Susanne von Paczensky

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Susanne von Paczensky (birth name Czapski ) (born January 22, 1923 in Augsburg ; † May 15, 2010 in Hamburg ) was a German journalist , author and committed representative of the women's movement .

Life

Susanne von Paczensky grew up in Berlin with her parents and her younger brother Ulrich. Her father, Hans Czapski, was a senior Prussian civil servant with a social-democratic tradition, her mother, Veronika Erdmann-Czapski, a well-known poet. Although a baptized Protestant , the father was declared a Jew and Susanne a “ half-breed ” during the Nazi era .

At the school in Berlin's upscale Dahlem district, which was also attended by children of influential Nazis, Susanne Czapski was insulted as a "Jewish pig" and presented by the teacher in "Rassenkunde" as a prime example of a "half-breed". Although she suffered from being an outsider, she was always a bright and confident child.

After graduating from high school in 1941, she began studying law in Freiburg, which she had to break off when it came to light that she had forged her Aryan certificate in order to be admitted to the course.

Career start and the Nuremberg Trials

Soon afterwards her journalistic career started. Initially working as an interpreter for the US occupation forces, an American friend drew her attention to the DENA news agency (German-American news agency, later DANA), the forerunner of dpa , in Bad Nauheim , which was founded by American occupation officers .

On October 1, 1945, Susanne von Paczensky began training as a news editor at DENA. After only three months of apprenticeship, the only woman in the ten-strong editorial team was selected to report on the Nuremberg trial of the main war criminals. Susanne von Paczensky, who at that time had no journalistic experience, was, along with Erika Mann and Ursula von Kardorff , one of the few women admitted there.

From political reporter to columnist

From 1947 to 1949 she was editor of the daily newspaper " WELT " in Hamburg, founded by the British occupying forces . She married the journalist Gert von Paczensky , who shortly afterwards also started working as a political editor for Die Welt. Susanne von Paczensky was now forced to switch to the feature section of the newspaper, as it was not allowed for spouses to work in the same department.

In 1949 the couple finally went to London together . There only her husband got the job as political foreign correspondent for Die Welt , although Susanne von Paczensky enjoyed a high journalistic reputation for her reporting from Nuremberg. She was only allowed to submit articles from time to time for the “mixed up”. Susanne von Paczensky therefore began to become more politically active in private.

In 1951 the Paczensky couple were transferred to Paris from the WELT. You were among the first German foreign correspondents to be admitted to France.

Return to Hamburg

1956 son Alexander was born. A year later, Susanne von Paczensky followed her husband back to Hamburg, who accepted the post of head of the "Foreign Policy" department. Daughter Carola was born there in 1958. While her husband became Panorama boss and head of Radio Bremen, she wrote as a freelance journalist for radio and several magazines such as Deutsches Panorama , Kölner Stadtanzeiger , “Brigitte” and “Constanze”.

In the late 1960s, Susanne von Paczensky was able to deal more intensively with her work, conduct interviews and research. In 1969 her marriage to Gert von Paczensky was divorced. Susanne von Paczensky used the separation for a new beginning. When she was almost 50, she began studying sociology at the University of Hamburg .

New momentum in the 1970s

The West German student movement emerged and the women's movement flourished. Her engagement in women's politics began. Together with her fellow campaigners, she founded the Hamburg group FRAU and later the women's initiative October 6 , which campaigned for an active gender equality policy. She wrote about reforms in the penal system, about the trial of “EMMA” against “STERN” and the pill and thus developed into an important representative of the women's movement. In particular, she made the fight against the abortion ban her life's work from now on.

Section 218 was also a central theme of her book series "Frauen aktuell", which she published from 1977 to 1983 in Rowohlt-Verlag . Every year six volumes were published as rororo pocket books on topics such as violence in marriage, women in parliament, Turkish women in Germany, fathers as perpetrators, hostility towards women, women as accomplices.

Sixty with enthusiasm

As Susanne von Paczensky got older, she not only defended herself in her writings against the condescension and patronizing with which the younger ones approached her, but also did not shy away from addressing the side effects of aging. She did not find aging to be negative. On the contrary - while her 40th birthday was still “the blackest day of [her] life”, she later met old age with confidence and curiosity: “I turned fifty with good courage and sixty with enthusiasm”.

In 1981, at the age of 58, Susanne von Paczensky obtained her doctorate in Bremen. phil in sociology . Her dissertation on the topic of "Social Relationships of Lesbian Women" was published under the title "Schwewiegene Liebe" by Bertelsmann Verlag and deals with the discrimination of lesbian women in society.

In 1982 she founded the Hamburger Familienplanungszentrum Hamburg e. V. , which offers advice on topics such as sexuality , contraception , pregnancy and sex education and cooperates with Pro Familia (Germany) and the Arbeiterwohlfahrt . In 2003 she became honorary chairwoman of the association.

