Gerhard Löwenthal
Gerhard Löwenthal (born 8 December, 1922 in Berlin, died 6 December, 2002 in Wiesbaden) was a prominent German journalist and human rights activist. He presented the ZDF-Magazin, a newsmagazine of ZDF which highlighted human rights abuses in the communist-ruled Eastern Europe, from 1969 to 1987. Löwenthal was a staunch anticommunist. He was Jewish, and was deported to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp during the Nazi rule. After the war he chose to remain in his native country and went on to study medicine. He also worked as a reporter for RIAS, before he became one of the first students at the Free University of Berlin.
His father-in-law was CDU politician Ernst Lemmer.
The Gerhard Löwenthal Prize is named in his honour.
He is buried at the Jewish cemetary at Heerstraße.
Publications
- Ich bin geblieben. Erinnerungen, Junge Freiheit Verlag, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-929886-25-1
- Reden wir morgen in Sprechblasen?: Auf dem Weg zu einer neuen Medienlandschaft. HwK Koblenz, Koblenz 1985, ISBN 3-924871-04-3
- Hilferufe von drüben: Eine Dokumentation wider das Vergessen. Hänssler, Holzgerlingen 2002, ISBN 3-7751-3807-2 (mit Helmut Kamphausen, Claus P. Clausen)
- Wir werden durch Atome leben. Blanvalet, Berlin 1956 (mit Josef Hausen)
- Die ungarische Revolution: Ein Weissbuch. Die Geschichte des Oktober-Aufstandes nach Dokumenten, Meldungen, Augenzeugenberichten und das Echo der Weltöffentlichkeit. Colloquium Verlag, Berlin 1957 (mit Melvin J. Lasky, Karl Jaspers)
Literature
- Kathrin Gerlof: Gegenspieler: Gerhard Löwenthal, Karl-Eduard von Schnitzler. Fischer Taschenbuch, Frankfurt am Main 1999, ISBN 3596141834
- Stefan Winckler: Ein kritischer Journalist aus Berlin: Gerhard Löwenthal. Snayder Verlag, Paderborn 1997, ISBN 3-932319-56-7