John Weitz

Hans Werner "John" Weitz (born May 25, 1923 in Berlin ; died October 3, 2002 in Bridgehampton, Suffolk County , New York ) was an American fashion designer, historian and writer of German-Jewish origin. The historian Walter Laqueur counts him - alongside Henry Kissinger and the sculptor Walter Midener - among the most successful representatives of the young “Exodus generation”.

family

Weitz was born in Berlin as the son of the textile manufacturer Robert Salomon "Bobby" Weitz and his wife Hedwig "Hedy" Weitz (née Jacob). Since 1964 he was married to the actress Susan Kohner in third marriage ; The two sons Paul Weitz and Chris Weitz emerged from this marriage, who , according to their own statement, owe a lot of inspiration to their father.

In his first marriage (1943–1953) Weitz was married to Sally Blauner Gould; from this marriage have a daughter, Karen Weitz Curtis, and a son, J. Robert Weitz. His second marriage to Eve Orton, a well-known fashion journalist, divorced in 1964.

Life

School days, emigration, World War II

At the age of ten, Weitz went to boarding school in England. There he attended The Hall School ( Hampstead, London ) from 1933 to 1936 and St. Paul's School from 1936 to 1939 . Among his schoolmates were the sons of the prominent National Socialists Ernst Hanfstaengl and Ambassador Joachim von Ribbentrop (later Reich Foreign Minister, about whom Weitz published a biography in 1992). After graduating from school in 1939, he worked in Paris as a student of the fashion designer Edward Molyneux . In 1938 his parents emigrated from Nazi-ruled Germany first to Paris and then to London . From there, the Weitz family emigrated to the United States via Yokohama and Shanghai . She arrived in Seattle in 1941 and settled in New York City .

In the United States, Weitz first worked for the international broadcaster Voice of America , but was drafted into service in the United States Army in 1942 and received US citizenship. From 1943 to 1945 he served as an intelligence officer - most recently with the rank of captain - in the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). One of his tasks was to interrogate German prisoners of war. In his function as an OSS officer, he also had contact with the military branch of the German resistance .

fashion designer

In 1945, after the end of his army service, Weitz initially worked for his father's company (The Weitz Corporation) as a designer for lingerie. In 1947 he founded John Weitz Juniors Inc., based in New York City, which made dresses and sportswear for women. In 1954, the company John Weitz Designs Inc., which also specializes in women's fashion, was founded. From 1964, Weitz turned to men's fashion. Classic shapes were just as important as the practicality and durability of the clothing.

Since he was very successful in the market as a designer for men's fashion, he began to issue licenses for the use of his brand name in the late 1960s. This stood for a wide and varied range of products that was presented in advertising as an expression of a sophisticated lifestyle. From John Fairchild, the publisher and editor-in-chief of the magazine Women's Wear Daily 1960–1996, the comment comes that the name John Weitz has become a " household name " . His “licensing empire” was only surpassed by those of Pierre Cardin and Christian Dior . In the late 1970s, his clothes and accessories were available in around 1,700 department stores and other stores in America, Europe and Japan.

writer

From 1970 to the end of the 1990s Weitz published both narrative literature and historical non-fiction books that dealt primarily with Germany , which was dominated by the Nazis . His novel The Value of Nothing about the world of fashion and his biographies in 1992 about Joachim von Ribbentrop (Joachim Von Ribbentrop. Hitler's diplomat) and 1997 about Hjalmar Schacht (Hitler's banker. Hjalmar Horace Greeley Schacht) were particularly successful in 1970 . John Steinbeck had encouraged him to write . Weitz 'friends also included Tom Wolfe , who wrote the introduction to his Ribbentrop biography.

Weitz has also published numerous magazine articles on a variety of topics in the fields of fashion and style, New York City, automobiles, and racing. He himself drove car races in the 1950s ; among his acquaintances from the German racing scene were Huschke von Hanstein , Richard von Frankenberg and Wolfgang von Trips , with whom he was close friends.