From 1986 onwards she increasingly turned to the struggle for the liberalization of abortion and, during her time as the first chairwoman of the Hamburg Family Planning Center, published various books on this subject. From the survey results of the investigations in the family planning center, numerous conversations with those affected and their own experience, books such as “§ 218: At the expense of women” (1988) and “That shouldn't have happened again!” (1990) were created. In articles in newspapers such as “Die Zeit”, Frankfurter Rundschau and “Vorwärts”, she deals with the topic of abortion and § 218.

Fear of a "Greater German Reich"

At the end of the 1980s, Susanne von Paczensky was deeply concerned about the coming reunification of Germany. She met the associated revival of patriotic moods with great skepticism and rejection. She did not want to experience a “Greater German Reich”, as she called it, again.

So she went abroad again and reported from Berkeley , California, for Die Zeit , Brigitte and the Süddeutsche Zeitung on socially critical issues, such as the penal system in the USA and the death penalty , against which she campaigned. The main point of their criticism was that the civil rights of which Americans are so proud should not apply to the convict.

After her return, Susanne von Paczensky lived again in Hamburg, where, among other things, she supported migrant women in learning German. Susanne von Paczensky died on May 15, 2010 at the age of 87.

Others

Susanne von Paczensky was married to the journalist and author Gert von Paczensky from 1947 to 1969 . Her son is the former taz photographer Ali Paczensky, managing director of the Fotofinder agency in Berlin. Her daughter is the former press spokeswoman for the Federal Constitutional Court and former State Councilor for the Hamburg judicial authority, Carola von Paczensky (* 1958).

Political commitment

General

Politics has always played a major role in Susanne von Paczensky's life. As a schoolboy in Berlin and later as a student in Freiburg, she had contact with resistance groups and produced leaflets.

During her time in London, Susanne von Paczensky first became active in a political organization. She joined the Fabian Society as an alternative to the Labor Party, which did not accept foreigners. She was also involved in the Peace with China Council in London and later joined an Algeria support committee in France.

In 1958, one year after her return to Germany, she joined the SPD , in whose left wing she was an active member for over 30 years. She was a member of the Altona district assembly, a member of the Justice Department and from 1970 to 1971 represented on the state executive committee of the SPD.

As a justice deputy, she first campaigned for a reform of the Hamburg penal system. During her sociology studies, Susanne von Paczensky took part in numerous demonstrations and gatherings, for example against nuclear power, rape in marriage and for the abolition of Section 175 , which made homosexuality among men a criminal offense.

Commitment to women's rights

Susanne von Paczensky's engagement in women's politics began in 1968 when she took part in her first women's demonstration, the “Women's Lib” in New York out of curiosity. From then on, her political and journalistic work was heavily influenced by the struggle for women's rights and their equal position in society.

Due to her personal experience with rape and unwanted pregnancy, Susanne von Paczensky campaigned primarily for these issues and in particular for the abolition of § 218. In 1971 she participated in the by Alice Schwarzer initiated action " We had an abortion! ", In which celebrities such as Romy Schneider and Senta Berger publicly admitted that they had violated the" abortion paragraph ". The self-accusation appeared with the faces of the confessing women on the front page of Stern magazine .

Prizes and awards

In 1995 Susanne von Paczensky received the Fritz-Singer-Prize for her life's work as a journalist:

"For 50 years she has been fighting courageously, competently and passionately with her pen for a more democratic society, for freedom of thought, for social reforms and for the weaker in our society."

In 2004, shortly after her return from California, she received two awards. For her life's work as a journalist and her commitment to women's politics, she received the Hedwig Dohm certificate from the Association of Women Journalists . Magdalena Kemper gave the laudation and gave Susanne von Paczensky the same qualities that also distinguished Hedwig Dohm: “Unwavering, impatient, mocking and curious into old age. It all suits you well. ”She further explained:

“Resistance, fearlessness, loudly formulated protest - that is what I associate with your person, and it has also sharpened my senses for compassion and resistance. In this respect you are - without even knowing it - a combative mentor to me. "

In addition, she was awarded the Fritz Bauer Prize of the Humanist Union in recognition of her life's work, especially her commitment to women's rights. Heide Hering drew a conclusion under Susanne von Paczensky's life's work:

“For SvP, the struggle for human rights was also a struggle for women's rights. Women are subject to special forms of bondage and injustice, and their participation in political action encounters special obstacles. Her goal was to make these obstacles visible and, where possible, to remove them - and she succeeded. "

Since 2016 there is a Susanne-von-Paczensky-Straße in Altona-Nord .

Works (selection)

Books

  • The test cracker. How to Successfully Pass Career Tests. C. Bertelsmann, Munich 1974, ISBN 3-570-00912-2 .
  • Secret love. On the situation of lesbian women in society. C. Bertelsmann, Munich 1981, ISBN 3-570-02158-0 .
  • Mixed feelings from women who are unintentionally pregnant. Beck, Munich 1987, ISBN 3-406-32325-1 .
  • Modest castles in the air. The woman in society. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 1997, ISBN 3-596-13457-9 .

