Brigitte Hamann

Brigitte Hamann Ph.D. (born July 26, 1940) is a German author and historian based in Vienna.

Born Brigitte Deitert in Essen, Germany, she studied history in Münster and Vienna and for a time worked as a journalist in her native Essen. In 1965 she married the historian and university professor Günther Hamann (1924-1994). The couple had three children. She worked with her husband at the University of Vienna and in 1978 did her doctoral thesis on the life of Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria, which was published in book form that same year. The success of this first book led to others, notably on Empress Elisabeth of Austria, Adolf Hitler, and Winifred Wagner.

Hamann's 1999 book, , examined how societal attitudes at the time shaped Hitler's anti-Semitic views during his time in Vienna between 1908 and 1913, and the effects of his inordinate fear of both infection and women. Following the publication of "The Hidden Hitler" by the historian and University of Bremen professor Lothar Machtan, Hamann investigated claims about Hitler's homosexuality and appears in the 2004 HBO documentary film, ', by the American documentarians Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato.

In 2005 Hamann released "Winifred Wagner: A Life at the Heart of Hitler's Bayreuth", a biography of Winifred Wagner, the British-born woman who became a founding member of the Nazi Party and a close friend of Hitler. The publication earned her "Book of the Year" honors and "Opernwelt" (Operaworld) magazine and "Historical Book of the Year" honors from "DAMALS" history magazine. That same year she received the Presseclub Concordia [http://www.concordia.at/content.php?cid=preis&sp=] "Concordia-Preis" in recognition of her work.

Honors:
* Heinrich Drimmel Preis (1978)
* Premio Comisso (1982)
* Donauland Sachbuchpreis (1986)
* Wildgans Preis (1995)
* Kreisky Preis (1998)
* Bad Wurzacher Literaturpreis (1998)
* Ehrenmedaille der Bundeshauptstadt Wien in Silber (2006)

Books translated into English:
*"The Reluctant Empress: A Biography of Empress Elisabeth of Austria" (Knopf: 1986) (ISBN 0-394-53717-3)
*"Bertha Von Suttner: A Life for Peace (Syracuse Studies on Peace and Conflict Resolution) (Syracuse University Press: 1986) ISBN 0-8156-0387-8
*"Sissi, Elisabeth, Empress of Austria" (Taschen America: 1997) (ISBN 3-8228-7865-0)
* "". (1999: Oxford University Press) ISBN 0-19-514053-2, To aid researchers, Hamann has allowed the scanning of this book by [http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0195125371 Amazon.com]
*"Winifred Wagner : A Life at the Heart of Hitler's Bayreuth". (2005: Granta publications [http://www.granta.com/shop/product?usca_p=t&product_id=2400] ) ISBN 1-86207-671-5

Books in German:
*"Rudolf, Kronprinz und Rebell", Wien 1978
*"Elisabeth, Kaiserin wider Willen", Wien 1981
*"Bertha von Suttner. Ein Leben für den Frieden", München 1986
*"Hitlers Wien, Lehrjahre eines Diktators", München 1996
*"Winifred Wagner oder Hitlers Bayreuth", München 2002
*"Der erste Weltkrieg. Wahrheit und Lüge in Bildern und Texten", München 2004
*"Die Familie Wagner", Reinbek bei Hamburg 2005
*"Kronprinz Rudolf. Ein Leben". Amalthea, Wien und München 2005, ISBN 3-85002-540-3
*"Hitlers Edeljude", Wien 2008