- Eduard Zimmermann
Eduard Zimmermann (born 4 February 1929) is a German
journalist ,television presenter and security expert.Life
Following the Second World War the man who would later be known as a "criminal hunter" and "crook's bane" eked out a living as a
thief andblack market trader, for which he served a sentence at Fuhlsbüttel Prison. With a false identity and diploma he finally found work as a tramengineer inSweden .Zimmermann returned to the
Soviet occupation zone in Germany on an assignment for theDagens Nyheter . There he was charged withespionage in 1950 and sentenced to 25 years in prison. He served five years of his sentence inBautzen and was released early on 17 January 1954 under the Viermächtekonferenz (Conference of the Four Powers).Subsequently he worked as a journalist and editor at NDR and
ZDF .From 20 October 1967 to 24 October 1997 Zimmermann presented 300 episodes of the ZDF TV series "
Aktenzeichen XY... ungelöst " ("File XY... Unsolved"), as well as 180 episodes from 1964 to 2001 of "Vorsicht Falle! - Nepper, Schlepper, Bauernfänger" ("Beware, Trap! - Scammers, Hustlers, Conmen"). He then retreated from the television business and today maintains an Internet security portal in co-operation with ZDF.Zimmermann is a co-founder of
Weißer Ring e.V. (White Ring), an organisation that assists victims of crimes, and was its chairman for many years.On the occasion of "Aktenzeichen XY"'s hundredth episode on October 1977 Zimmermann received the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany on ribbon, and was later awarded the Order of Merit First Class. In 1982 he received the Humanitarian Award of the Polish Freemasons.
Zimmermann himself revealed his past as a criminal in 2005 through his autobiography, titled "Auch ich war ein Gauner" ("I was a crook too"). In a newspaper interview he said that the time had made him tough: "You might say I am living proof that one can come back down from the crooked tracks if that's really wanted."
References
*"This article incorporates text translated from [http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eduard_Zimmermann the corresponding German Wikipedia article] as of 25th March, 2006, which cites the following reference:"
** Zimmermann, Eduard: "Auch ich war ein Gauner", Riva Verlag 2005. ISBN 3-936994-13-7External links
* [http://www.e110.de Eduard Zimmermann's security portal]
* [http://www.spiegel.de/panorama/0,1518,373636,00.html Spiegel Online article]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
