Henry Picker (6 February 1912 in
Wilhelmshaven
Wilhelmshaven (, ''Wilhelm's Harbour''; Northern Low Saxon: ''Willemshaven'') is a coastal town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the western side of the Jade Bight, a bay of the North Sea, and has a population of 76,089. Wilhelmsh ...
– 2 May 1988) was a
lawyer,
stenographer and
author
An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states:
"''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...
who co-transcribed and first published transcripts of
Adolf Hitler's informal talks, known colloquially as the ''
Table Talk''.
Biography
Henry Picker was born in Wilhelmshaven,
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
. The son of a German senator, Picker studied law and graduated from the
University of Kiel
Kiel University, officially the Christian-Albrecht University of Kiel, (german: Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, abbreviated CAU, known informally as Christiana Albertina) is a university in the city of Kiel, Germany. It was founded in ...
in 1936. Picker became a member of the
Nazi Party
The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported t ...
in 1930, and in 1942 became a senior executive and legal staff member in the
Führer Headquarters
The ''Führer'' Headquarters (german: Führerhauptquartiere), abbreviated FHQ, were a number of official headquarters used by the Nazi leader Adolf Hitler and various other German commanders and officials throughout Europe during the Second World ...
.
From 1941 he was married to sports teacher Irene Atzinger. The couple had three sons and one daughter.
Hitler's Table Talk
Picker's version of the ''Table Talk'' was published in 1951 under the title ''Hitlers Tischgespräche im Führerhauptquartier'', and relied upon the original
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
notes he acquired from
Heinrich Heim taken from July 1941 to March 1942, and Picker's own notes taken from March 21, 1942, through August 2, 1942.
[Lukacs, John (1998). ''The Hitler of History''. New York: Random House]
p. 57.
/ref>
The first edition of Picker's ''Table Talk'' was arranged thematically, unlike the French and English editions which were arranged chronologically. A later edition of Picker's work was published in 1963, which was more extensive, carefully annotated, chronologically organized, and published with an introduction by German historian Percy Ernst Schramm
Percy Ernst Schramm (14 October 1894 – 21 November 1970) was a German historian who specialized in art history and medieval history. Schramm was a Chair and Professor of History at the University of Göttingen from 1929 to 1963.
Early lif ...
.[Carrier, R.C. (2003). "'Hitler's Table Talk': Troubling Finds" ''German Studies Review'' 26 (3): 563.] Picker was involved in several legal battles with François Genoud and Hugh Trevor-Roper
Hugh Redwald Trevor-Roper, Baron Dacre of Glanton (15 January 1914 – 26 January 2003) was an English historian. He was Regius Professor of Modern History at the University of Oxford.
Trevor-Roper was a polemicist and essayist on a range of ...
concerning the copyrights to the work.[Trevor-Roper, H.R. (2000). ''Hitler's Table Talk 1941-1944''. New York: Enigma Books, p. vii.] In 1963 Picker published a book about Pope John XXIII
Pope John XXIII ( la, Ioannes XXIII; it, Giovanni XXIII; born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, ; 25 November 18813 June 1963) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 28 October 1958 until his death in June 19 ...
, in the preparation of which he was assisted by Vatican librarian Count Giuseppe Newlin (Mieczysław Dunin-Borkowski).
References
1912 births
1988 deaths
University of Kiel alumni
Adolf Hitler
Lawyers in the Nazi Party
People from Wilhelmshaven
20th-century German lawyers
{{Nazi-stub