Helmut Hammerschmidt

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Helmut Hammerschmidt (born May 28, 1920 in Cottbus ; † March 4, 1998 in Munich ) was a German journalist, director of the SWF and chairman of the ARD .

Life

Hammerschmidt was born in Cottbus as the oldest of three sons of the Jewish lawyer and notary Hermann Hammerschmidt and his Catholic wife Elisabeth. He actually wanted to become a musician after graduating from high school. However, since 1935 Hermann was considered a " first degree Jewish mixed race ". On the advice of a relative who had emigrated to Argentina, he made a different decision to increase his chances of leaving. He began studying chemistry at the Technical University in Berlin. After graduating as a chemical engineer, he began studying medicine at Berlin University . During the Second World War he worked as a scientific assistant for a Berlin drug manufacturer. Since he manufactured drugs that were essential for the war effort, in contrast to his brothers Wolfgang and Ulrich, he was not called up for forced labor at the Todt Organization . His father was murdered in December 1944 in the Oderblick labor education camp near Schwetig.

He was only able to turn to journalism after the end of the war. In 1946 Hammerschmidt took over the domestic policy department of the Münchner Echo der Woche . In the following year he headed the newly created party publishing house of the CSU as the responsible editor and license holder .

From 1949 on, Hammerschmidt worked in various positions for Bavarian Radio ; first as an author, then from 1953 to 1957 as head of the current department and finally as deputy editor-in-chief of Bavarian television.

In the early 1960s he went to the SDR in Stuttgart. There he developed and directed - from 1961 also as editor-in-chief of television - the political magazine ANNO - film reports on news from yesterday and tomorrow , which was first broadcast on October 25, 1960. In the first broadcast, Hammerschmidt reported on the arrest of Adolf Eichmann . Report Munich later emerged from the broadcast . Hammerschmidt can therefore be regarded as a pioneer of the political television magazine in the Federal Republic.

In 1964 and 1965 he was chief correspondent for ARD in Bonn.

From July 1, 1965 to 1977, Hammerschmidt was director of the SWF. During this time he also chaired the ARD in 1972 and 1973. He was considered a contentious and sometimes inconvenient media manager who saw himself primarily as a journalist rather than an administrative specialist. In the run-up to the introduction of color television, Hammerschmidt headed the rationalization commission of ARD and ZDF and achieved the joint use of resources such as studios and broadcast vehicles. As chairman of the commission for training and advanced training of ARD and ZDF, he developed the concept for a central training center.

In the early election of a new director in 1976, he initially declared himself ready for another candidacy, but then withdrew it. His successor as SWF director was Willibald Hilf .

From 1977 Hammerschmidt headed the Bonn Institute for TV Audience Research for a while. At the University of Mainz , he headed the department for electronic journalism in the journalism seminar.

Helmut Hammerschmidt was married and the father of a son and two daughters. He was a member of the CDU .

source

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Wolfgang Hammerschmidt : Search for traces - On the history of the Jewish Hammerschmidt family in Cottbus . Psychosozial-Verlag , Giessen 1996, ISBN 3-930096-49-8 , p. 143.
  2. ↑ Wolfgang Hammerschmidt : Search for traces - On the history of the Jewish Hammerschmidt family in Cottbus . Psychosozial-Verlag , Giessen 1996, ISBN 3-930096-49-8 , p. 146.
  3. ↑ Wolfgang Hammerschmidt : Search for traces - On the history of the Jewish Hammerschmidt family in Cottbus . Psychosozial-Verlag , Giessen 1996, ISBN 3-930096-49-8 , p. 33.
  4. ↑ web.ard.de

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Hammerschmidt, Helmut
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German journalist, director of the WDR
DATE OF BIRTH May 28, 1920
PLACE OF BIRTH cottbus
DATE OF DEATH March 4, 1998
Place of death Munich