Honourings and prices

• 1959: Sports Illustrated Award
• 1960: NBC Today Award
• 1964–1967: Caswell-Massey Awards
• 1966: Harper's Bazaar Medallion
• 1974: Coty American Fashion Critics' Award
• 1975: Brilliant Pen Award
• 1981: Cartier Award for Design Excellence
• 1986: Cutty Sark Menswear Award
• 1986: Mayor's Liberty Award
• 1988: Federal Cross of Merit
• 1990: Dallas Menswear Mart Award
• 1990: Fashion Institute of Technology President's Award
• 1992: Ellis Island Medal of Honor

Books (selection)

• The Value of Nothing: A Novel. Stein and Day, New York 1970. ISBN 978-0-812-81275-6 .
• Man in batch. The Executive's Guide to Grooming, Manners, and Travel. Macmillan, New York 1974. ISBN 978-0-026-25770-1 .
• Friends in high places. Macmillan, New York 1982. ISBN 978-0-026-25920-0 .
• Joachim Von Ribbentrop. Hitler's diplomat. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 1992, ISBN 0-297-81157-6 .
• Hitler's banker: Hjalmar Horace Greeley Schacht. Little, Brown and Company, Boston 1997, ISBN 0-316-92916-6 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Tina Kelley: John Weitz, 79, Fashion Designer Turned Historian, Dies , New York Times, October 4, 2002; Mary Rourke: John Weitz, 79; Fashion Designer, Writer Served as US Agent in WWII , Los Angeles Times, October 5, 2002; Veronica Hornwell: Obituary: John Weitz , The Guardian, October 12, 2002; Obituary: John Weitz , The Telegraph, October 21, 2002.
2. ↑ In an interview published in 1989 he said of his identity: “I confess my Jewish origins, but my Jewish roots are purely German. I will never stop being German, any more than I will ever stop being Jewish and American. ”See Herlinde Koelbl : Jüdische Portraits: Photographien und Interviews. S. Fischer, Frankfurt a. M. 1989, ISBN 3-10-040204-9 , p. 264.
3. ^ Walter Laqueur : Generation Exodus. The Fate of Young Jewish Refugees from Nazi Germany . Brandeis University Press, Hanover / London 2001, pp. 83f. See also Peter Hellmann: Young, Desperate, Looking for Somewhere to Go. In: Wall Street Journal . August 13, 2001.
4. ↑ Ronald Knoth: A Primer on John Weitz, Part One. ( Memento of February 25, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) In: The Bespoken: For Gentlemen. January 25, 2010.
5. ↑ Naomi Pfefferman: About Two Boys. Late fashion designer John Weitz inspires his Academy Award-nominated sons, Paul and Chris. In: Jewish Journal of March 13, 2003.
6. ↑ Paid Notice: Deaths. Gould, Sally Blauner , New York Times, August 13, 2006; see also Omnilexica entry Sally Gould .
7. ^ Eve Orton, Editor, 72 , New York Times, June 10, 1988.
8. ↑ ^{a b} Herlinde Koelbl: Jewish Portraits: Photographs and Interviews. S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 1989, ISBN 3-10-040204-9 , p. 263.
9. ^ John Weitz: Joachim Von Ribbentrop. Hitler's diplomat. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 1992, ISBN 0-297-81157-6 .
10. ↑ Herlinde Koelbl: Jewish Portraits: Photographs and Interviews. S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 1989, ISBN 3-10-040204-9 , p. 263 f.
11. ↑ Irving Blauner and Frances Blauner v. Commissioner , United States Tax Court, July 31, 1967.
12. ↑ Leonard Sloane: Designer Decries Men's Styles; John Weitz Pleases Himself in Making His New Clothes. In: New York Times . November 2, 1965.
13. ^ John Weitz - Fashion Designer Encyclopedia .
14. ↑ Ronald Knoth: A Primer on John Weitz, Part Two. ( Memento of February 25, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) In: The Bespoken: For Gentlemen. January 27, 2010.
15. ^ So the obituary in The Telegraph of October 21, 2002: Obituary: John Weitz .
16. ↑ Obituary: John Weitz , The Telegraph, October 21, 2002.
17. ↑ Ronald Knoth: A Primer on John Weitz, Part Three. ( Memento of February 25, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) In: The Bespoken: For Gentlemen. January 29, 2010.
18. ^ Cathy Horyn: Legacy; Growing up Weitz. In: New York Times . February 20, 2000.
19. ↑ See e.g. B. John Weitz: Auto Motive. In: New York Times . March 27, 1988.
20. ↑ John Weitz papers, 1945-1998. in the archives of New York University The New School

Web links

• John Weitz papers, 1945-1998 in the archives of New York University The New School
• John Weitz Collection 1990-1992 in the Leo Baeck Institute Clipping Collection
• John Weitz - Fashion Designer Encyclopedia
• Ronald Knoth: A Primer on John Weitz . Three-part picture of life in The Bespoken: For Gentlemen, January 2010 ( Part 1 ( Memento from February 25, 2012 in the Internet Archive ), Part 2 ( Memento from February 25, 2012 in the Internet Archive ), Part 3 ( Memento from February 25, 2012 in Internet Archive ))
• Interview of August 10, 1992 with Charlie Rose