Gerhard Konzelmann

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Gerhard Konzelmann (born October 26, 1932 in Stuttgart ; † May 28, 2008 there ) was a German journalist . Konzelmann became known to a broad public primarily as the Middle East correspondent for ARD and moderator of the Weltspiegel . He was a lecturer in Arab politics at the University of Konstanz. He also emerged as a non-fiction author and opera composer .

Life

Konzelmann had been married since 1958 and had three children. The son of a railway official graduated from high school in 1952 and then studied history and literature in Tübingen and Besançon until 1957 . He did not get a degree.

Activity as a journalist

1956 began working in television. In 1957 he was an editor for the evening show on SDR television. In 1964 he became a member of the ARD program management. From 1968 to 1974 and from 1981 to 1985 he was the Middle East correspondent in Beirut. From 1974 he was head of the documentary department of the Süddeutscher Rundfunk . From 1985 he was television editor in the “Culture, Games and Entertainment” department and thus responsible for the television music broadcasts of the then SDR. Konzelmann also appeared several times in the television advisory program “ Yes or No? " With. As a Middle East expert, he was popular, but also controversial. He was one of the early warners of aggressive and expansive elements within the Islamic community. He helped the Palestinian Authority in Yasser Arafat's time to set up its own station. Konzelmann's successor as Middle East correspondent was Ulrich Kienzle .

Criticism of the publications on Islam and the Orient

In the early 1990s Konzelmann was the at the University of Hamburg teaching Orientalists Gernot Rotter in a sensational book ( Allah plagiarist. The journalistic forays to Middle East expert Gerhard Konzelmann , published in Palmyra Verlag ) accused of other authors with its rich publishing activity in many scientific papers plagiarized to have . Konzelmann's preferred sources are translations by Rotter and German Orientalists of the 19th century. Rotter proved that Konzelmann could not speak the Arabic language. Konzelmann also used lengthy paraphrases from the Thousand and One Nights collection , which he enriched with sexist elements: “Konzelmann's elaboration offers [...] a catalog for the entire register of enemies that the Christian West has over the centuries in relation to the Islamic world has prepared: brutality, unreliability, lust, irrationality, hysteria. "

Mohammed - Allah's Prophet and General, 1980

Rotter showed that Konzelmann in his work "Mohammed - Allah's Prophet and General" had plagiarized his translation of the work "The Life of the Prophet" by Ibn Ishaq. In addition, he added factually wrong things, such as inventing Koran content or attributing pedophile tendencies to Mohammed. He concealed his inadequate knowledge of Arabic through alleged research in non-existent archives.

Rotter described Konzelmann as a “plagiarist on a grand scale”, “charlatan” and “impostor” who had deliberately misled public opinion about the Middle East for decades. His caricature of the Orient is also racist. Konzelmann did not defend himself against the allegations in court. Rotters lawsuit (1990) against Konzelmann and the publishing house (Bastei-Lübbe) led to the self-commitment of the publishing house not to distribute Konzelmann's "Mohammed" any longer, "if and as long as it contains texts by Dr. Rotter and his translation of the work 'Ibn Ishaq: The Life of the Prophet' are contained to an extent that exceeds the right to quote ”.

Konzelmann found that his book had its flaws. A year earlier he had asked his publisher to stop offering it; it does not correspond to his "current way of tackling a topic." However, Konzelmann continued his writing activity even afterwards. The total circulation of his books is said to have been two million copies.

Allah's new world empire

Rotter also sued Konzelmann for plagiarism based on his work "Allah's New World Empire" and obtained an injunction in 1991.

Ulrich Kienzle described Konzelmann's dubious practices as a journalist in his publication “Farewell to 1001 Nights”. As early as 1995, he described Konzelmann as a journalistic buccaneer who replaced an entire counterfeiting workshop. The “Kujau among the correspondents” decided early on to tell the untruth precisely. As an example, Kienzle described how Konzelmann used film recordings from the boiler room of the Süddeutscher Rundfunk (SDR) to represent the command center of an oil tanker, from which Konzelmann reported dramatic stories about the oil crisis.

composer

Konzelmann originally wanted to become a composer - a career that he gave up in favor of journalism. He composed the music for some of his films himself, and in 1988 his opera Das Gauklermärchen after Michael Ende was premiered at the Cologne Opera. Since his retirement, Konzelmann has been increasingly active as a composer. On July 3, 2004, his opera Die Legende von der Schöne Lau based on Eduard Mörike was premiered at the Blautopf in Blaubeuren ; further performances of this opera took place in Konzelmann's home town of Isny im Allgäu in 2007 .

Honors

In addition to the Bambi TV Prize, Konzelmann received the Bronze Adolf Grimme Prize in 1975 for the program Das Testament des Zaren - Russo-Soviet Politics in the Gulf . In 1977 he was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit for his fearless reporting during the Lebanese civil war , followed in 1989 by the Cross of Merit 1st Class. In 2003 he received the Baden-Württemberg Medal of Merit . "We really appreciated your serious research and your differentiated judgment - they were a solid and competent foundation for our own opinion-forming," said Prime Minister Erwin Teufel in his laudatory speech.

Publications (selection)

Konzelmann wrote numerous writings and non-fiction books in which he incorporated his experience as a journalist. Many of them were bestsellers, were printed in partially updated editions for years and were also successful in book club and paperback editions.

literature

  • Gernot Rotter : Allah's plagiarist. The journalistic raids of the "Middle East expert" Gerhard Konzelmann . Palmyra, Heidelberg 1992, ISBN 3-9802298-4-X
  • Konzelmann, Gerhard . In: Who is who? The German Who's Who. XXXVIII. 1999/2000. Schmidt-Römhild, Lübeck et al. 1999, ISBN 3-7950-2026-3

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Subjects according to Konzelmann, Gerhard. In: herbig.net. Archived from the original on December 3, 2008 ; accessed on September 19, 2019 . Who is Who XXXVIII 1999/2000 only mentions “stud. philol. (until 1957) "
  2. ^ Gerhard Konzelmann . In: Der Spiegel . No. 23 , 2008, p. 180 ( online - June 2, 2008 ).
  3. ^ Catalog of enemy images . In: Der Spiegel . No. 24 , 1992, pp. 243-244 ( Online - June 8, 1992 ).
  4. ↑ a b c d The Caliph of Stuttgart . In: Der Spiegel . No. 39 , 1991, pp. 294-297 ( online - 23 September 1991 ).
  5. ^ "Weltspiegel": Gerhard Konzelmann died. In: tagesspiegel.de . May 29, 2008. Retrieved September 19, 2019 .
  6. ^ Konzelmann: New round . In: Der Spiegel . No. 50 , 1991, pp. 265 ( online - December 9, 1991 ).
  7. ^ Profiles: The caliph from the boiler room. In: Focus Online . October 23, 1995. Retrieved November 29, 2014 .
  8. ↑ “tightrope walker” in crisis areas, Michael Kunczik (SDR) ( memento of the original from September 10, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.lmz-bw.de
  9. ↑ List of medal recipients 1975–2019. (PDF; 180 kB) State Ministry of Baden-Württemberg, p. 48 , accessed on June 12, 2019 .
  10. ↑ http://www.schwaebische.de/home_artikel,-_arid,797993.html
personal data
SURNAME Konzelmann, Gerhard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German journalist and author
DATE OF BIRTH October 26, 1932
PLACE OF BIRTH Stuttgart
DATE OF DEATH May 28, 2008
Place of death Stuttgart