Wilhelm Bittorf

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Wilhelm Bittorf (* 1929 in Hildburghausen ; † November 26, 2002 in Hamburg ) was a German journalist and documentary filmmaker .

Life

Wilhelm Bittorf was born in Hildburghausen (in Thuringia, near the border with Franconia), where he also grew up. After leaving school, he trained as a car mechanic there. At the age of 19 he fled the former Soviet occupation zone to the West in 1948 , where he made up his Abitur. He then volunteered at the Wuppertal Generalanzeiger . As early as 1951, when he was almost 23 years old, he was working for Spiegel , at that time still based in Hanover . He remained loyal to the Spiegel - with interruptions for longer film work - until 1996. From the mid-1950s, Bittorf also worked for radio and television. From 1961 he was a permanent employee of the SDR documentary film department. As a documentary filmmaker he belonged to the Stuttgart school.

Bittorf shot many documentaries for the series " Signs of the Times ". He also developed the television series "Miterlebt" (1967) and "Kundschafter" (1975). After 1975 he only worked occasionally for the SDR . His focus was now back on his work as a writing journalist. He took a critical stance on television, as the still young medium increasingly suffered from superficiality in his eyes. Bittorf dealt with a wide range of topics as a journalist: in his texts and films, for example, he devoted himself to Freud or Darwin, the American Civil War, youth revolts or the Battle of Skagerrak. As he got older, Bittorf increasingly expressed his sympathy for the peace movement in his journalistic work and commented on its protests and actions.

1973 Bittorf received the Adolf Grimme Prize with bronze for his documentary The Brits Come . He was awarded the Egon Erwin Kisch Prize in 1984 for his report The Habichte are in the nest in the mirror . Bittorf lived with his wife, the star photographer Karin Rocholl in Hamburg. In 2002 he died there of heart failure at the age of 72. He previously suffered from a rare form of Parkinson's disease.

Filmography (selection)

Bittorf has written numerous television documentaries and magazine articles and helped shape them to varying degrees:

  • Feelings and so ... Observations from the hit industry (1961)
  • Lad glory. Observations of beating students ("Signs of the Times", 1962)
  • Season in Wallhall. Observations at the Festival in Bayreuth (together with Helmut Greulich, "Zeichen der Zeit", 1962)
  • The dissatisfied women - observations of gender equals (together with Helmut Greulich, "Zeichen der Zeit", script and director, 1963)
  • Death and games. Observations at the 24-hour race in LeMans ("Signs of the Times", 1963)
  • The Borussia are coming. Observations at the Bundesliga ("Signs of the Times", written and directed, 1964)
  • The car cult (written and directed, "Signs of the Times", 1964)
  • The American Civil War (3 parts, together with Helmut Rompa, 1965)
  • Election campaign. Observations during the weeks of the decision (together with Helmut Rompa, "Zeichen der Zeit", 1965)
  • Decision (together with Helmut Rompa, "Signs of the Times", 1965)
  • Madison Avenue. Observations in the advertising business ("Signs of the Times", 1965)
  • Beat in the country. Liverpool rhythm in the Leberkäs region. (1966)
  • The Downfall of Count Bismarck - Report on a colliery closure (written and directed, 1967)
  • The war game. Report on a Bundeswehr maneuver (together with Helmut Rompa, "Miterlebt", 1967)
  • The decathlon ("Miterlebt", 1967)
  • The Rixdorfer. Rixdorfer prints ("Miterlebt", 1967)
  • Rita Tushingam . Sketches for a portrait of the modern woman ("You 67", 1967)
  • Woman ("you 67", 1967)
  • House demolition ("Notes from the neighbor", 1970)
  • Carpenter's Hunt. Observations on the program "Aktenzeichen XY ... unsolved" ("Marks of the Times", 1970)
  • One Step away ("With my own eyes", 1970)
  • An accident ("Notes from the Neighbor", 1971)
  • Who Killed Marilyn Monroe ? ("Facts about Legends", 1972)
  • The War of the Sexes (3 parts, 1973)
  • Sigmund Freud ("Great Germans", 1974)
  • North Sea Oil Company ("Scout", 1975)
  • Smoking or not smoking. Documentation about smoking and smoke damage ("Scouts", 1975)
  • And you will see the truth. CIA secret service and the gray areas of US world politics ("Scouts", 1975)
  • The hot ride ("Scout", 1975)
  • Raped - women testify (together with Sabine Brühning, 1975)
  • The Pope's State (together with Artur Müller, 1976)
  • The children of rock. Experiences and memories of rock music fans between 14 and 40 (1976)
  • Bring your heads! The Ruhr area after the end of the coal era (script and direction, 1978)
  • Wild horse hunting. Mustangs, Mustang Catchers, and the Rest of the Wild West (1979)
  • The man on the summit. Sketches on the life of the mountaineer Reinhold Messner (1980)
  • The coup on K2. Reinhold Messner reports on his expedition to the most difficult mountain on earth (1980)
  • The patrol of U 96. How Buchheim's war novel “Das Boot” is turned into a film (1981)
  • Rainbow fighters. The Greenpeace campaigns (together with Ulrich Pfau, 1982)
  • The neverending story . A cult book is filmed (together with Ulrich Pfau, 1984)
  • Reunion in Hildburghausen (book, 1996)

Works

  • Retrofitting - the nuclear war is approaching. Rowohlt, Reinbek near Hamburg 1999, ISBN 3-499-33020-2 .
  • Automation: The 2nd industrial revolution . Leske Verlag, Darmstadt 1956.
  • The roaring road - the fight for the horsepower, the great adventure of our time. Together with Heinz-Jürgen Plathner, Leske Verlag, Darmstadt 1954.

items

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hans Werner Kilz: Wilhelm Bittorf: At the core of the truth in the SZ series great journalists, from November 3, 2003.
  2. ↑ Hoffmann, Kay: Signs of the times. On the history of the Stuttgart school. TR-Verlagsunion GmbH, Munich 1996, ISBN 3-8058-3149-8 , p. 50-51 .
  3. ↑ Hoffmann, Kay: Signs of the times. On the history of the Stuttgart school. TR-Verlagsunion GmbH, Munich 1996, ISBN 3-8058-3149-8 , p. 50-51 .
  4. ↑ Hans Werner Kilz: At the core of the truth. Subtitle: SZ series about great journalists (XLVIII): The “Spiegel” author and documentary filmmaker Wilhelm Bittorf . Ed .: Süddeutsche Zeitung. November 3, 2003, p. 19 .
  5. ↑ stern.de: Egon Erwin Kisch Prize: An overview of all winners.
  6. ↑ Website of the photographer Karin Rocholl (accessed on May 25, 2010.)
  7. ^ Bittorf died , signed with the abbreviation HA, Hamburger Abendblatt dated November 27, 2002.
  8. ↑ Hans Werner Kilz: At the core of the truth. Subtitle: SZ series about great journalists (XLVIII): The “Spiegel” author and documentary filmmaker Wilhelm Bittorf . Ed .: Süddeutsche Zeitung. November 3, 2003, p. 19 .
  9. ↑ Hoffmann, Kay: Signs of the times. On the history of the Stuttgart school. TR-Verlagsunion GmbH, Munich 1996, ISBN 3-8058-3149-8 , p. 52-53 .
personal data
SURNAME Bittorf, Wilhelm
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German journalist and filmmaker
DATE OF BIRTH 1929
PLACE OF BIRTH Hildburghausen
DATE OF DEATH November 26, 2002
Place of death Hamburg