Wolfgang Paul (writer)
Wolfgang Paul , pseudonym: Christian Wulffen (* December 8, 1918 in Berlin ; † January 5, 1993 ibid) was a writer and journalist .
Life
Wolfgang Paul was born in Berlin to the married couple William and Marie Paul. The family came from Dresden - Loschwitz . His father was a ship's carpenter.
In 1937 Paul graduated from high school in Dresden-Blasewitz. He then became a soldier in the Wehrmacht. During World War II he took part in the attack on Poland and in the war against the Soviet Union . In November 1941 he was seriously wounded near Tula as a lieutenant and company commander of a rifle company of the 18th Panzer Division . He took a study leave from 1942 to 1943 and studied German literature , art history and newspaper studies in Berlin for two semesters . Until the end of the war he served in the reserve army , as he had been unfit for the front since his wounding in 1941.
After the war ended in 1945 he lived as a freelance writer in Dresden and wrote as a theater critic for the newspaper Sächsisches Tageblatt . When the Soviet military administration imposed a writing ban on him, he and his wife Hanna left Dresden and took the train to West Berlin in 1948.
Here he worked as a writer for the feature pages of many Berlin and West German newspapers and magazines. As a travel journalist, he traveled to the USA, South America, Australia, Tibet, Egypt, but also Italy and Greece.
Services
From 1953 he wrote daily television reviews and became a member of the Adolf Grimme Prize jury. From 1952 to 1959 Paul published under the pseudonym Christian Wulffen alleged "Experiences and Experiences" from "Central Germany" (GDR). They appeared under the title means German diaries in Bechtle Verlag and created a sensation. They should provide an “immediate, realistic picture of everyday life”. "Christian Wulffen" is a "contemporary living in the Soviet zone" - according to the cover text of the book Mitteldeutsches Tagebuch 1952-1954 , published by Bechtle Verlag, Esslingen 1955.
Paul wrote numerous non-fiction books about World War II and also a history of the 18th Panzer Division . In his first novel "Dresden 1953" this city plays a leading role. Dresden remained a central theme in some of his books. He responded to the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961 in a current and accusatory way with the text “Wall of Shame”, which appeared two months after the Wall was built. In addition to the historical and political view of Berlin, the discussion and processing of the two world wars was an important topic for him. Many of his protagonists have autobiographical traits.
Paul was elected to its first presidium as a founding member of the New Society for Literature (NGL) in Berlin, which was active from April 27, 1973 until the NGL's first ordinary general meeting on October 29, 1973.
Awards
- Wolfgang Paul received the Federal Cross of Merit 1st Class in 1985
- Città di Roma, Premio Giornalistico Internazionale (Roman Journalism Prize), 1965
- Wolfgang Paul was chairman of the Gerhart Hauptmann Society and a member of the board of trustees of the Hermann Sudermann Foundation and the PEN
Web links
- Literature by and about Wolfgang Paul in the catalog of the German National Library
- Wolfgang Paul in the Munzinger archive ( beginning of article freely accessible)
- Entry on Wolfgang Paul in Kalliope
Individual evidence
- ↑ Spiegel 36/1955
- ↑ Wall of Shame; Special edition for the Federal Ministry for All German Issues
- ↑ History of the Gerhart-Hauptmann-Gesellschaft e. V., Berlin
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Paul, Wolfgang |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Wulffen, Christian (pseudonym) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German writer and journalist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | December 8, 1918 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Berlin |
| DATE OF DEATH | 5th January 1993 |
| Place of death | Berlin |