Heinz-Joachim Fischer

Heinz-Joachim Fischer (born June 6, 1944 in Meseritz , today Międzyrzecz ) is a German journalist, publicist and writer.

Life

Heinz-Joachim Fischer was born in Meseritz, a small town in Brandenburg at the time, east of Frankfurt (Oder) ; grew up in Berlin , east and west. His parents are Paul (1902–1988) and Hildegard Fischer (1908–1971).

After graduating from high school in 1963 at the humanistic Jesuit high school Canisius-Kolleg Berlin , he studied in Rome at the Pontifical Gregorian University led by the Order of the " Society of Jesus " as a member of the Collegium Germanicum , from 1963 on, during the Second Vatican Council , first philosophy for three years, from 1966 to 1971 theology, related humanities subjects, also at the University of Munich . In 1970 he completed the licentiate in theology and in 1973 he became a religious-philosophical work of Dr. phil. PhD.

After a few months of journalism apprenticeship at Münchner Merkur , he joined the Political Editor of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in September 1974 . In May 1975 he was entrusted with reporting on the Catholic Church.

From 1978 to 2009 he worked as a FAZ correspondent in Rome for Italy and the Vatican. On behalf of the newspaper, he repeatedly visited all regions of Italy and wrote travel reports, landscape portraits, art books and personal essays, which were reflected in various books.

The duty to meet the Pope, first John Paul II (1978 to 2005), then Benedict XVI. (since April 2005), to accompany him on trips to all continents, he used to get to know a globalizing world up close. He visited more than 100 countries and covered around 900,000 kilometers. The long experiences with the Vatican, with Popes and a universal Church, went into non-fiction books.

The Eternal City is the setting for two novels, one theological and one political, in which an image of Rome was attempted beyond the day of the journalist. The new edition of the Vatican thriller entitled “Mistero” in September 2008 shows that Rome remains a fascinating secret.

Honors

• He has received several journalist prizes for his reporting, including the “Premio Roma” and the “Premio Goethe”.
• In 1992 he received the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany on the ribbon .
• Honorary citizen of the Italian municipality of Costermano , Italy.
• Since 2015 honorary title “Ambasciatore del Lago di Garda / Ambassador of Lake Garda”.

Works (selection)

author

• with Hans Weber : South Italy. Apulia, Basilicata, Calabria, Campania. DuMont, Cologne 1986, ISBN 3-7701-1539-2 .
• The holy fight. History and present of the Jesuits. 2nd Edition. Piper, Munich 1988, ISBN 3-492-10728-1 .
• Umbria. A travel companion. Prestel, Munich 1989, ISBN 3-7913-1031-3 .
• The succession. From the time between the popes. Herder, Freiburg 1997, ISBN 3-451-26190-1 .
• The tower of the Greeks. Novel. Rowohlt, Reinbek 1997, ISBN 3-499-13974-X .
• L'amico inglese. Cabbage, l'Italia e il Vaticano. Ideazione, Rome 1998, ISBN 88-86812-54-X . (Foreword by Helmut Kohl ).
• The years with John Paul II. Account for a political pontificate. Herder, Freiburg 1998, ISBN 3-451-26525-7 .
• Italy. Prestel, Munich 1999, ISBN 3-7913-2220-6 .
• Tuscany. 6th edition. Prestel, Munich 1999, ISBN 3-7913-0759-2 .
• Rome. 2500 years of history, art and culture of the "Eternal City" . 4th edition. DuMont, Ostfildern 2004, ISBN 3-7701-5607-2 .
• Benedict XVI. A portrait. Herder, Freiburg 2005, ISBN 3-451-27681-X .
• Vatican - from the inside. Reports by a German journalist (1975–2005). LIT, Münster 2007, ISBN 978-3-8258-0028-4 .
• Mistero. Novel. Thiele, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-85179-048-1 . (former title The She-Wolf's Laughter. )
• Between Rome and Mecca. The Popes and Islam. Bertelsmann, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-570-01077-8 .
• From theologian to pope - Joseph Ratzinger - Benedict XVI. LIT Verlag, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-643-10698-8 .
• The popes and sex - morals at a dead end. LIT Verlag, Berlin 2011, ISBN 978-3-643-11160-9 .
• Popes and Jews . LIT Verlag, Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-643-11699-4 .

editor

• Library of Prohibited Books . Marix, Wiesbaden
  • Voltaire : Candide or optimism . 2006, ISBN 3-86539-094-3
  • Sebastian Brant : The Ship of Fools . 2007, ISBN 978-3-86539-130-8
  • Baruch Spinoza : The Ethics . 2007, ISBN 978-3-86539-137-7
  • Victor Hugo : Notre Dame in Paris . 2008, ISBN 978-3-86539-156-8
  • Heinrich Heine : Blasphemous writings. The Rabbi von Bacherach . 2010, ISBN 978-3-86539-220-6

Web links

• Literature by and about Heinz-Joachim Fischer in the catalog of the German National Library