Gebhard Henke

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Gebhard Henke, 2015

Gebhard Henke (born May 20, 1955 in Holzminden ) is a German film producer, former professor at the Art Academy for Media in Cologne and was a long-time WDR program director. Both at WDR and at the Academy of Media Arts in Cologne, his employment relationships ended due to allegations of sexual harassment.

education

Henke studied German and history at the Free University of Berlin with a master's degree . He then worked as a lecturer at the Free University of Berlin, as a lecturer at UFA-Filmproduktion and WDR and as a freelance journalist and literary critic for the Süddeutsche Zeitung , the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , the daily newspaper and the SFB .

Professional career

In 1984 he came to Cologne for a two-year editorial traineeship at Westdeutscher Rundfunk Köln , then worked as a radio editor and from 1987 as an editor and dramaturge in the film and series program group. He brought the WDR up-and-coming series Avanti Debütanti into being. He was also co-initiator and director of the “Wilde Herzen” series.

For WDR he oversaw productions such as Lindenstrasse , Kleine Haie , Der Totmacher , Life is a Construction Site , Run Lola , Winter Sleeper , Good Bye, Lenin! and WDR's own production Über Barbarossaplatz by Jan Bonny . In addition, he was in charge of the following films by the author and film director Heinrich Breloer: The State Chancellery , Once Power and Back - the career of Björn Engholm , colleague Otto , Wehner - the untold story and death game .

The series he oversees include Leo and Charlotte , Mord mit Aussicht , Phoenixsee , Frau Temme sucht das Glück , Falk and Babylon Berlin .

Gebhard Henke was the initiator and responsible for the crime scene formats from Münster (since 2002) and Dortmund (since 2012).

In autumn 1998 he was appointed head of the television game program group. Since 2003 he has also been head of the film, entertainment and family program, and since 2009 of the television film, cinema and series program at WDR.

He was the ARD - Tatort -coordinator, member of the joint editorial team ARD main evening series and the joint editorial department of the evening series and from 2003 to 2018 member of the award committee of the Film- und Medienstiftung NRW .

On October 1, 2001, he was appointed part-time professor at the Cologne Art Academy for Media , specializing in "Creative Production / Editing". His students and graduates include a. Jan Martin Scharf , Lola Randl , Thomas Durchschlag , Jan Schomburg ,  Jan Bonny , Isa Prahl , Corinna Liedtke and Julia Keller.

Henke is a member of the German Academy of Performing Arts and a member of the Heinrich von Kleist Society .

Allegations of sexual harassment and abuse of power

In April 2018, allegations of sexual harassment and abuse of power were brought against Henke for the first time. He was then released from his post by WDR television director Jörg Schönenborn . After the exemption, 16, later more than 30 women from the film and television industry defended Henke with a petition initiated by Heike-Melba Fendel and Feo Aladag . In it the authors write: “We have worked personally with Gebhard Henke in the past. Certainly not without conflicts and power struggles. Also not free from differing views on images of men and women. But always free from attacks of any kind and severity. ”After this petition, details of the allegations against Henke were first published in a Spiegel article.

Six women, including Charlotte Roche, reported sexual harassment by Henke in the Spiegel article Das Bärchen in May 2018 . The WDR later stated that more than ten women had made allegations against Henke. The allegations cover the period from 1990 to "at least 2015". Henke are accused of various types of abuse. There are several reports of groping in the genital area, as well as derogatory, sexist sayings. Henke also exploited his position of power and put women under pressure in this regard.

On June 14, 2018, the WDR announced that Henke had been terminated with immediate effect due to credible allegations of sexual harassment and inappropriate behavior towards at least ten women between 1990 and 2015. Henke and his lawyer Peter Raue went public on their own initiative and to this day denies the allegations and criticized the WDR director Tom Buhrow and the WDR television director Jörg Schönenborn . Henke filed a lawsuit against the termination with the Cologne Labor Court . Both the termination and the lawsuit were withdrawn. On July 16, 2018, the television station announced that it had reached an amicable settlement of the conflict with Henke. Since there was no longer a relationship of trust, both parties ended the cooperation. The former director of the WDR , Fritz Pleitgen , paid tribute to Henke's achievements for the WDR. He said, "[...] that with all education requirements, care must be taken not to destroy any biographies or family life without clear evidence".

In the ZDF television program Markus Lanz on November 15, 2018, Charlotte Roche reported again that Henke had placed her other hand on her bottom for a "long time" while welcoming her to a discussion group while shaking hands and while the other participants were present. According to Roche, none of the other people present at the time noticed the incident.

The Academy of Media Arts Cologne (KHM) condemned all forms of sexual violence and abuse of power in a statement on its website. In July 2018, following an extraordinary general assembly, the KHM Senate adopted principles for the prevention of humiliation, discrimination, sexual harassment, violence and abuse of power, which were also published on the website.

On February 25, 2019, KHM students published an open letter in which Gebhard Henke was asked to resign. The students, represented by the university parliament, expressed their solidarity with the women concerned and described Henke's presence at the KHM as “unacceptable”. The university management did not comment on the open letter from the students.

