Fritz Joachim Raddatz (3 September 1931 – 26 February 2015) was a German

feuilleton A ''feuilleton'' (; a diminutive of , the leaf of a book) was originally a kind of supplement attached to the political portion of French newspapers, consisting chiefly of non-political news and gossip, literature and art criticism, a chronicle ...

ist, essayist, biographer, journalist and romancier.

Life

Fritz Raddatz was born in

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 ...

. His mother, according to Raddatz a "Parisienne from a rich family",Sven Michaelsen:
Es gab zu viele Verwundungen – Sex mit der Stiefmutter, Kämpfe mit Grass: Der Publizist Fritz Raddatz hat neue Tagebücher veröffentlicht – und teilt aus wie nie.
', sz-magazin.sueddeutsche.de, access date 26 February 2015 died after giving birth to him. His father was, as Raddatz once put it, "a relatively known" man. Raddatz, who knew his name but had no relationship to his biological father, never identified him. His stepfather was a fighter pilot in

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

.
Interview-Video Fritz J. Raddatz geführt von Peter Voß
', 3sat, access date 26 February 2015 Raddatz was battered by him and also forced to have sex with his stepmother. After his stepfather had died in 1946 the Protestant pastor Hans-Joachim Mund (1914–1986) became his legal guardian. At age 15 Raddatz started an affair with Mund.«Mehr als in mein Leben geht in ein Leben nicht rein»
bazonline.ch, access date 26 February 2015 In 1950 Raddatz moved to East Berlin. He started to study German studies, history, theatre studies, art and American studies. In 1953 he closed his studies with the

Staatsexamen The ("state examination" or "exam by state"; pl.: ''Staatsexamina'') is a German government licensing examination that future physicians, dentists, physical therapists, teachers, research librarians, archivists, pharmacists, food chemists, psyc ...

Humboldt University of Berlin The Humboldt University of Berlin (, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany. The university was established by Frederick William III on the initiative of Wilhelm von Humbol ...

. In 1958 Raddatz received a

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

and in 1971 he was

habilitated Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in Germany, France, Italy, Poland and some other European and non-English-speaking countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excellen ...

University of Hannover Leibniz University Hannover (), also known as the University of Hannover, is a public research university located in Hanover, Germany. Founded on 2 May 1831 as Higher Vocational School, the university has undergone six periods of renaming, its ...

under Hans Mayer. Aged 20 he started to write for ''

Berliner Zeitung The ''Berliner Zeitung'' (; ) is a daily newspaper based in Berlin, Germany. Founded in East Germany in 1945, it is the only East German paper to achieve national prominence since Reunification of Germany, reunification. It is published by Berl ...

''.Fritz J. Raddatz' Erinnerungen sind egoman und verrückt, aber gerade darum großartig

, 29 September 2003 From 1953 to 1958 he led the foreign department of the publishing house Volk und Welt in East Berlin. Because Raddatz had ongoing conflicts with East German authorities he moved back to West Germany in 1958. In 1960 he became chief editor and deputy publishing manager of

Rowohlt Verlag Rowohlt Verlag is a German publishing house based in Hamburg, with offices in Reinbek and Berlin. It has been part of the Georg von Holtzbrinck Group since 1982. The company has been dissolved and restarted twice since its creation in 1908. Hi ...

. He held these positions until 1969, when he had to step down due to the "balloon affair". From 1976 until 1985 he was leading the

Die Zeit (, ) is a German national weekly newspaper published in Hamburg in Germany. The newspaper is generally considered to be among the German newspapers of record and is known for its long and extensive articles. History The first edition of was ...

. Raddatz was one of the most influential literary critics in the field of German literature. He also published his diaries as well as many essays, novels and biographies. Raddatz lived openly as a bisexual. In Hamburg he lived for more than 30 years with his partner Gerd. In September 2014 Raddatz announced his retirement from active writing. Raddatz, who was an advocate of

Euthanasia Euthanasia (from : + ) is the practice of intentionally ending life to eliminate pain and suffering. Different countries have different Legality of euthanasia, euthanasia laws. The British House of Lords Select committee (United Kingdom), se ...

, died by

assisted suicide Assisted suicide, sometimes restricted to the context of physician-assisted suicide (PAS), is the process by which a person, with the help of others, takes actions to end their life. Once it is determined that the person's situation qualifie ...

at the age of 83 on 26 February 2015 in

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

.Fritz J. Raddatz: Ein Genie und Provokateur
zeit.de, access date 27 February 2015 He never wanted to become a nursing case. In full possession of his powers he decided: "That's it, it's enough." He was chairman of the Kurt Tucholsky Foundation and a member of

PEN PEN may refer to: * (National Ecological Party), former name of the Brazilian political party Patriota (PATRI) * PEN International, a worldwide association of writers ** English PEN, the founding centre of PEN International ** PEN America, located ...

