Sebastian Haffner

Infobox Writer
name = Sebastian Haffner


imagesize = 220px
caption = Detail of book cover "Germany: Jekyll & Hyde"
pseudonym = Raimund Pretzel (birth name)
birthdate = birth date|1907|12|27|mf=y
birthplace = Berlin, Germany
deathdate = death date and age|1999|1|2|1907|12|27|mf=y
deathplace = Berlin, Germany
occupation = Journalist and historian
nationality = Germany
period =
genre =
subject = Prussia, Otto von Bismarck, World War I, Nazi Germany, Adolf Hitler, World War II
movement =
notableworks = "The Meaning of Hitler"
influences =
influenced =
website =

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.

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. The name he took from the title of Mozart's "Haffner Symphony" and later he used the signature of this piece (KV 385) on his Vehicle registration plate.

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.

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 "Internationaler 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.

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.

He wrote most of his works in German, some of which have been translated into English. The manuscript of "Defying Hitler", discovered posthumously by his son, is an insightful memoir of the Nazis' rise to power, as witnessed by Haffner before he went into exile.

elected writings

* 1940 "Germany: Jekyll & Hyde", (German language) ISBN 3-930278-04-9
* 1964 "Die sieben Todsünden des deutschen Reiches im Ersten Weltkrieg"
* 1967 "Winston Churchill", Biography (German language) ISBN 3-463-40413-3
* 1968 "Die verratene Revolution - Deutschland 1918/19". (about the German Revolution in November 1918) Stern-Buch, Hamburg 1969, (no ISBN):* 2nd edition: "Die deutsche Revolution 1918/1919 - wie war es wirklich? Ein Beitrag zur deutschen Geschichte". München, Kindler Verlag 1979, ISBN 3-463-00738-X:* 3rd edition: "1918/1919 - eine deutsche Revolution". Reinbek bei Hamburg: Rowohlt, 1981, ISBN 3-499-17455-3:* 4th edition: "1918/1919 - eine deutsche Revolution". Reinbek bei Hamburg: Rowohlt, 1986, ISBN 3-499-17455-3:* 5th edition: "1918/1919 - eine deutsche Revolution". Reinbek bei Hamburg: Rowohlt, 1988, ISBN 3-499-17455-3:* 6th edition: "Der Verrat. Deutschland 1918/19". Berlin, Verlag 1900, 1993, ISBN 3-930278-00-6:* 7th edition: "Der Verrat. 1918/1919 - als Deutschland wurde, wie es ist". Berlin, Verlag 1900, 1994, ISBN 3-930278-00-6:* 8th edition: "Der Verrat. 1918/1919 - als Deutschland wurde, wie es ist". Berlin, Verlag 1900, 1995, ISBN 3-930278-00-6:* 9th edition: "Der Verrat". Berlin, Verlag 1900, 2000, ISBN 3-930278-00-6:* 10th edition: "Der Verrat. Deutschland 1918/1919". Berlin, Verlag 1900, 2002, ISBN 3-930278-00-6:* 11th edition: "Die deutsche Revolution - 1918/19". Kindler, 2002, ISBN 3463404230:* 12th edition: "Die deutsche Revolution - 1918/19". rororo Taschenbücher, 2004, ISBN 3-499-61622-X:* 13th edition: "Die deutsche Revolution - 1918/19". Anaconda Verlag, 2008, ISBN 3-86647-268-4
* 1978 "The Meaning of Hitler" ISBN 0-674-55775-1, translated from "Anmerkungen zu Hitler", Publishing house. Fischer Taschenbuch, Frankfurt am Main. ISBN 3-596-23489-1.
* 1979 "Preußen ohne Legende"
* 1980 "Ueberlegungen eines Wechselwaehlers", Publishing house. Kindler GmbH, Muenchen. ISBN 3-463-00780-0
* 1985 "Im Schatten der Geschichte: Historisch-politische Variationen",. Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart. ISBN 3-421-06253-6
* 1987 "Von Bismarck zu Hitler: Ein Rückblick", Publishing house Kindler GmbH, Muenchen. ISBN 3-463-40003-0
* 1989 "The Ailing Empire", English translation of "Von Bismarck zu Hitler". Fromm International Publishing, New York. ISBN 0-88064-136-3
* 1989 "Der Teufelspakt: Die deutsch-russischen Beziehungen vom Ersten zum Zweiten Weltkrieg",.Publishing house Manesse, Zuerich. ISBN 3-7175-8121-X
* 1997 "Zwischen den Kriegen. Essays zur Zeitgeschichte", ISBN 3-930278-05-7
* 2000 "Defying Hitler: A Memoir" ISBN 0-312-42113-3, translated from "Geschichte eines Deutschen. Die Erinnerungen 1914-1933". (Written in approximately 1940, was published after he died) ISBN 3-423-30848-6 [http://www.salon.com/books/review/2002/09/03/haffner/index.html Book review by Charles Taylor in the webmagazine www.Salon.com]
* 2000 "Der Neue Krieg", (contains an email from Juergen Kuttner), Publishing house Alexander, Berlin. ISBN 3-89581-049-5
* 2002 "Die Deutsche Frage: 1950 - 1961: Von der Wiederbewaffnung bis zum Mauerbau", Publishing house Fischer Taschenbuch, Frankfurt am Main. ISBN 3-596-15536-3

Biography

*Uwe Soukup: "Ich bin nun mal Deutscher. Sebastian Haffner. Eine Biographie," Berlin (Aufbau-Verlag) 2001 - ISBN 3-351-02526-2

External links

* [http://www.guardian.co.uk/obituaries/story/0,,322200,00.html "Stern words from Berlin"] published in The Guardian days after Haffner's death, retelling his life (January 14, 1999)