Eduard "Ede" Zimmermann (4 February 1929 – 19 September 2009) was a German journalist, television presenter and security expert.

Life

Eduard Zimmermann was born on 4 February 1929 in Alte Heide in the

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English language, English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History ...

of Schwabing-Freimann in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

, Germany to a teenage mother who worked as a waitress. Shortly before the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Zimmermann moved to his grandparents house in

Ottobrunn Ottobrunn () is a suburban municipality southeast of Munich, Bavaria, Germany, founded in 1955. Ottobrunn consists of mainly semi-detached and detached houses, as well as extensive garden areas. Ottobrunn is also the German Headquarters of Airbus ...

. At the end of the war Zimmermann moved to the city of

Magdeburg Magdeburg (; ) is the Capital city, capital of the Germany, German States of Germany, state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is on the Elbe river. Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor, Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archbishopric of Mag ...

where his mother had married a hotelier, and where Zimmermann was first employed at his stepfather's hotel. Following the Second World War the man who would later be known as a 'criminal hunter' and 'crook's bane' eked out a living as a

thief Theft (, cognate to ) is the act of taking another person's property or services without that person's permission or consent with the intent to deprive the rightful owner of it. The word ''theft'' is also used as a synonym or informal short ...

and

black market A black market is a Secrecy, clandestine Market (economics), market or series of transactions that has some aspect of illegality, or is not compliant with an institutional set of rules. If the rule defines the set of goods and services who ...

trader, for which he served a sentence at Fuhlsbüttel Prison. With a false identity and diploma he finally found work as a roadworks engineer in Sweden. Zimmermann returned to the

Soviet occupation zone The Soviet occupation zone in Germany ( or , ; ) was an area of Germany that was occupied by the Soviet Union as a communist area, established as a result of the Potsdam Agreement on 2 August 1945. On 7 October 1949 the German Democratic Republ ...

in Germany on an assignment for ''

Dagens Nyheter (, ), abbreviated ''DN'', is a daily newspaper in Sweden. It is published in Stockholm and aspires to full national and international coverage, and is widely considered Sweden's newspaper of record A newspaper of record is a major nationa ...

'' newspaper. There he was charged with espionage in 1950 and sentenced to 25 years in prison. He served five years of his sentence in

Bautzen Bautzen () or Budyšin (), until 1868 ''Budissin'' in German, is a town in eastern Saxony, Germany, and the administrative centre of the Bautzen (district), district of Bautzen. It is located on the Spree (river), Spree river, is the eighth most ...

and was released early on 17 January 1954 in the run-up to the

Berlin Conference The Berlin Conference of 1884–1885 was a meeting of colonial powers that concluded with the signing of the General Act of Berlin,

. Subsequently, he worked as a journalist and editor at NDR and

ZDF ZDF (), short for (; ), is a German public-service television broadcaster based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. Launched on 1 April 1963, it is run as an independent nonprofit institution, and was founded by all federal states of Germany ( ...

. From 20 October 1967 to 24 October 1997 Zimmermann presented 300 episodes of the ZDF TV series '' Aktenzeichen XY... ungelöst'' (''Case number XY … Unsolved''), whom he also co-hosted with his adopted daughter

Sabine The Sabines (, , , ; ) were an Italic people who lived in the central Apennine Mountains (see Sabina) of the ancient Italian Peninsula, also inhabiting Latium north of the Anio before the founding of Rome. The Sabines divided int ...

from 6 November 1987 until 24 October 1997 (Sabine would remain at the said programme until 7 December 2001), as well as 180 episodes from 1964 to 1997 of ''Vorsicht Falle! – Nepper, Schlepper, Bauernfänger'' (''Beware, Trap! – Scammers, Hustlers, Conmen''). He then retired from the television business and maintained an Internet security portal in co-operation with

. Zimmermann was a co-founder of e.V. (White Ring), an organisation that assists victims of crimes, and was its chairman for many years. On the occasion of ''Aktenzeichen XYs hundredth episode on 7 October 1977 Zimmermann received the

Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (, or , BVO) is the highest state decoration, federal decoration of the Federal Republic of Germany. It may be awarded for any field of endeavor. It was created by the first List of president ...

on ribbon, presented by Federal President

Walter Scheel Walter Scheel (; 8 July 1919 – 24 August 2016) was a German statesman. A member of the Nazi Party who joined the Free Democratic Party of Germany (FDP) in 1946, he first served in government as the Federal Minister of Economic Cooperation and ...

, and was subsequently awarded the Order of Merit First Class on 16 June 1986, presented by Federal President

Richard von Weizsäcker Richard Karl Freiherr von Weizsäcker (; 15 April 1920 – 31 January 2015) was a German politician ( CDU), who served as President of Germany from 1984 to 1994. Born into the aristocratic Weizsäcker family, who were part of the German nobili ...

. In 1982 he received the Humanitarian Award of the German Freemasons. Zimmermann himself revealed his past as a criminal in 2005 through his autobiography, titled ''Auch ich war ein Gauner'' (''I was a crook too''). In a newspaper interview he said that his time as a criminal had made him tough: Zimmermann's last appearance on TV was on the 400th episode of ''Aktenzeichen XY'' on 10 May 2007. He died on 19 September 2009 in

from

dementia Dementia is a syndrome associated with many neurodegenerative diseases, characterized by a general decline in cognitive abilities that affects a person's ability to perform activities of daily living, everyday activities. This typically invo ...

Notes and references

Notes

References

External links

*
Eduard Zimmermann's security portal
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zimmermann, Eduard 1929 births 2009 deaths German male journalists German television journalists 20th-century German journalists 21st-century German journalists Commanders Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany German male writers German television show creators ZDF people