Rolf Wernicke

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Rolf Wernicke, 1942

Rolf Waldemar Wernicke (born August 15, 1903 in Mülhausen , Reichsland Alsace-Lorraine , † January 8, 1953 in Constance ) was a German sports reporter and radio journalist .

Life

Activities before and during the Second World War

Rolf Wernicke reported as a radio reporter from the Summer Olympics in Berlin in 1936

After attending high school and high school , Rolf Wernicke worked as a journalist. In 1933 he successfully took part in a speaker competition of the then Reichs-Rundfunk-Gesellschaft and was then taken on as a radio reporter. In 1936 he achieved great popularity with radio listeners by broadcasting an ice hockey game at the Winter Olympics in Garmisch-Partenkirchen . During the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin , under the direction of Bernhard Ernst, together with Paul Laven and Roderich Dietze , he reported on the opening ceremony of the games and the athletics competitions . He broadcast the men's 100 m final with Jesse Owens . The rulers of the Third Reich also became aware of Rolf Wernicke and subsequently he reported on all important events (party congresses, state visits, etc.) of the Nazi dictatorship. In later years he also headed the sports department at Großdeutscher Rundfunk and was chief spokesman for sports in the German newsreel . Occasionally he was also used as a war correspondent at the front.

Work after 1945

After the end of the Second World War , he initially found a job as a theater manager in Tuttlingen in 1946 . Despite his prominent position in the media of the Third Reich, he could already be heard on the radio again in 1947 as a freelancer for Südwestfunk . In 1948 he reported as a radio reporter on both the Winter Olympics in St. Moritz and the Summer Olympics in London . At the Olympic Winter Games in Oslo in 1952 , he was nominated as a specialist in ice hockey and bobsleigh alongside the young reporters Gerd Mehl , Harry Valérien and Udo Hartwig and was again appointed as a reporter at the Olympic Summer Games in Helsinki . This was despite the fact that his choice of words was sometimes martial and his relapse into the style of reports from the Nazi era during a boxing match between Hein ten Hoff and Jersey Joe Walcott in Mannheim in 1950 .

“During the heavyweight boxing match between Hein ten Hoff and Jersey Joe Walcott in Mannheim in 1950, Wernicke reports live, and during the heated fight he falls into a bad Nazi diction. 'The negro is sitting in the corner, cold,' says Wernicke once with disgust in his voice, and then he describes ten Hoff as 'our man'. "

- Erik Eggers : in his book "The Voice of Bern"

The news magazine Der Spiegel spoke of "waves of artificial excitement" and named the Berlin radio in the American sector (RIAS) as the source of the excitement . At the same time, Wernicke was also a role model for a whole generation of reporters in post-war Germany.

"Sports reporter in Nazi Germany - original voice and role model for many reporters of the post-war generation."

- The time 3/2005

In 1952, the Hessischer Rundfunk in Frankfurt appointed Rolf Wernicke to head the “Current Word” department.

Films and radio plays

Rolf Wernicke took part in several film productions in which he either played a reporter or acted as a speaker and commentator. These included the two-part documentary Olympia from 1938 by Leni Riefenstahl and the 1939 National Socialist propaganda film In the Fight Against the World Enemy by Karl Ritter , which today in Germany can only be shown as a reserved film under strict conditions.

You could also see him in 1938 in the entertainment films Anna Favetti by Erich Waschneck with Brigitte Horney , Mathias Wieman and Karl Schönböck and in 1942 in The Great Game by Robert A. Stemmle with René Deltgen , Gustav Knuth and Heinz Engelmann as actors.

He was also active as a speaker in two radio plays. He spoke in earnest of Khuon's step into space - utopia and reality alongside Georg Lehn , Kurt Lieck and Hans Timerding .

End of life

Rolf Wernicke died of a stroke on January 8, 1953 at the age of 49 in Constance. In an obituary it says:

“[...] a great loss for the radio, which always gave it the reporting of the most important sporting events. And when millions of listeners complain that Rolf Wernicke no longer speaks, it is not least because no speaker has as much of his personality as he does. "

- Die Zeit 3/1953, p. 14

Filmography (selection)

Radio plays

literature

  • Johann Caspar Glenzdorf: Glenzdorf's international film lexicon. Biographical manual for the entire film industry. Volume 3: Peit – Zz. Prominent-Filmverlag, Bad Münder 1961, DNB 451560752 , pp. 1871–1872.
  • Erik Eggers : The voice of Bern . Wißner Verlag, Augsburg 2004, ISBN 3-89639-423-1 , pp. 85-101.

Web links

Commons : Rolf Wernicke  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Brief portrait of Rolf Wernicke in the German Broadcasting Archive online; Retrieved August 4, 2012
  2. ^ Glenzdorf's international film lexicon . Volume 3. (Peit – Zz), Bad Münder 1961, p. 1871.
  3. ↑ Erik Eggers: The Voice of Bern . P. 92
  4. ↑ The man can do something In: Der Spiegel 29/1950, on: Spiegel Online . Retrieved August 4, 2012
  5. ↑ Brief portrait of Bernhard Ernst in the German Broadcasting Archive online; Retrieved August 4, 2012
  6. ^ List of radio reporters at the 1936 Summer Olympics in the German Radio Archive online; Retrieved August 4, 2012
  7. ↑ Erik Eggers: The Voice of Bern . P. 89
  8. ↑ Audio quote from the radio report in the German Radio Archive online; Retrieved August 9, 2012
  9. ↑ Brief portrait of Herbert Zimmermann ( memento from September 26, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) on web.ard.de; accessed on June 20, 2020
  10. ↑ a b Portrait of Herbert Zimmermann on rheinische-geschichte.lvr.de; Retrieved August 4, 2012
  11. ^ Glenzdorf's international film lexicon . Volume 3. (Peit – Zz), Bad Münder 1961, p. 1872.
  12. ↑ Erik Eggers: The Voice of Bern . P. 93
  13. ↑ No phrases about mood In: Der Spiegel 6/1952, on: Spiegel Online . Retrieved August 4, 2012
  14. ↑ a b Again our In: Der Spiegel 48/1950, on: Spiegel Online . accessed on June 18, 2020
  15. ↑ Erik Eggers: The Voice of Bern . P. 84
  16. ↑ Die Meistersinger In: Die Zeit 3/2005 on: zeit.de ; Retrieved August 4, 2012
  17. ↑ In the fight against the world enemy on filmportal.de; Retrieved August 4, 2012
  18. ^ The big game at Murnau Foundation online; accessed on May 1, 2016
  19. ↑ Step into space - utopia and reality on ARD audio play database; accessed on February 10, 2016
  20. ↑ Erik Eggers: The Voice of Bern . P. 94
  21. ↑ Wernicke no longer speaks In: Die Zeit 3/1953 on: zeit.de ; Retrieved August 4, 2012
personal data
SURNAME Wernicke, Rolf
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Wernicke, Rolf Waldemar (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German sports reporter and radio journalist
DATE OF BIRTH August 15, 1903
PLACE OF BIRTH Mulhouse , Reichsland Alsace-Lorraine
DATE OF DEATH January 8, 1953
Place of death Constancy