Karl-Eduard von Schnitzler
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Karl-Eduard von Schnitzler (28 April 1918 – 20 September 2001) was an
East German East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...
journalist, communist propagandist and host of the television show '' Der schwarze Kanal'' (german: link=no, The Black Channel) from 21 March 1960 to 30 October 1989.


Early life

Schnitzler was born in
Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...
, the son of
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 ...
vice consul Julius Eduard von Schnitzler, scion of a
Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...
banking dynasty, who had been
ennobled Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. The characteri ...
by the state of
Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an ...
in 1913. Karl-Eduard attended a boarding school at
Bad Godesberg Bad Godesberg ( ksh, Bad Jodesbersch) is a borough ('' Stadtbezirk'') of Bonn, southern North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. From 1949 to 1999, while Bonn was the capital of West Germany, most foreign embassies were in Bad Godesberg. Some buildings ar ...
and joined the ''Sozialistische Arbeiter-Jugend'' youth organisation of the Social Democratic Party of Germany in 1932. After receiving his school-leaving qualification in 1937, he began studying medicine at the
University of Freiburg The University of Freiburg (colloquially german: Uni Freiburg), officially the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg (german: Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg), is a public research university located in Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemb ...
.


Early career

Abandoning his medical studies, Schnitzler trained for a business career in Cologne and embarked on a commercial apprenticeship. In 1939, he became the owner of a delivery business. When the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
broke out in 1939, Schnitzler was drafted into the ''
Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the '' Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previo ...
''. He was taken prisoner by British forces in 1944, following the
Battle of Normandy Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allied operation that launched the successful invasion of German-occupied Western Europe during World War II. The operation was launched on 6 June 1944 (D-Day) with the Norm ...
. After his capture, he began to work for the British Ministry of Information and for the German-language service of the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
, where his talents as a broadcaster were soon recognised. After his release in 1945, he returned to the British Zone of Allied occupied Germany and became an employee of the British controlled radio station
Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk (NWDR; ''Northwest German Broadcasting'') was the organization responsible for public broadcasting in the German Länder of Hamburg, Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein and North Rhine-Westphalia from 22 September 1945 to ...
(NWDR) in Hamburg. He was transferred to their Cologne studios on 1 January 1946, where he was assigned to the post of Associate Director and Head of the Politics Department. His political bias soon became apparent to his superiors and he was removed from his position in Cologne and returned to the NWDR's Hamburg offices until his eventual dismissal in 1947, after being accused of spreading
communist propaganda Communist propaganda is the artistic and social promotion of the ideology of communism, communist worldview, communist society, and interests of the communist movement. While it tends to carry a negative connotation in the Western world, the t ...
.


Career in the GDR

Schnitzler moved to the
Soviet occupation zone The Soviet Occupation Zone ( or german: Ostzone, label=none, "East Zone"; , ''Sovetskaya okkupatsionnaya zona Germanii'', "Soviet Occupation Zone of Germany") was an area of Germany in Central Europe that was occupied by the Soviet Union as a ...
, where he worked for the
Berliner Rundfunk The Berliner Rundfunk (BERU) was a radio station set in East Germany. It had a political focus and discussed events in East Berlin. Today it is a commercial radio station broadcast with the name "Berliner Rundfunk 91.4". History The Berliner ...
and the
Deutschlandsender Deutschlandsender (, ''Radio Germany''), abbreviated DLS or DS, was one of the longest-established radio broadcasting stations in Germany. The name was used between 1926 and 1993 to denote a number of powerful stations designed to achieve all-Ger ...
program of the
Rundfunk der DDR Rundfunk der DDR (, 'GDR Broadcasting'; from about 1948 to 1972 Deutscher Demokratischer Rundfunk, 'German Democratic Broadcasting') was the collective designation for radio broadcasting organized by the State Broadcasting Committee in the Germa ...
. He joined the Socialist Unity Party in 1948. During the 1950s, he contributed to a number of smaller television shows before the first broadcast of '' Der Schwarze Kanal'' on 21 March 1960. The programme was originally designed as
East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...
's answer to the short-lived West German anti-Communist programme ''Die Rote Optik'' ("The Red View", ARD, 1958–1960). From 1969 on, though, Schnitzler's main antagonist in the west was
Gerhard Löwenthal Gerhard Löwenthal (8 December 1922 in Berlin – 6 December 2002 in Wiesbaden) was a prominent German journalist, human rights activist and author. He presented the ''ZDF-Magazin'', a news magazine of ZDF which highlighted human rights abuses in ...
's ''ZDF Magazin'' (
ZDF ZDF (, short for Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen; ; "Second German Television") is a German public-service television broadcaster based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. It is run as an independent nonprofit institution, which was founded by all fe ...
, 1969–1987), which focused on human rights issues in East Germany. As host of ''Der Schwarze Kanal'', which ran for 20 minutes every Monday night, Schnitzler edited together extracts of Western television footage and recorded caustic, virulently anti-Western commentary over it. The show was particularly derisive towards
West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...
and what Schnitzler perceived as Western imperialism across the world. His vitriolic style earned him the nickname ''Sudel-Ede'' – roughly, "Besmirching Eddie". Schnitzler joined the central committee of the
Society for German–Soviet Friendship The Society for German–Soviet Friendship (in German, ''Gesellschaft für Deutsch-Sowjetische Freundschaft/DSF'') was an East German organization set up to encourage closer co-operation between the German Democratic Republic and the Union of Sovi ...
in 1978. In that same year, he also became a professor at the University of Film and Television in
Potsdam-Babelsberg Babelsberg () is the largest quarter (''Stadtteil'') of Potsdam, the capital city of the German state of Brandenburg. The affluent neighbourhood named after a small hill on the Havel river is famous for Babelsberg Palace and Park, part of the Palac ...
. He became known among other communist politicians as a hardliner.


