Kurt Gentz
Kurt Gentz (born September 20, 1901 in Dresden ; † July 13, 1980 ) was a German journalist in the German Democratic Republic (GDR). He was editor-in-chief of the Sächsische Zeitung , the Lausitzer Rundschau and Urania-Verlag .
Life
Gentz, the son of a worker, learned the trade of a locksmith after graduating from high school. From 1924 to 1928 he studied at the Technical University of Dresden and became a graduate economist .
At the age of 16 Gentz became a member of the Free Socialist Youth (FSJ), later of the Socialist Student Union and in 1920 of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). From 1924 to 1927 he was chairman of the Young Socialists in Saxony .
After completing his studies, Gentz began his journalistic career and became editor and later deputy editor-in-chief of the Volkszeitung in Bremen . After the National Socialists came to power , he lost this position in 1933. From 1935 to 1941 he temporarily worked as an insurance agent for the Hanseatic Death Fund and Allianz . In 1941 he was drafted into the German Wehrmacht and fought in World War II . In 1945 he was taken prisoner by the British , from which he was released that same year.
In 1945 Gentz became editor-in-chief of the Dresden SPD newspaper Volksstimme . As a result of the forced unification of the SPD and the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) in the Soviet-occupied zone of Germany, Gentz became a member of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) in 1946 . In 1946 Gentz became editor-in-chief of the Sächsische Zeitung in Dresden and was also a member of the secretariat of the SED regional association of Saxony. Gentz was a co-founder and in 1949/50 the first chairman of the Association of Journalists of the GDR (VDJ) in Saxony.
In June 1949, Gentz, succeeding Georg Porthmann, became editor-in-chief of the Lausitzer Rundschau in Cottbus . In 1951 he switched to the magazine Deutschlands Voice , of which he was editor-in-chief until 1953. From 1951 to 1954 he completed a distance learning course and achieved a diploma in social sciences .
From 1953 to 1961 Gentz was the head of the Nature and Home Friends department in the Federal Secretariat of the GDR Cultural Association . In 1962 he became editor-in-chief at Urania-Verlag, from 1953 at the same time editor-in-chief of the magazines Der Falke and Ornithologie und Vivarienkunde . In 1967 Gentz retired.
Honors
- 1966 Patriotic Order of Merit (GDR)
literature
- Helmut Müller-Enbergs : Kurt Gentz . In: Who was who in the GDR? 5th edition. Volume 1. Ch. Links, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86153-561-4 .
- Gabriele Baumgartner: Karl-Friedrich Fuchs . In: Gabriele Baumgartner, Dieter Hebig (Hrsg.): Biographisches Handbuch der SBZ / DDR. 1945–1990 , KG Saur, Munich 1997, ISBN 3-598-11177-0 .
Web links
- Literature by and about Kurt Gentz in the catalog of the German National Library
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Gentz, Kurt |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German journalist and editor-in-chief in the GDR |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 20, 1901 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Dresden |
| DATE OF DEATH | July 13, 1980 |