John Bierman

John David Bierman (born January 26, 1929 in London , † January 4, 2006 in Paphos , Cyprus ) was a British journalist , author and historian.

Life

Bierman was born into a Ukrainian-Jewish migrant family, but grew up secularly. Although he lived and worked in Israel, he entered a synagogue late in his life for a friend's wedding. His father was a dealer in old furniture, his mother had a fashion store in London. During the Second World War he left London and grew up with his grandparents near London. He attended 16 different schools, belonged to the London bohemian. In 1954 he moved to Canada , where he married for the first time. He later returned to London as Deputy Editor-in-Chief of The Mirror . In 1960 he was poached by the Aga Khan to set up the newspaper The Nation in Nairobi . 1964 followed a job in the Caribbean. In the mid-1960s he returned to England to work for the BBC.

John Bierman belonged to the generation of independent journalists and writers. Bierman was also known in the media as a newspaper reporter, editor, radio correspondent, television presenter, documentary filmmaker and historian. He became internationally known as a television correspondent for BBC TV. He reported on the Indian-Pakistani military conflict ( 1971), the Bloody Sunday in Londonderry (1972) and the Cyprus conflict (1974).

His book on Raoul Wallenberg (1981) found international acclaim.

Awards

• Cannes International Film Festival for his film about Bloody Sunday in Northern Ireland 1972

literature

• The Heart's Grown Brutal (under the pseudonym David Brewster)
• Fire in the Night (with Colin Smith )
• Alamein-War Without Hate (with Colin Smith )
• Raoul Wallenberg. The lost hero. , Hanser Munich 1982, ISBN 3-446-13528-6
• Odyssey. 1940-1944. Four years on the run through Europe. Stations of a dramatic journey , Ullstein Frankfurt / Main, Berlin 1985, ISBN 3-550-07195-7
• Odyssey , Simon and Schuster New York 1984, ISBN 0-671-50156-9

Web links

• Obituary for John Bierman (The Guardian January 17, 2006)
• Obituary for John Bierman (Times Jan 13, 2006)