Werner Keller (Author)
Werner Keller (born August 13, 1909 in Gut Nutha (Anhalt) ; † February 29, 1980 in Ascona ) was a German administrative officer, journalist, non-fiction author and resistance fighter against National Socialism .
Life
Werner Keller studied mechanical engineering and medicine , then law in Berlin , Zurich , Rostock (summer semester 1930) and Jena . In 1933 he received his doctorate in law in Jena . As a senior employee in Albert Speer's armaments ministry, he saved the lives of numerous Jews. Keller planned a daring assassination attempt on Hitler and organized a resistance group in Berlin that even briefly ran a black channel against the Nazis in 1945 . He was sentenced to death by hanging by the People's Court . In February 1945, with the help of high-ranking friends, he was transferred to Fort Zinna , the Torgau Wehrmacht prison , at the last minute before the planned execution . Bribes may have helped. Keller was liberated there by American troops ( 69th US Infantry Division ) at the end of April .
After the Second World War , he first worked as a journalist and academic publicist in Hamburg. He worked for the Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk , Die Welt , Die Zeit and illustrated magazines such as Stern and Neue Illustrierte . Here he also used the pseudonym Norman Alken . His book And the Bible Is Right , first published in 1955, had a circulation of over 1 million in Germany and was translated into more than 20 languages. It remained his best-known and most successful book.
Fonts
- The loss of the right to contest marital status according to § 1593 BGB through waiver and recognition. Triltsch, Würzburg 1934, plus Jena, Univ., Diss., 1933 (40 pages)
- And the Bible is right. Econ Verlag , Düsseldorf 1955. Revised and provided with an afterword by Joachim Rehork , Ullstein , Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-548-37246-4
- East minus west = zero. Droemer Knaur , Munich 1960.
- And the Bible is right - in pictures. Econ, Düsseldorf 1963. ( No. 1 on the Spiegel bestseller list from October 16 to 29, 1963 )
- And were scattered among all peoples - the post-biblical history of the Jewish people. Droemer Knaur, Munich 1966, ISBN 978-3426045701 .
- Because they lit the light. History of the Etruscans - the solution to a riddle. Droemer Knaur, Munich / Zurich 1970; Paperback edition 1974, ISBN 3-426-00352-X . ( No. 1 on the Spiegel bestseller list in 1970 and 1971 )
- What was considered a miracle yesterday. The discovery of mysterious human powers. Droemer Knaur, Munich / Zurich 1973, 1979, ISBN 3-426-03436-0 .
Web links
- Literature by and about Werner Keller in the catalog of the German National Library
- Brief literary history of the non-fiction book (II) - An unprecedented explosion of knowledge , Die Zeit, March 31, 1967.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Entry in the Rostock matriculation portal
- ↑ Bernd Ziesemer : A private against Hitler. Looking for my father. Hoffmann and Campe, Frankfurt a. M. February 2012, ISBN 978-3455502541 , p. 162.
- ↑ Der Spiegel 48/1960: Review
- ↑ new edition Brockhaus, Wuppertal / Zurich 1993, ISBN 3-417-24639-3 (updated and with an essay Im Lande Israel by Michael Studemund-Halévy . Foreword by Ignatz Bubis ).
personal data | |
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SURNAME | Keller, Werner |
ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Norman Ạlken |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German journalist and non-fiction author |
DATE OF BIRTH | August 13, 1909 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Nutha |
DATE OF DEATH | February 29, 1980 |
Place of death | Ascona |