Volkmar von Zühlsdorff

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Volkmar Johannes August Friedrich Maria von Zühlsdorff (born December 9, 1912 in Finow ; † September 22, 2006 in Berlin ) was a doctor of law , diplomat and journalist and, until his death, was the honorary chairman of the Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold , which he had been with since 1931 belonged to.

biography

From 1918 he attended school in Breslau . After graduating from high school in 1931, Zühlsdorff joined the democratically oriented republic protection association “ Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold ”, although he was politically rather conservative . He then studied law from 1931 to 1933 at the Friedrich Wilhelms University in Berlin. Since he met the political publicist Hubertus Prinz zu Löwenstein at a meeting of the Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold in 1929 , Zühlsdorff had a lifelong family bond with his friend. In the Berlin Reichsbanner he was Löwenstein's deputy as head of the “Vorrupp Schwarz-Rot-Gold”, the children's organization for under 14-year-olds and a precursor to the young banner . He was also chairman of the Berlin-Mitte local group, a focal point of the clashes with the enemies of the democratic republic. In particular with the SA and SS , but also with the Red Front Fighters League , there were tough fights at hall protection, rallies and marches. At this time, Zühlsdorff began to publish under the pseudonym Hans-Achim Finow .

In May 1933 he emigrated with the prince and his wife Helga, b. Schuylenburg went to Austria to finish his studies there and did his doctorate in Innsbruck in 1936 . Via France , England and Switzerland , the three came to the United States in January 1938 , where they lived until September 1946.

As early as 1935 he took part in the founding of the “German Academy of Arts and Sciences in Exile” initiated by Prince Löwenstein, and from 1936 to 1942 he was the director of the academy. The presidents of this institution included Thomas Mann and Sigmund Freud .

After their return on October 12, 1946, they launched the “Deutsche Aktion” in West Germany. In 1950/51 they occupied the island of Heligoland together with students and were able to end British bombing flights and end the destruction of the island. Ultimately, the decisive factor was the good relations Löwenstein had with the British nobility.

From 1952 to 1956, Zühlsdorff was an editor for politics at Die Zeit , in order to change sides in 1957 as a member of the conservative German party and to shape politics himself. In 1957 he ran unsuccessfully for the German Bundestag and was the full-time state manager of the DP in Saarland for two years . During the same period Löwenstein was state chairman.

In 1959 Zühlsdorff was appointed to the Foreign Office and worked as a diplomat for the Federal Republic of Germany until 1977. He worked as a cultural attaché in the United States, Canada, and later for many years as an embassy worker in Thailand and Laos . Zühlsdorff learned Thai, translated poems into German and studied Buddhism intensively .

An exchange of letters with his friend Hermann Broch was published by Suhrkamp in 1986 and received a lot of attention.

With Prince Löwenstein, Volkmar Zühlsdorff also founded the Free German Association of Authors (FDA).

From 1984 Volkmar Zühlsdorff lived with the widowed Princess Löwenstein until her death in 2004.

In the last years of his life, Zühlsdorff and Annemarie Renger made himself available as a contemporary witness, especially for schools. Among other things, he was present at most of the opening events of a traveling exhibition on the history of the Reich Banner.

Awards

Works

  • When the rice wakes up from the dew. A selection of Thai poetry from the past to the present day. Edited and translated from the Thai by Volkmar Zühlsdorff, Simon & Magiera, Munich 1984.
  • Letters about Germany. 1945 - 1949. The correspondence with Volkmar von Zühlsdorff / Hermann Broch. Edited and introduced by Paul Michael Lützeler, Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt a. M. 1986.
  • In the company of my time. Essays - Memories - Documents. Munich 1998, ISBN 3-924592-17-9 .
  • German Academy in exile. The forgotten resistance. Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-930886-03-0 .

literature

  • Kirsten Wenzel: Volkmar Zühlsdorff. (Born 1912) An outsider. Respected, but irritatingly unsullied. In: Der Tagesspiegel . January 5, 2007 ( tagesspiegel.de ).

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Zühlsdorff, Volkmar von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Zühlsdorff, Volkmar Johannes August Friedrich Maria von (full name); Finow, Hans-Achim (pseudonym)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German lawyer, diplomat and publicist
DATE OF BIRTH December 9, 1912
PLACE OF BIRTH Finow
DATE OF DEATH September 22, 2006
Place of death Berlin