Werner Rings

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Werner Rings (born May 19, 1910 in Offenbach am Main ; † April 16, 1998 in Ascona ) was a German- Swiss historian , author and journalist .

Life

Rings was born the son of the architect Josef Rings (1878–1957) and his Jewish wife Mathilde “Tilly” Menkel (1886–1942). After attending the educational reform school, Schule am Meer (from 1926 to 1929) on the North Sea island of Juist , he studied philosophy, musicology and sociology at the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität zu Berlin and the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg as well as at newspaper studies Institute in Heidelberg .

In 1933 he emigrated to Spain , where he stayed for six years and witnessed the civil war there . There he built an information service for the Republican government, u. a. with radio mirrors about foreign radio broadcasts. Due to the victory of the fascists under Franco , he had to leave the country. From 1939 to 1942, during the first years of the Second World War , he lived in France or in Vichy-France , before he fled from the National Socialists to Switzerland in 1942 , where he was granted refugee status. At the end of the 1940s he was given permanent asylum and in 1959 he was naturalized in Brissago in Ticino .

After the war, Rings worked as an author and freelance journalist until 1965, including as a European correspondent for " Schweizer Illustrierte " with first reports on post-war Germany. Rings worked for Swiss television from 1965 to 1973 as an author, director and producer of contemporary history series. At the same time he was the author of contemporary history books that have appeared in several editions and translations. His book Switzerland at War 1933-1945 on a documentary film series of the same name in 13 parts is considered a standard work. After the first films were pre-broadcast in 1970, the documentary film series began to be fully reproduced in January 1973. Werner Rings himself said: "It was an attempt to document Swiss history from 1933 to 1945 and to make it suitable for television." Likewise, looted gold from Germany - the « gold turntable» Switzerland in World War II is considered a standard work.

Rings also worked as a photo journalist. He owned extensive picture material for reports that he wrote for the magazine press between 1946 and 1962. In it, Rings addressed various developments in technology, culture, economy, society and politics as well as their effects on the daily life of the individual. Rings also collected images for his books and documentaries ( Advokaten des Feindes , Switzerland at War, etc.), including recordings on the threat to Switzerland, National Socialism, World War II and other historical topics.

Works

  • Werner Rings: The 5th Wall - Television (1962).
  • Werner Rings: Advocates of the Enemy. The Adventure of Political Neutrality (1966).
  • Werner Rings: Switzerland at War 1933-1945 (1974/1990).
  • Werner Rings: Collaboration and Resistance. Europe at War 1939-1945 (1979).
  • Werner Rings: looted gold from Germany. The «gold turntable» Switzerland in World War II (1985) ISBN 3492039553 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Rings, Werner . In: Archives for Contemporary History, Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich. From: afz.ethz.ch, accessed on April 2, 2017.
  2. ↑ a b Rings, Werner. In: Archives for Contemporary History, Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich. From: afz.ethz.ch, accessed on June 9, 2017 .
  3. ↑ Media Relations: SF Swiss Television. Retrieved June 9, 2017 .
personal data
SURNAME Rings, Werner
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss historian and journalist
DATE OF BIRTH May 19, 1910
PLACE OF BIRTH Offenbach am Main
DATE OF DEATH April 16, 1998
Place of death Ascona