On February 21, 2019, it became known that Henke was withdrawing his lawsuits against Charlotte Roche and Der Spiegel and that there were new allegations. These are "very successful women from the film industry", including professors, directors, a producer and a WDR employee.

At the end of December 2019, Susanne Lang describes in her article "After the Shitstorm", which appeared in the taz magazine futurzwei N ° 11/2020, how things went on: "The case of Gebhard Henke shows how great the longing for answers is and how difficult it is it must be tolerable that these will not exist in the form of simple solutions and truths. "

In July 2020, the new Rector of the KHM Kerstin Stutterheim announced that Henke was no longer employed at the university. The KHM did not disclose any details.

Publications

  • Salomé - a genius . In: TransAtlantik , No. 6/1983
  • Poetic escape from the narrow Banat. Hertha Müller's prose debut "Niederungen" . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , April 12, 1984
  • Every environment seems hostile to life to me. An interview with the Romanian-German writer Herta Müller . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , November 16, 1984
  • Roaring organ playing. Josef Einwanger's novel “Flip Book” . In: FAZ , February 20, 1985
  • Is Life the Best Writer? On Heinrich Breloer's “State Chancellery and the documentary television play” . In: 1. Marl Days of Media Culture. The Barschel Affair in the media from 1987 to 1989 . Adolf Grimme Institute, Marl 1989, p. 71 ff.
  • Writing for the slipper cinema - has television developed its own narrative forms? . In: Gustav Ernst, Thomas Pluch (Hrsg.): Script writing. An inventory . Vienna 1990.
  • Secret figure. The dramaturge. A status picture . In: epd, Kirche und Rundfunk , May 1991
  • The author and the group . In: Regina Werner (Hrsg.): Berlin script workshop. 1986-1992 . Berlin 1993, p. 51 ff.
  • as editor: Syd Field, Andreas Meyer, Günther Witte, u. a .: Screenwriting for television and film. A manual for training and practice . 7th completely revised edition. Munich 2000
  • Write for public service . In: Syd Field, Andreas Meyer, Günther Witte, u. a., screenwriting for television and film. A Manual for Education and Practice. , ed. by Gebhard Henke. 7th completely revised edition. Munich 2000, p. 167ff.
  • Power triangle. On the importance of public television film editing . In: Funkkorrespondenz , 30–31.2001
  • Niche or battlefield - On dealing with the next generation of film professionals . In: epd medien , No. 52, July 6, 2002
  • Fear of fiction. On the debate about the ARD film Wut . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , October 7, 2006
  • Obituary for Jörn Klamroth . In: Blickpunkt Film , March 28, 2011
  • You come back after all . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , February 9, 2018

Awards

For his editorial work, Henke won the Adolf Grimme Prize for Wheels and Deals from Michael Hammon in 1992 , the Prix ​​Europa for Wehner - the Untold Story in 1993 and the Golden Lion in 1997 for the docu-drama Death Game , both by Heinrich Breloer . In 2008 he received the German Television Prize for the two-part television film Contergan and in 2018 for the series Babylon Berlin .

Web links

Commons : Gebhard Henke  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Lecturer at the Art Academy for Media Cologne. Retrieved May 6, 2018 .
  2. ↑ Six women raise allegations against WDR man Henke. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . May 4, 2018, Retrieved May 7, 2018 .
  3. ↑ Open letter per handle . In: mediabiz.de . Busch Media, Munich May 4, 2018 ( mediabiz.de [accessed January 22, 2019]).
  4. ↑ Gebhard Henke fired because of sexual harassment
  5. ^ WDR press office: WDR resigns Gebhard Henke. June 14, 2018, accessed June 14, 2018 .
  6. ↑ WDR throws out "crime scene" coordinator. In: Spiegel Online . June 14, 2018, accessed June 14, 2018 .
  7. ↑ Nils Koch: WDR and Henke reach an out-of-court settlement . July 16, 2018 ( wdr.de [accessed September 26, 2018]).
  8. ↑ Hans Hoff: WDR and Gebhard Henke agree with comparison . In: sueddeutsche.de . July 16, 2018, ISSN  0174-4917 ( sueddeutsche.de [accessed September 26, 2018]).
  9. ↑ khm.de/gl_gleich treatment
  10. ↑ khm.de
  11. ↑ Cologne students demand the resignation of lecturer Gebhard Henke. In: Spiegel Online . February 26, 2019, accessed February 28, 2019 .
  12. ↑ now.de
  13. ↑ Gebhard Henke withdraws lawsuit against Charlotte Roche and "Spiegel". In: sueddeutsche.de . Süddeutsche Zeitung , February 21, 2019, accessed on February 21, 2019 .
  14. ↑ Susanne Lang: After the Shitstorm. taz publications, December 10, 2019, accessed on August 31, 2020 (German).
  15. ↑ https://www.ksta.de/kultur/vorwuerfe-der-sexuellen-belaestigung-ex-wdr-filmchef-gebhard-henke-verlaesst-koelner-khm-37196740
personal data
SURNAME Henke, Gebhard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German film producer, WDR program area manager and professor
DATE OF BIRTH May 20, 1955
PLACE OF BIRTH Holzminden