Peter Coulmas

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Peter Coulmas , born as Petros Koulmassis , (born August 29, 1914 in Dresden ; † January 9, 2003 in Cologne ) was a German author, publicist and journalist . Coulmas is the father of the Japanologist Florian Coulmas and the director Timon Koulmassis , who processed the life story of his father during the Second World War in Athens in a film documentary.

Life

Coulmas was born the son of a Greek cigarette manufacturer in Dresden and attended high school there. After graduating from high school, he studied sociology , philosophy and literature at the technical university in his hometown, later in Berlin , Geneva , Freiburg and Hamburg . From 1936 he worked as an assistant at the University of Athens . Because of his advocacy of democracy, he was arrested by Ioannis Metaxas ' authoritarian regime in 1936 , but was allowed to leave for Germany after a few months. In 1943 he completed his habilitation thesis " Future and Past in the Political Thought of German Romanticism ".

Professionally, Coulmas initially worked as a journalist for Greek and German newspapers and mainly wrote travel reports and reports. I.a. he reported as a correspondent from the Congo , in the Algerian war and during the Suez crisis . He was also the author of several non-fiction books and editor of foreign policy publications. In the mid-1960s he moved to WDR in Cologne, where he took on the role of senior foreign policy editor. He was significantly involved in setting up a special radio program for foreign guest workers , from which today's Funkhaus Europa emerged .

Coulmas lived in Cologne-Marienburg and was married to the Greek writer and diplomat Danae Coulmas . Together, the couple campaigned against the Greek military dictatorship and maintained contact with personalities such as Willy Brandt , Gustav Heinemann and Walter Scheel .

In 1979 Coulmas left WDR and worked as a freelance writer from then on. The focus of his academic work was on questions of world peace and cosmopolitanism . In 1990 he published the book Weltbürger - Geschichte einer Menschheitssehnsucht , which is considered to be his most important work. In addition, from 1997 until his death he was honorary president of the German section of the cosmopolitan world federation WFM .

Works (selection)

author

  • Fichte's idea of ​​the work. 1939.
  • Between the Nile and the Tigris - the Middle East at the heart of the world. 1958.
  • The curse of freedom - where is the colored world marching to? 1963.
  • Radio without a future? - Return and change of a medium. 1973.
  • Citizens of the world - history of a longing for humanity. 1990.

editor

  • France interprets itself. 1961.
  • England interprets itself. 1962.
  • America reads itself. 1965.

literature

  • Volker Klimpel: media man and global citizen. In: Dresdner Latest News . December 10, 2012.
  • Westdeutscher Rundfunk press release on the death of Peter Coulmas on January 11, 2003.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Letters from Athens , documentation broadcast in 3sat on July 23, 2018.
  2. ↑ Der Spiegel, issue 4/2003 online
  3. ↑ www.weltdemokratie.de - accessed on April 24, 2013.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Coulmas, Peter
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Koulmassis, Petros (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German book author, publicist and journalist
DATE OF BIRTH August 29, 1914
PLACE OF BIRTH Dresden
DATE OF DEATH January 9, 2003
Place of death Cologne