Paul Hofmann (journalist)

Paul Hofmann (born November 20, 1912 in Vienna , † December 30, 2008 in Rome ) was an Austro-American correspondent for the New York Times in Europe who was translator for the German city commanders in Rome during the German occupation of Italy .

Life

Hofmann was born in Vienna as the son of a gardener and grew up with his uncle, a social democrat. He studied Jus at the University of Vienna and became a member of the Christian Social Party in the District of Richard Schmitz , the last mayor of Vienna before the Anschluss of Austria to the German Reich. This gave him jobs at the central office of the Volksbund der Catholics Austria and as editor-in-chief of its newspaper Die Sonntagsglocke . Hofmann worked politically against the annexation to the Third Reich and therefore emigrated to Italy. In Italy he married Maria Anna Tratter, who came from South Tyrol , which was annexed by Italy . In Rome he lived off work as a translator and correspondent.

When the German Wehrmacht in 1943, after the fall of Mussolini , Italy occupied , Hofmann was drafted as a German soldier. He worked as a translator for the two German city commanders of Rome, General Rainer Stahel and General Kurt Mälzer . Hofmann was also an informant for Italian resistance fighters and eventually had to go into hiding . He hid his family in a convent. In November 1944 he was sentenced to death in absentia by a German military court for desertion and high treason .

During the war he worked as a radio announcer in an American propaganda department and wrote an educational pamphlet about the leaders of National Socialism . After the war he witnessed the prosecution in Florence in the trial of Mälzer, in which he was sentenced to ten years in prison for mistreating prisoners of war . Mälzer was subsequently sentenced to death together with General Mackensen for the massacre in the Ardeatine Caves .

Hofmann then began his third professional career as a correspondent for the New York Times, which took him from Rome to many countries and many political hot spots. After his retirement in 1990 Hofmann wrote travel books for his American readers, especially about Rome and Italy.

Works

• Da Hitler ad Himmler , Capriotti, Roma 1945 (translated into Italian by Emma Masci Kiesler)
• The Seasons of Rome: A Journal , 1999, ISBN 978-0-8050-5597-9
• O Vatican! A Slightly Wicked View of the Holy See , ISBN 978-0-86553-101-7
• That Fine Italian Hand , 1991, ISBN 978-0-8050-1729-8
• Roma: The Smart Traveler's Guide to The Eternal City , 1993, ISBN 978-0-8050-3002-0

Web links

• Obituary by John Tagliabue, New York Times , December 31, 2008: "Paul Hofmann, Author and Foe of Nazis, Dies at 96".
• Obituary in the Los Angeles Times "Paul Hofmann, who informed on Nazis before becoming a New York Times journalist, dies at 96".
• Obituary in the International Herald Tribune iht