Hans-Dieter Schuett

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hans-Dieter Schütt (2005)

Hans-Dieter Schütt (born August 16, 1948 in Ohrdruf ) is a German journalist. From 1984 until the fall of 1989 until the fall of the peaceful revolution , he was editor-in-chief of the FDJ - the central organ of the Young World . From 1992 to 2012 he was the features editor at Neues Deutschland .

Life

Hans-Dieter Schütt was born a good year before the GDR was founded in Ohrdruf, Thuringia , and joined the FDJ in 1963 at the age of 15 . He completed vocational training with a high school diploma and worked as a rubber specialist from 1967 to 1969. After an interim position as a bookseller's apprentice, he studied dramaturgy and theater studies from 1969 to 1973 at the "Hans Otto" theater college in Leipzig . From 1973 he worked as a film critic for the youth daily Junge Welt (JW), at that time with a daily circulation of around one million copies after New Germany, the daily newspaper with the highest circulation in the GDR. In 1976 Schütt joined the SED . In 1984 Schütt was appointed editor-in-chief of Junge Welt as the successor to Dieter Langguth, after holding positions as deputy head of the cultural department and as deputy editor-in-chief . From 1981 to 1989, Schütt was head of department parallel to his work at Junge Welt, and later also secretary in the Central Council of the FDJ .

As JW editor-in-chief and with his column So I see that , Schütt was considered a downright hardliner and demagogue. He was hated by opposition youth in the 1980s; otherwise only Margot Honecker (but not her husband Erich Honecker , who in the 1980s was more pity), Kurt Hager , Erich Mielke and Karl-Eduard von Schnitzler evoked a similarly strong emotional rejection emerged. Schütt's slap of the anti- Stalinist film Die Reue aus der Sovietunion, which was broadcast in October 1987 on ZDF, caused a particular stir . Schütte's article of October 28, 1987 was widely seen as a clear sign of the GDR leadership's decoupling from perestroika and glasnost and resulted in numerous protests, particularly in the cultural scene. It later became known that Erich Honecker himself had tightened the final editing of the article. Only Kurt Hager's “Wallpaper Comparison” in April 1987 had a similar signal effect, and later also the factual Sputnik ban in November 1988. In a column in December 1987, Schütt set participants in a vigil at East Berlin's Zion Church , which took place in November 1987 protested against the arrests of members of the environmental library , like neo-Nazis:

“The enemy, whether he is sending young writers against us with missionary zeal, whether he is in the pose of a warning guard, always on time to order with television cameras, in front of church gates, or whether he equips hooligans with fascist vocabulary and weapons - he has with him no chance for us. "

- Hans-Dieter Schütt : Junge Welt from 12./13. December 1987

The comparison became particularly explosive due to a previous attack by skinheads on left-wing alternative visitors to an Element of Crime concert in the Zion Church on October 17, 1987, at which the People's Police had watched idly for a long time. There were numerous letters of protest against Schütts article, also from church officials. In December 1987 the GDR opposition member Vera Wollenberger filed a criminal complaint against Schütt for insulting and defamation. After Wollenberger was arrested soon after in connection with a demonstration and deported to the West, the lawsuit fizzled out.

Schütt was replaced as JW editor-in-chief on November 21, 1989. As an author, interviewer and publisher, Schütt wrote numerous books after 1990, including his autobiography Happy Damaged from 2009. Critics saw the book as an honest and relentless attempt at reckoning with his role in the GDR system. Uwe Stolzmann described Schütt on Deutschlandradio Kultur Schütt as a brilliant author, fine spirit and agitator in the last years of the GDR, "in short: a demagogue ". He has been retired since 2013, but occasionally continues to publish articles in the new Germany as a freelancer . He has also recently worked as a film director. Gregor Gysi wrote his autobiography (A life is far too little) , published in 2017, with the assistance of Hans-Dieter Schütt.

Books (selection)

  • Take your life The philosophy of the art of living or the advantage of being born. Verlag Das Neue Berlin, Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-360-01231-3 .
  • Fortunately damaged. Escape from the republic after the end of the GDR. wjs-Verlag, Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-937989-53-2 .
  • Ursula Karusseit in conversation with Hans-Dieter Schütt: Paths across the country and through times. Verlag Das Neue Berlin, Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-360-01982-0 .
  • Visit me, am in heaven. Eulenspiegel Verlag, Berlin 2016, ISBN 978-3-359-01700-4 .
  • Gas station for losers. Conversations with Gerhard Gundermann. A memory. 3rd revised edition. Dietz Verlag, Berlin 2018 (first edition 2006), ISBN 978-3-320-02352-2 .
  • as editor: Franz Mehring or: "The best publicist currently living". Dietz Verlag, Berlin 2019, ISBN 978-3-320-02358-4 .

Movies

  • Hitler & Stalin - Portrait of Enmity , 2009 together with Ullrich H. Kasten
  • Lenin - Drama of a Dictator , 2013 together with Ullrich H. Kasten

literature

Web links

Commons : Hans-Dieter Schütt  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Curiosity about life in Neues Deutschland from January 2, 2012
  2. ↑ Bernd-Rainer Barth :  Schütt, Hans-Dieter . In: Who was who in the GDR? 5th edition. Volume 2. Ch. Links, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86153-561-4 .
  3. ↑ Ilko-Sascha Kowalczuk : He understood . In: Der Tagesspiegel from November 2, 2009.
  4. ^ Dieter Schütt: Art and historical consciousness . In: Junge Welt from October 28, 1987.
  5. ↑ Eberhard Kuhrt, Hannsjörg F. Buck, Gunter Holzweissig (ed.): The SED rule and its collapse . Leske + Budrich, Opladen 1996, ISBN 3-8100-1608-X , p. 52.
  6. ↑ a b Ehrhart Neubert: History of the Opposition in the GDR 1949–1989 . Ch. Links Verlag, Berlin 1998, ISBN 3-86153-163-1 , pp. 780-781.
  7. ↑ Ilse Spittmann-Rühle, Gisela Helwig: flashbacks to the GDR . Verlag Wissenschaft und Politik, Cologne 1995, ISBN 3-8046-0342-4 , p. 218.
  8. ↑ On our own behalf . In: Junge Welt dated November 21, 1989. ("As of today, the Junge Welt has a new editor-in-chief. Most of the editorial staff have expressed their confidence in her. It is the radical demands of the time, especially your demands, [...] the made this step necessary. ")
  9. ↑ Review notes on Happy Damaged at perlentaucher.de
  10. ↑ Uwe Stolzmann: Self-accusation of a stubborn man . In: Deutschlandradio Kultur from October 7th, 2009. Review of the book by Hans-Dieter Schütt: Happy damaged. Escape from the republic after the end of the GDR. Berlin 2009.
  11. ↑ http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0440956/
  12. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from July 10, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.grimme-institut.de
personal data
SURNAME Schuett, Hans-Dieter
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Helbig, Jan (pseudonym)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German journalist and author, editor-in-chief of the FDJ central organ Junge Welt (1984–1989)
DATE OF BIRTH August 16, 1948
PLACE OF BIRTH Ohrdruf