Brigitte Hamann (; 26 July 1940 – 4 October 2016) was a German-Austrian author and historian based in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

Biography

Born in

Essen Essen () is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and Dortmund, as well as ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, Hamann studied history in

Münster Münster (; ) is an independent city#Germany, independent city (''Kreisfreie Stadt'') in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also a ...

and Vienna. She worked as a journalist in Essen for some time. In 1965, she married a historian Günther Hamann (1924–1994), moved to Vienna and obtained Austrian citizenship in addition to her German. The couple had three children; one of them is journalist and feminist Sibylle Hamann. Brigitte Hamann worked with her husband at the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (, ) is a public university, public research university in Vienna, Austria. Founded by Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, Duke Rudolph IV in 1365, it is the oldest university in the German-speaking world and among the largest ...

and in 1978 obtained a doctor's degree on the basis of a thesis on the life of Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria. The thesis was published as a book the same year. She described her working method as follows: "(Coming from Germany) I had a different view of Austria, and I began to write with a certain detachment". The success of her first book led to further books, notably on

Empress Elisabeth of Austria Elisabeth (born Duchess Elisabeth Amalie Eugenie in Bavaria; 24 December 1837 – 10 September 1898), nicknamed Sisi or Sissi, was Empress of Austria and List of Hungarian consorts, Queen of Hungary from her marriage to Franz Joseph I of Austri ...

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

, and Winifred Wagner. Hamann's 1996 book
Hitler's Vienna: A Dictator's Apprenticeship
' examined how societal attitudes at the time shaped Hitler's

anti-Semitic Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

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 historian and

University of Bremen The University of Bremen () is a public university in Bremen, Germany, with approximately 18,400 students from 117 countries. Its 12 faculties offer more than 100 degree programs. The University of Bremen has been among the top 50 European rese ...

professor Lothar Machtan, Hamann investigated claims about Hitler's homosexuality and appears in the 2004

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

documentary film, '' Hidden Fuhrer: Debating the Enigma of Hitler's Sexuality'', by 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 The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor ...

and a close friend of Hitler. The publication earned her "Book of the Year" honors by '' Opernwelt'' (Operaworld) magazine and "Historical Book of the Year" honors from '' Damals'' history magazine. That same year she received the "" in recognition of her work. Hamann died on 4 October 2016 in Vienna at the age of 76.

Honors

* (1978) * (1982) * (1986) * Anton Wildgans Prize (1994) * (1997) * (1998) * Prize of the City of Vienna for Journalism (2004) * in Silber (2006) * Honorary prize of the Austrian Booksellers for tolerance in thought and deed (2012)

Books translated into English

*''The Reluctant Empress: A Biography of Empress Elisabeth of Austria'' (

Knopf Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. () is an American publishing house that was founded by Blanche Knopf and Alfred A. Knopf Sr. in 1915. Blanche and Alfred traveled abroad regularly and were known for publishing European, Asian, and Latin American writers ...

: 1986) () *''The Reluctant Empress'',

Ullstein Verlag The ''Ullstein Verlag'' was founded by Leopold Ullstein in 1877 at Berlin and is one of the largest publishing companies of Germany. It published newspapers like '' B.Z.'' and '' Berliner Morgenpost'' and books through its subsidiaries ''Ullstei ...

, Berlin 1982, 6th ed. 2000 *''Bertha von Suttner: A Life for Peace'' (Syracuse Studies on Peace and Conflict Resolution) (

Syracuse University Press Syracuse University Press, founded in 1943, is a university press that is part of Syracuse University. It is a member of the Association of University Presses. Domestic distribution for the press is currently provided by the University of North ...

: 1986) *''Rudolf. The Road to Mayerling'' (German and English, picture book) München 1988 *''Sissi, Elisabeth, Empress of Austria'' (Taschen America: 1997) () *''Hitler's Vienna: A Dictator's Apprenticeship''. (1999:

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

) *''Winifred Wagner: A Life at the Heart of Hitler's Bayreuth''. (2005: Granta publications, England) *''Winifred Wagner: A Life at the Heart of Hitler's Bayreuth'', Harcourt Books, Orlando USA 2006 An English translation of the rororo monograph ''Die Familie Wagner'' is to appear.

Books in German

* ''Rudolf, Kronprinz und Rebell'', Wien 1978 * '' Elisabeth, Kaiserin wider Willen'', Wien 1981 * ''Mit Kaiser Max in Mexiko'', Wien 1983 * ''Kaiserin Elisabeth. Das poetische Tagebuch'', Verlag der Österr. Akademie der Wissenschaften, Wien 1984 * ''

Bertha von Suttner Baroness Bertha Sophie Felicitas von Suttner (; ; 9 June 184321 June 1914) was an Bohemian nobility, Austro-Bohemian noblewoman, Pacifism, pacifist and novelist. In 1905, she became the second female Nobel laureate (after Marie Curie in 1903), th ...

. Ein Leben für den Frieden'', München 1986 * ''Die Habsburger. Ein biographisches Lexikon'', München 1988 * ''Nichts als Musik im Kopf. Das Leben von

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...

'', Wien 1990 (Kinderbuch) * ''Elisabeth. Bilder einer Kaiserin'', Wien 1995 * ''Meine liebe, gute Freundin! Die Briefe Kaiser

Franz Joseph Franz Joseph I or Francis Joseph I ( ; ; 18 August 1830 – 21 November 1916) was Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary, and the ruler of the Grand title of the emperor of Austria, other states of the Habsburg monarchy from 1848 until his death ...

s an Katharina Schratt, München 1992 * '' Hitlers Wien. Lehrjahre eines Diktators'', München 1996 * ''Kronprinz Rudolf: 'Majestät, ich warne Sie..., München 2002 * '' Winifred Wagner oder Hitlers

Bayreuth Bayreuth ( or ; High Franconian German, Upper Franconian: Bareid, ) is a Town#Germany, town in northern Bavaria, Germany, on the Red Main river in a valley between the Franconian Jura and the Fichtel Mountains. The town's roots date back to 11 ...

'', München 2002 * ''Der erste Weltkrieg. Wahrheit und Lüge in Bildern und Texten'', München 2004 * ''Ein Herz und viele Kronen. Das Leben der Kaiserin Maria Theresia''. Illustriert von , Wien 2004 (Kinderbuch) * ''Die Familie

Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, essayist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most o ...

'', Reinbek bei Hamburg 2005 * ''Kronprinz Rudolf. Ein Leben'', Wien 2005 * ''Mozart. Sein Leben und seine Zeit'', Wien 2006 * ''Hitlers Edeljude. Das Leben des Armenarztes Eduard Bloch'', München 2008 Numerous editions, paperbacks, and translations

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hamann, Brigitte 1940 births 2016 deaths Anton Wildgans Prize winners 20th-century Austrian historians Austrian journalists German emigrants to Austria German women journalists 20th-century German journalists Writers from Essen University of Münster alumni University of Vienna alumni Academic staff of the University of Vienna 20th-century German women writers 21st-century German women writers