-Zentrum Germany and the Freie Akademie der Künste Hamburg.

Awards

François Mitterrand François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand (26 October 19168 January 1996) was a French politician and statesman who served as President of France from 1981 to 1995, the longest holder of that position in the history of France. As a former First ...

awarded him the Officier of the

Ordre des Arts et des Lettres The Order of Arts and Letters () is an order of France established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture. Its supplementary status to the was confirmed by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963. Its purpose is the recognition of significant ...

. In 2010 Raddatz was awarded the Hildegard von Bingen Prize for Journalism.

Selected works

*''Herders Konzeption der Literatur, dargelegt an seinen Frühschriften'', 1958 *''Traditionen und Tendenzen. Materialien zur Literatur der DDR''. Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main 1972, *''Georg Lukács in Selbstzeugnissen und Bilddokumenten''. Rowohlt, Reinbek 1972, *''Karl Marx. Eine politische Biographie''. Hoffmann und Campe, Hamburg 1975, *''Heinrich Heine. Ein deutsches Märchen. Essay''. Hoffmann und Campe, Hamburg 1977, *''Revolte und Melancholie. Essays zur Literaturtheorie''. Knaus, Hamburg 1979, *''Von Geist und Geld. Heinrich Heine und sein Onkel, der Bankier Salomon. Eine Skizze''. With six etchings by

Günter Grass Günter Wilhelm Grass (; 16 October 1927 – 13 April 2015) was a German novelist, poet, playwright, illustrator, graphic artist, sculptor, and recipient of the 1999 Nobel Prize in Literature. He was born in the Free City of Danzig (now Gda ...

. Bund, Köln 1980, *''Eros und Tod. Literarische Portraits''. Knaus, Hamburg 1980, *''Pyrenäenreise im Herbst. Auf den Spuren Kurt Tucholskys''. Rowohlt, Reinbek 1985, *''Die Nachgeborenen. Leseerfahrungen mit zeitgenössischer Literatur''. S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 1983, *''Lügner von Beruf. Auf den Spuren William Faulkners''. Rowohlt, Reinbek 1987, *''Tucholsky, ein Pseudonym. Essay''. Rowohlt, Reinbek 1989, *''Taubenherz und Geierschnabel. Heinrich Heine. Eine Biographie''. Beltz, Weinheim 1997, *''Ich habe dich anders gedacht. Erzählung''. Arche, Zürich 2001, *''Gottfried Benn. Leben – niederer Wahn. Eine Biographie''. Propyläen, Berlin 2001, *''Günter Grass. Unerbittliche Freunde. Ein Kritiker. Ein Autor''. Arche, Zürich 2002, *''Literarische Grenzgänger. Sieben Essays''. List, München 2002, *''Unruhestifter. Erinnerungen''. Propyläen, Berlin 2003, *''Eine Erziehung in Deutschland. Trilogie''. Rowohlt, Reinbek 2006, *''Liebes Fritzchen, Lieber Groß-Uwe. Der Briefwechsel'' (with

Uwe Johnson Uwe Johnson (; 20 July 1934 – 22 February 1984) was a German writer, editor, and scholar. Such prominent writers and scholars as Günter Grass and Hans Mayer declared Johnson to be the most significant writer to emerge from East Germany. Duri ...

). Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main 2006, *''Schreiben heißt, sein Herz waschen. Literarische Essays''. Zu Klampen, Springe 2006, *''Mein Sylt''. Photos by Karin Székessy. Mare, Hamburg 2006, *''Das Rot der Freiheitssonne wurde Blut. Literarische Essays''. Zu Klampen, Springe 2007, *''Rainer Maria Rilke. Überzähliges Dasein. Eine Biographie''. Arche, Zürich 2009, *''Nizza – mon amour''. Arche, Zürich 2010, * ''Tagebücher 1982–2001''. Rowohlt, Reinbek 2010, * ''Bestiarium der deutschen Literatur''. Rowohlt, Reinbek 2012, * ''Tagebücher 2002–2012''. Rowohlt, Reinbek 2014, . * ''Jahre mit Ledig: Eine Erinnerung''. Rowohlt, Reinbek 2015,

External links

* *
Fritz J. Raddatz
at rowohlt.de

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Raddatz, Fritz J 1931 births 2015 suicides 2015 deaths 20th-century German male writers 21st-century German male writers Humboldt University of Berlin alumni German male biographers German literary critics German LGBTQ journalists 20th-century German LGBTQ people 21st-century German LGBTQ people German male journalists German newspaper journalists German people of French descent Writers from Berlin Suicides in Switzerland Officiers of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres German male essayists German bisexual men German bisexual writers Bisexual male writers Bisexual journalists 20th-century German biographers 20th-century German essayists 21st-century German essayists 20th-century German journalists 21st-century German journalists Die Zeit people