Editing

  • Women and terror. Try to explain women's involvement in violence. Rowohlt, Reinbek 1978, ISBN 3-499-14277-5 .
  • The brides sold. Turkish women between Kreuzberg and Anatolia. Rowohlt, Reinbek 1978, ISBN 3-499-14268-6 .
  • We are not murderers! Polemic against an intimidation campaign. Rowohlt, Reinbek 1980, ISBN 3-499-14635-5 .
  • The new moralists. § 218 - On the careless handling of a topic of the century. Rowohlt, Reinbek 1984, ISBN 3-499-15352-1 .
  • § 218: At the expense of women (together with Renate Sadrozinski). Rowohlt, Reinbek 1988, ISBN 3-499-12383-5 .

Studies

  • That shouldn't have happened again! Repeated abortions and what's behind them. A study from the family planning center Hamburg. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 1990, ISBN 3-596-24755-1 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h Magdalena Kemper: Prize winner 2004: Susanne von Paczensky. In: Website of the Association of Women Journalists. Journalistinnenbund , November 11, 2015, accessed on March 7, 2020 (laudatory speech on the presentation of the 2004 Hedwig Dohm certificate).
  2. ^ Conversation with Susanne von Paczensky. (Run by Charles Schüddekopf.) In: Inge Stolten (Hrsg.): The hunger for experience. Women after 1945. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 1981, p. 35.
  3. ^ Conversation with Susanne von Paczensky. P. 36.
  4. ^ Susanne von Paczensky: Modest air castles. Journalistic notes from half a century. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 1997, p. 20.
  5. ^ Elisabeth Klaus, Ulla Wischermann : Journalists. A story in biographies and texts 1848–1990. Lit, Berlin / Münster / Vienna / Zurich / London 2013.
  6. ^ Susanne von Paczensky: Modest air castles. P. 33.
  7. ↑ Margit Miosga: I'm not a poet.
  8. ^ Conversation with Susanne von Paczensky. P. 40 f.
  9. ^ Susanne von Paczensky: Modest air castles. P. 33.
  10. ↑ Heike Haarhoff: Gaining experience and passing it on - the life and work of the journalist, publicist and sociologist Susanne von Paczensky. Housework with an interview with Susanne von Paczenski at the Institute for Journalism at the University of Dortmund. 1990, p. 10.
  11. ↑ Heike Haarhoff: Gathering and passing on experience. P. 11.
  12. ↑ Ruth Damwerth: With a tray and freedom. The journalist Susanne von Paczensky. ( Memento of the original from September 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: existential. 4/2004. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.existenzielle.de
  13. ↑ Heike Mundzeck: A door opened for women. Chronology of an unusual women's career. In: Frankfurter Rundschau. No. 185, June 1, 1985, p. ZB 5.
  14. ^ Susanne von Paczensky: Modest air castles. P. 267.
  15. ↑ Susanne von Paczensky: Secret love. On the situation of lesbian women in society. C. Bertelsmann, Munich 1981, p. 27.
  16. ^ Heide Hering: Laudation on the award of the Fritz Bauer Prize 2004 to Susanne von Paczensky.
  17. ↑ Heike Haarhoff: Gathering and passing on experience. P. 14 f.
  18. ^ Klaus, Elisabeth / Wischermann, Ulla (2013): Journalists. A story in biographies and texts 1848–1990. Berlin / Münster / Vienna / Zurich / London: Lit Verlag GmbH & Co. KG.
  19. ↑ See the Fotofinder website .
  20. ^ Conversation with Susanne von Paczensky. P. 33.
  21. ^ Conversation with Susanne von Paczensky. P. 41 f.
  22. ^ Conversation with Susanne von Paczensky. P. 42 f.
  23. ↑ Fritz Bauer Prize 2004 to the women's rights activist Dr. Susanne von Paczensky. Speech of the award winner. on: humanistische-union.de
  24. ↑ Ruth Damwerth: With a tray and freedom. The journalist Susanne von Paczensky. In: existential. 4/2004.
  25. ↑ Ingrid Müller-Münch: Afterword. In: Susanne von Paczensky: Modest castles in the air. The woman in society. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 1997, p. 277.
  26. ^ Susanne von Paczensky: Modest air castles. P. 44.
  27. ↑ Ingrid Müller-Münch: Afterword. In: Susanne von Paczensky: Modest castles in the air. P. 277.
  28. ^ Fritz Singer Prize 1995 to Susanne von Paczensky and Wilfried Huismann. SPD press service, September 25, 1995.
  29. ↑ Heide Hering: Awarded the Fritz Bauer Prize.
  30. ^ Statistics Office North: Street and area index of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Paczensky, Susanne von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German journalist and book author
DATE OF BIRTH January 22, 1923
PLACE OF BIRTH augsburg
DATE OF DEATH May 15, 2010
Place of death Hamburg