Sebastian Haffner

Sebastian Haffner (December 27 1907, Berlin – January 2, 1999, pseudonym for Raimund Pretzel) was a German journalist and author. He wrote mainly about recent German history.

Related Topics:
December 27 - 1907 - Berlin - January 2 - 1999 - German - Journalist - Author - German history

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In 1938 he emigrated from Nazi Germany with his Jewish fiancée to London, where he intended to work as an author and journalist. He adopted the pseudonym Sebastian Haffner so that his family, who remained in Germany, would not be endangered by his writing.

Related Topics:
1938 - Nazi Germany - Jewish - London - Pseudonym - Germany

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Under the auspices of his mentor, David Astor, Haffner wrote for the London Sunday newspaper, The Observer, and became its editor-in-chief. However, because of differences between Astor, who had become the newspaper's publisher, and the London editorship regarding a divided Germany, he became the German correspondent in Berlin in 1954, a position which he kept until the building of the Berlin Wall.

Related Topics:
David Astor - The Observer - Editor-in-chief - 1954 - Berlin Wall

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He then wrote for a German newspaper, Die Welt, until 1962, and from then until 1975 was a columnist for the "Stern" magazine. Haffner was a frequent guest on the television show Internationalen Frühschoppen (translates roughly to "international morning pint"), hosted by Werner Höfer, and even had his own television program on the German channel Sender Freies Berlin.

Related Topics:
Die Welt - 1962 - 1975 - ''"Stern"'' magazine - Sender Freies Berlin

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Haffner is considered as one of the most successful German authors on the history of the 19th and 20th century written for a broad, nonacademic audience.

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He wrote most of his works in German, some of which have been translated into English.

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