Otto Pammer

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Otto Pammer (born May 9, 1926 in Vienna ; † December 29, 2008 there ) was an Austrian cameraman , newsreel and television film producer.

Live and act

Pammer was born in Vienna and worked as a trainee and commercial clerk in the textile industry until he was drafted into the Reich Labor Service on August 30, 1943 and from September 1944 had to serve as a tank grenadier in the Wehrmacht . Four months before the end of the Second World War , his parents' house was hit in a bomb attack, Pammer was given "bombing leave" and deserted .

After the war ended, he filmed the ruins of Vienna with a friend who had received a film camera from his wealthy father. During this activity, the then president of the film union, Fritz Erban , became aware of him and gave him a job at Wien-Film . Pammer first worked as a volunteer, then as a camera assistant and swivel until it finally works as a cameraman.

On May 1, 1950, he was employed by the Fox Tönende Wochenschau , successor to the MPEA Tönende Wochenschau of the British-American occupying powers. He worked for them until 1974, initially as a simple contributor, copywriter and editor , and later as Austria boss of the internationally active company. Among other things, he filmed the signing of the Austrian State Treaty in 1955, the Hungarian National Uprising in 1956, the first Vienna Opera Ball after the end of the war in 1956 and the Prague Spring in 1968. Recordings that went around the world through his employer's sales network. In 1965 he designed the weekly newsreel documentation 20 Years Republic of Austria , in 1968 he produced the historical documentation 50 Years Republic of Austria . Both films were also used by the Ministry of Education for school screenings.

After the Fox newsreel was discontinued in 1974, he founded his own production company, Otto Pammer Film . With this he produced, among other things, Seinerzeit , a program that was broadcast six times a year from 1980 to 1999 on Austrian Broadcasting Corporation (ORF). In 1982, Pammer-Film produced the short children's program Helmi on behalf of the Road Safety Board .

He also invented the company program Seitenblicke , which was first broadcast in 1988 and has since been one of the most successful programs on ORF. In 1996, the ORF awarded the production rights for the show after a bid to Interspot film .

His last productions included the television documentaries, based on historical images, From the end of the war in 1945 to the State Treaty in 1955 (2005), 50 Years of the Popular Uprising in Hungary (2006) and The Invention of Europe - (Un) Expected Consequences of the Marshall Plan (2008).

On the night of Sunday, December 28th, on Monday, the 29th, Pammer died of heart failure at the age of 82.

Otto Pammer was bid farewell to the Ober Sankt Veiter Friedhof in Vienna on January 16, 2009 at 2 p.m. His urn was later buried there (in group P, row 10, number 2).

After Otto Pammer's death, the future of the production company Pammer Film is initially uncertain. In mid-2009, the independent producer Wolfgang Winkler, a former employee, took over Pammer Film.

Filmography (selection)

Awards (selection)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Die Presse : Obituary: Otto Pammer: 1926–2008. December 29, 2008 (print edition: December 30, 2008)
  2. ^ Obituary in ORF
personal data
SURNAME Pammer, Otto
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian television film producer
DATE OF BIRTH May 9, 1926
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna
DATE OF DEATH December 29, 2008
Place of death Vienna