Post-GDR career and death

In the course of the 1989 '' Wende'' in East Germany, ''Der Schwarze Kanal'' was cancelled. Schnitzler pre-empted his exclusion from the reformed communist Party of Democratic Socialism by quitting and joining the
German Communist Party The German Communist Party (german: Deutsche Kommunistische Partei, ) is a communist party in Germany. The DKP supports left positions and was an observer member of the European Left. At the end of February 2016 it left the European party. His ...
. In Schnitzler's late career, he published several articles in the satirical magazine ''
Titanic RMS ''Titanic'' was a British passenger liner, operated by the White Star Line, which sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on 15 April 1912 after striking an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, Unit ...
'' and continued to work with the small German Communist Party. In 1998, Schnitzler appeared on the local German television talk show ''Ich stelle mich'' (TV Berlin).''Schnitzlers Schlägerei im Studio''.
Die Welt ''Die Welt'' ("The World") is a German national daily newspaper, published as a broadsheet by Axel Springer SE. ''Die Welt'' is the flagship newspaper of the Axel Springer publishing group. Its leading competitors are the ''Frankfurter All ...
, 17 December 1998. Accessed on 14 August 2020 Schnitzler maintained that his show was truthful, and continued to support several GDR policies. Schnitzler would retire to
Zeuthen Zeuthen is a municipality in the district of Dahme-Spreewald in Brandenburg in Germany. Geography It is located near the southeastern Berlin city limits on the western shore of the Dahme River and the Zeuthener See. It borders Eichwalde in the ...
, where he died of
pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severi ...
on 20 September 2001. Interviews with Schnitzler can be found in '' Stasiland'' by
Anna Funder Anna Funder (born 1966) is an Australian author. She is the author of ''Stasiland'' and '' All That I Am'' and the novella ''The Girl With the Dogs''. Life Funder went to primary school in Melbourne and Paris; she attended Star of the Sea Coll ...
and ''The Saddled Cow'' by
Anne McElvoy Anne McElvoy (born 25 June 1965) is a British journalist, contributing to ''The Economist'', London ''Evening Standard'', and the BBC. Early life McElvoy attended St Bede's RC Comprehensive School in Lanchester, County Durham, and read German ...
.


Sources

* * Gerlof, Kathrin: ''GegenSpieler: Gerhard Löwenthal, Karl-Eduard von Schnitzler.'' Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt 1999, . * Prase, Tilo, Kretzschmar, Judith: ''Propagandist und Heimatfilmer. Die Dokumentarfilme des Karl-Eduard von Schnitzler'' (= ''Materialien – Analysen – Zusammenhänge.'' 10). Leipziger Universitätsverlag, Leipzig 2003, . * * Goodrum, Sarah
''A Socialist Family of Man. Rita Maahs’ and Karl-Eduard von Schnitzler’s Exhibition „Vom Glück des Menschen“''.
In: ''Zeithistorische Forschungen'' 12 (2015), p. 370–382.


References


External links



''
The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...
'', 4 October 2001 {{DEFAULTSORT:Schnitzler, Karl-Eduard von 1918 births 2001 deaths Politicians from Berlin Socialist Unity Party of Germany politicians Party of Democratic Socialism (Germany) politicians German Communist Party politicians East German television personalities German untitled nobility German military personnel of World War II West German defectors to East Germany Recipients of the National Prize of East Germany Recipients of the Patriotic Order of Merit Recipients of the Banner of Labor People from Steglitz-Zehlendorf