Paul Moor (journalist)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Charles Paul Moor (born March 3, 1924 in El Paso , Texas ; † October 11, 2010 in Berlin ) was a German writer , photographer and music critic of American origin who lived in Berlin-Wilmersdorf, published in German and English and as a mediator between American and German culture is seen.

Life

Paul Moor was considered a musical child prodigy in his youth. He studied piano at the Juilliard School of Music and the University of Texas, graduating at 19. However, he gave up the plan to pursue a career as a concert pianist in 1947 and turned to journalism.

In 1948 he published his first three articles for Harper's Magazine , including an article on Leonard Bernstein . Publications in The New Yorker , Holiday, The Saturday Review, The Saturday Evening Post and many others followed.

In 1949 he moved to Paris and in 1951 to Munich . He now worked as an art critic for the New York Times ; photo series created by him have been published. In Munich he began to deal intensively with the “Third Reich” . (He later published the results of his research in the book "Freedom to Death. Euthanasia and Ethics".) He also worked on various other reports for various magazines, including the German student union system. Very enthusiastic about this, he joined the Corps Franconia Munich in 1954 , of which he remained until his death.

In 1953 he published a photo report on Pablo Casals and the Casals Music Festival. In the next few years he mainly worked as a photojournalist.

In 1956 he moved from Munich to Berlin and from then on reported on Berlin's cultural life, including for Financial Times , The Times , International Herald Tribune and Musical America. He became a regular employee of Time Life and made numerous trips on behalf of Time Life Publishing.

In 1972 he published the book "The Self-Portrait of Jürgen Bartsch". His subsequent work included the translation of Beethoven's notebooks into English and a television documentary about a concentration camp doctor. Scientific texts were also translated by Moor. B. 1988 the study "Homosexuality, Heterosexuality, Perversion" by the Swiss psychoanalyst Fritz Morgenthaler in English.

In 2004 Paul Moor was awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany . With this, the then Federal President Johannes Rau paid tribute to Moors' contribution to German-US-American cultural relations.

On August 23, 2007, Moor had given up his US citizenship in Berlin and received the citizenship certificate of the Federal Republic of Germany.

"The Self-Portrait of Jürgen Bartsch"

When the four-time child murderer Jürgen Bartsch was arrested in June 1966 , it triggered a collective hysterical reaction in the West German public that had not occurred since the Haarmann case . The public was shocked and completely ignorant of Bartsch's deeds, and newspaper articles appeared almost exclusively condemning ahead of time, in which the writers were astonished that a person who grows up in supposedly solid circumstances can develop into such a beast .

Paul Moor was puzzled when he read the newspaper reports that Bartsch had been bathed by his adoptive mother until the day of his arrest, because Jürgen Bartsch was already nineteen years old at that time.

Moor became interested in the case (also against the background of great misery in his own childhood), and when the trial of Bartsch began in 1967 he participated as a reporter. Moor later reported that he felt lonely in the process because he could not share the basic attitudes that the public showed towards Jürgen Bartsch. For him it became more and more noticeable that Bartsch was not only a perpetrator, but also a victim before and at the same time.

Moor contacted Bartsch in writing. In the period from January 1968 to April 1976 he received 250 letters from him. Bartsch took the opportunity to tell in great detail from his life story. In Moor he had his first and only listener who followed up with questions, the questions often being psychoanalytically oriented.

Moor processed the material that he had gathered while dealing with Jürgen Bartsch into a book that appeared in 1972 under the title “The Self-Portrait of Jürgen Bartsch”.

The American psychoanalyst Muriel Gardiner Buttinger later described the book (in a communication to Moor) as “really great”, and the Zurich author and former psychoanalyst Alice Miller dealt with the analysis and analysis of 44 pages in her work, Beginning was Education Interpretation of the facts gathered in Moors book.

Moor later supplemented his work with further letters and statements from Bartsch. In 1991 he published the final version of his representations and findings on the subject of Bartsch under the title "Victims and Perpetrators".

Publications (selection)

  • The self-portrait of Jürgen Bartsch, Fischer, 1972
  • The freedom to die. A plea for the right to a dignified death. Euthanasia and Ethics, Rowohlt, 1973 (O-Title: Death is not the worst )
  • Jürgen Bartsch: Victims and Perpetrators, Rowohlt, 1991; same as TB:
  • Jürgen Bartsch - Self-Portrait of a Child Murderer, Rowohlt, 2003, ISBN 3-499-61482-0 (Paperback edition by Jürgen Bartsch: Victims and perpetrators )

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Moor, Paul
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Moor, Charles Paul (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American-German journalist and music critic
DATE OF BIRTH March 3, 1924
PLACE OF BIRTH El Paso , Texas
DATE OF DEATH October 11, 2010
Place of death Berlin