition, Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1990, ISBN 3-596-24409-9 .
  • "Redeemed by potassium cyanide". Euthanasia and euthanasia today. Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1990, ISBN 3-596-10225-1 .
  • Persil notes and false passports. How the churches helped the Nazis. Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1991, ISBN 3-596-10956-6 (6th edition 2011, ISBN 978-3-596-10956-2 ).
  • “Euthanasia” under National Socialism. Dachs, Vienna 1994, ISBN 3-224-12971-9 (= contemporary history , volume 21, issue 5/6).
  • Fine company. Social Reality Germany. Patmos, Düsseldorf 1995, ISBN 3-491-72336-1 .
  • Auschwitz, Nazi medicine and its victims (= Fischer - The time of National Socialism ). S. Fischer Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1997; Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2001, ISBN 3-596-14906-1 .
  • German medicine in the Third Reich. Careers before and after 1945. S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2001, ISBN 3-10-039310-4 .
  • The personal lexicon for the Third Reich . Who was what before and after 1945? S. Fischer, Frankfurt 2003. (5th, updated edition. Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2015, ISBN 978-3-596-16048-8 ).
  • The cultural lexicon for the Third Reich. Who was what before and after 1945 . S. Fischer Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2007, ISBN 978-3-10-039326-5 .
    • Fully revised edition. Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2009, ISBN 978-3-596-17153-8 (with 3600 entries).
  • Auschwitz. Perpetrators, accomplices, victims and what became of them. A dictionary of persons. S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2013, ISBN 978-3-10-039333-3 .


As editor

  • Subject jail. Stelten Verlag, Bremen 1969, DNB 770236081 .
  • Whipping boys of society. Inmate reports. (= Documents and manifestos ). Patmos, Düsseldorf 1971, ISBN 3-491-00318-0 .
  • Europe's niggers. On the situation of guest workers. A documentation. 2nd Edition. Patmos, Düsseldorf 1971, ISBN 3-491-00287-7 .
  • Guest workers. Analysis and reports. Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt am Main 1972, DNB 720122198 .
  • The poor lunatics. The fate of the mentally ill. Patmos, Düsseldorf 1972, ISBN 3-491-00361-X .
  • Rehabilitation. A manual for working with prisoners and released persons. Claudius, Munich 1973, ISBN 3-532-61808-7 .
  • Disabled on vacation? The Frankfurt judgment; a documentation. (= Information about the time ). Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1980, ISBN 3-596-24229-0 .
  • Documents on "euthanasia". Fischer Taschenbuch, Frankfurt am Main 1985; 6th edition, ibid. 2006, ISBN 978-3-596-24327-3 .
  • "Good times". The murder of Jews from the perspective of the perpetrators and gawkers. S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 1988, ISBN 3-10-039304-X .
  • with Willi Dressen and Volker Riess: “God with us”. The German War of Extermination in the East 1939–1945. S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 1989, ISBN 3-10-039305-8 .

items

Documentary film

  • Mocked - about the life of short people , documentation of the SFB from 1980 Video (YouTube) .
  • Everything sick is a burden . The churches and the destruction of life unworthy of life, HR documentation from 1988 video (YouTube) .
  • Ernst Klee (see books): “Persil notes and false passports.” How the churches helped the Nazis. Church historian Hans Prolingheuer on the false truths of the “clean wash ecumenism” NDR 1992 (first broadcast October 9th) Red. Ralph Ludwig. 25 min. Kirchengeschichten-im-ns.de (PDF).
  • The hell of Ueckermünde. Psychiatry in the East. Documentation, script and direction: Ernst Klee, production: HR , first broadcast: 1993. In 43 minutes, the development of psychiatry “in the third year after reunification” is shown using the example of two institutions in the new federal states. Video (YouTube) .
  • “Doctors without a conscience. Human experiments in the Third Reich. ”Documentation, 58 minutes, script and direction: Ernst Klee, production: Hessischer Rundfunk , first broadcast: October 20, 1996 on ARD. Video (YouTube) .
  • “Sift through and destroy - psychiatry in the Third Reich”. Documentation 1995, 48 minutes, production: Hessischer Rundfunk. Video (YouTube) .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Doderer II (1984), 220 f.
  2. ↑ Michael Burleigh: People as guinea pigs . In: The time . No. 35/1997.
  3. ↑ W. Jasper: The assistants of the mass murder. More than a “Who's Who” of the “Third Reich”. Ernst Klee has succeeded in creating a standard work In: Die Zeit. No. 44/2003, of October 23, 2003.
  4. ↑ Dirk van Laak : E. Klee: The culture lexicon to the Third Reich . In: H-Soz-Kult . May 25, 2007.
  5. ↑ With his new “Cultural Lexicon for the Third Reich”, Ernst Klee ruined his good reputation: an intellectual indictment . In: Die Welt , March 1, 2007.
  6. ↑ Alphabet of Shame . In: The time. No. 10/2007, p. 54.
  7. ↑ 50 years of reporting on Nazi crimes by doctors in SPIEGEL and ZEIT . (PDF; 1.1 MB), diploma thesis 1997.
  8. ↑ DBE: Of German Fame . In: The time. No. 40/2003.
  9. ^ Happy hours in Auschwitz . ( Memento from March 11, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) In: Die Zeit. No. 5/2007.
  10. ↑ The Essen child murder . In: The time. No. 10/1987.
  11. ↑ Ernst Klee is dead . In: The time. May 18, 2013.
  12. ↑ Walter H. Pehle : A historian with courage. On the death of Nazi researcher Ernst Klee . In: The time. No. 22/2013, p. 16.
  13. ^ Dörte Hinrichs, Hans Rubinich: Names for perpetrators and victims . In: NZZ . 3rd September 2013.
  14. ↑ Pitt von Bebenburg: "We need people like Ernst Klee". The widow of the journalist Ernst Klee hands over the estate to the Hadamar Memorial . In: Frankfurter Rundschau . March 16, 2018.
  15. ^ Adolf Grimme Prize: Prize Winner 1982 ( Memento from September 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
  16. ↑ lwl.org
  17. ↑ Review. In: The time. No. 44/2001.
  18. ↑ Review. In: The time. No. 44/2003.
  19. ↑ Reviews «Das Kulturlexikon zum Third Reich»: Esteban Engel: About 'Gottgegnadete'. ( Memento of February 13, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) literaturmarkt.info, March 7, 2007 and Fritz J. Raddatz : Alphabet of Shamelessness. In: The time. March 1, 2007, No. 10, p. 54; the review of the previous edition from 2007 mentioned in the foreword: An intellectual indictment. In: The world. March 2, 2007.
personal data
SURNAME Klee, Ernst
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German journalist, historian and writer
DATE OF BIRTH March 15, 1942
PLACE OF BIRTH Frankfurt am Main
DATE OF DEATH May 18, 2013
Place of death Frankfurt am Main