Friedrich Greil

Friedrich Greil (born December 8, 1902 in Halberstadt ; † January 8, 2003 ) was a German teacher and radio presenter .

Life

Friedrich Greil was born in 1902 as the son of a Reichsbahn official and turned to the arts at an early age. After completing his school education, he completed an apprenticeship as a graphic designer .

While reading the Japanese writings translated by Lafcadio Hearn , Greil developed a keen interest in Japanese painting , Zen Buddhism, and Kabuki theater . Between 1925 and 1926, however, Greil initially undertook several knowledge and cultural trips through Europe. In 1927, however, he made connections to Japan through the German-Japanese Cultural Institute. With a letter of recommendation, Friedrich Max Trautz, the director, paved the way for him to Japan.

Friedrich Greil set out on the long journey to Japan in 1928. In October 1928 he went ashore in the port of Shimonoseki in southern Japan. When he arrived in the Far East, Greil found a job as a German teacher at the Tokyo Medical School, where he also met his future wife, the student Masako Sasaki.

From 1936 to 1937 Greil worked as an art teacher at the German School Tokyo in Omori. He also taught German as a university teacher until 1978 at Hitotsubashi University and Chiba University, among others .

In 1937 he and his friend Hideichiro Yamakawa founded the German-speaking broadcasting department of the Japanese broadcasting company Radio Japan - NHK World . In the decades that followed, Greil became known among users of global shortwave radio and earned the honorary name of Die deutsche Demokratie aus Japan . With an interruption due to the war, it was broadcast from 1937 to 2007, most recently twice a day for 30 minutes each in German. He read the German translation of Japan's surrender and Tenno's famous speech , with which Tenno renounced his status as god.

For his services in the intercultural exchange between Japan and Germany, Friedrich Greil was awarded several medals by the Japanese Emperor Hirohito . In addition, he was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit on ribbon by the then Federal President Richard von Weizsäcker at the end of the 1980s .

On December 8, 2002, Friedrich Greil celebrated his 100th birthday. Only about a month later he finally died in his adopted home Japan.

Web links

• Greil, Friedrich グ ラ イ ル ・ フ リ ー ド リ ッ ヒ (1902–2003), radio speaker 放送 員 at das-japanische-gedaechtnis.de