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Alan Posener (born 8 October 1949 in
Profile at ''The Guardian'' newspaper
{{DEFAULTSORT:Posener, Alan 1949 births Living people People from Hampstead German male journalists German newspaper journalists German bloggers German male writers German male bloggers Die Welt editors Journalists from London
Alan Posener (born 8 October 1949 in Hampstead
Hampstead () is an area in London, England, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, located mainly in the London Borough of Camden, with a small part in the London Borough of Barnet. It borders Highgate and Golders Green to the north, Belsiz ...
, London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
) is a British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies.
* British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...
- German journalist
A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism.
Roles
Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...
. He is the son of the architectural historian Julius Posener.
Biography
Posener is the son of a liberal German-Jew
Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...
ish family, while his mother is of Scottish- English ancestry. Posener's sister is the photographer Jill Posener. He grew up in England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
, Malaysia
Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...
and Germany. He studied German studies
German studies is an academic field that researches, documents and disseminates German language, literature, and culture in its historic and present forms. Academic departments of German studies therefore often focus on German culture, German h ...
and English at the Free University of Berlin
The Free University of Berlin (, often abbreviated as FU Berlin or simply FU) is a public university, public research university in Berlin, Germany. It was founded in West Berlin in 1948 with American support during the early Cold War period a ...
and the Ruhr University of Bochum. During this period he served as Executive of the Communist Students Association and the Maoist
Maoism, officially Mao Zedong Thought, is a variety of Marxism–Leninism that Mao Zedong developed while trying to realize a socialist revolution in the agricultural, pre-industrial society of the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic o ...
Communist
Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...
Party.
On graduation, Posener worked as a teacher at the Kant-Gymnasium (Berlin) and at the Martin Buber Comprehensive School in Berlin-Spandau. He left the teaching profession, as he says, because of "boredom".
Journalism
In 1987 he wrote the Rowohlt monograph onJohn Lennon
John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer-songwriter, musician and activist. He gained global fame as the founder, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the Beatles. Lennon's ...
. This was followed by monographs on John F. Kennedy, Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one of the most significant cultural figures of the ...
, William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
, Franklin Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...
, and finally Mary, the mother of Jesus
Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...
. Posener also wrote a biography of the relationship of John F. and Jackie Kennedy
Jacqueline Lee Kennedy Onassis ( ; July 28, 1929 – May 19, 1994) was an American writer, book editor, and socialite who served as the first lady of the United States from 1961 to 1963, as the wife of President John F. Kennedy. A popular f ...
.
From 1999 to 2004, he was a writer at and then editor of ''Die Welt
(, ) is a German national daily newspaper, published as a broadsheet by Axel Springer SE.
is the flagship newspaper of the Axel Springer publishing group and it is considered a newspaper of record in Germany. Its leading competitors are the ...
''. From 2004 to 2008, he was chief of commentary for '' Welt am Sonntag''. He now works as a correspondent for politics and society. When, in 2005, the Berlin
Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
authorities proposed renaming Kochstraße as Rudi Dutschke
Alfred Willi Rudolf Dutschke (; 7 March 1940 – 24 December 1979) was a German sociologist and political activist who, until severely injured by an assassin in 1968, was a leading charismatic figure within the Socialist Students Union (SDS) in ...
Strasse, he opposed the proposition. Posener stated that:
In May 2007, Posener used his blog
A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...
at ''Welt Online
(, ) is a German national daily newspaper, published as a broadsheet by Axel Springer SE.
is the flagship newspaper of the Axel Springer publishing group and it is considered a newspaper of record in Germany. Its leading competitors are the ...
'' to attack the editor of the tabloid "''Bild
''Bild'' (, ) or ''Bild-Zeitung'' (, ) is a German tabloid newspaper published by Axel Springer SE. The paper is published from Monday to Saturday; on Sundays, its sister paper '' Bild am Sonntag'' () is published instead, which has a differen ...
''," Kai Diekmann, accusing him of "hypocrisy" because the newspaper "serves the lowest instincts." The comment was removed a few hours later after colleagues at the Axel Springer publishing house, which is the publisher of both titles, had noticed it. Rival newspapers later printed their own critical commentaries on the tensions evident at Axel Springer Verlag.
In 2009 he published his book ''"Pope Benedict's crusade"'', in which he criticized Benedict XVI
Pope BenedictXVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger; 16 April 1927 – 31 December 2022) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, his resignation on 28 Februar ...
's "crusade
The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and at times directed by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The most prominent of these were the campaigns to the Holy Land aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem and its surrounding t ...
" against the Enlightenment. An expanded and retitled version, now also available as a paperback, appeared in 2011 under the punchier title "Der gefährliche Papst" (''"The Dangerous Pope"''). Building on his criticism, he now also stirred controversy by spelling out a more general thesis: "Religion ist schlecht für den Menschen" (''"Religion is bad for humanity"'').
Since 2009, Posener has conducted a weekly debate with Alexander Görlach on religious and ethical questions in '' The European''.
References
External links
Profile at ''The Guardian'' newspaper
{{DEFAULTSORT:Posener, Alan 1949 births Living people People from Hampstead German male journalists German newspaper journalists German bloggers German male writers German male bloggers Die Welt editors Journalists from London