Günther Deschner (14 May 1941 – 11 January 2023) was a German author, historian, journalist, and filmmaker.

Biography

Born in

Fürth Fürth (; East Franconian German, East Franconian: ; ) is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in northern Bavaria, Germany, in the administrative division (''Regierungsbezirk'') of Middle Franconia. It is the Franconia#Towns and cities, s ...

on 14 May 1941, Deschner studied history and political science at the

University of Erlangen–Nuremberg The Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (, FAU) is a Public University, public research university in the cities of Erlangen and Nuremberg in Bavaria, Germany. The name Friedrich-Alexander is derived from the university's first ...

. He was a student of

Hans-Joachim Schoeps Hans-Joachim Schoeps (30 January 1909 Berlin - 8 July 1980 Erlangen) was a German-Jewish historian of religion and religious philosophy. He was professor of religions and religious history at the University of Erlangen. Prior to World War II, Schoe ...

and received his doctorate in 1968 with the work ''Gobineau und Deutschland. Der Einfluss von Gobineaus «Essai sur l’inégalité des races humaines» auf die deutsche Geistesgeschichte 1853–1917''. He then worked as a lecturer and editor for various newspapers and publishers until settling on ''

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 ...

'', where he worked until 2005. He continued to contribute to ''

Junge Freiheit The ''Junge Freiheit'' (JF, "Young Freedom") is a German weekly newspaper on politics and culture that was established in 1986. Junge Freiheit is politically conservative, right-wing, and nationalistic; it is further described as the "ideologic ...

''. Deschner was a member of the board of directors of

Verein für Deutsche Kulturbeziehungen im Ausland The Verein für Deutsche Kulturbeziehungen im Ausland (; "Association for German cultural relations abroad"), abbreviated VDA, is a German cultural organisation. During the Nazi era it was engaged in spying across the whole world, using Germ ...

from 1976 to 1981. In the 1980s, he served on the editorial board of ''

Nouvelle École ''Nouvelle École'' () is an annual political and philosophy magazine which was established in Paris, France, in 1968 by an ethno-nationalist think tank, GRECE. The magazine is one of the significant media outlets of the Nouvelle Droite (New R ...

'', the newspaper of the ethnonationalist think tank

GRECE The Groupement de Recherche et d'Études pour la Civilisation Européenne ("Research and Study Group for European Civilization"), better known as GRECE, is a French ethnonationalist think tank founded in 1968 to promote the ideas of the Nouvell ...

. In October 1987, he became editor-in-chief of ''Unabhängigen Nachrichtenmagazins PLUS'', which aimed to break the alleged "autocracy" of ''

Der Spiegel (, , stylized in all caps) is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. With a weekly circulation of about 724,000 copies in 2022, it is one of the largest such publications in Europe. It was founded in 1947 by John Seymour Chaloner ...

'' and to prevent part-owner

Rudolf Augstein Rudolf Karl Augstein (5 November 1923 – 7 November 2002) was a German journalist, editor, publicist, and politician. He was one of the most influential German journalists, founder and part-owner of magazine. As a politician, he was a member o ...

"from conducting further character assassination campaigns". In 1990, he founded the media publishing house ''Media D'', which produced numerous films. Deschner was founding editor-in-chief of the far-right magazine '' Zuerst!'', where his works were published by , including his statement "I and my colleagues have not written in the world differently than we write today. If you think that's right-wing today, you can say that we didn't move further to the right, but that the party system and the media landscape moved further to the left". Deschner also defended the Kurdish independence movement, speaking with

Mustafa Barzani Mustafa Barzani (14 March 1903 – 1 March 1979), also known as Mullah Mustafa, was a Kurdish nationalist leader and one of the most prominent political figures in modern Kurdish politics. In 1946, he was chosen as the leader of the Kurdistan ...

and

Jalal Talabani Jalal Talabani (; ; 1933 – 3 October 2017) was an Iraqi Kurdish politician who served as the sixth president of Iraq from 2005 to 2014, as well as the president of the Governing Council of Iraq. Talabani was the founder and secretary-gene ...

, the latter of whom led the

Patriotic Union of Kurdistan The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK; ) is a political party active in Kurdistan Region and the Disputed territories of Northern Iraq, disputed territories in Iraq. The PUK describes its goals as self-determination, human rights, democracy a ...

, as well as

Kurdistan Workers' Party The Kurdistan Workers' Party, or the PKK, isDespite the PKK's 12th Congress announcing plans for total organisational dissolution, the PKK has not yet been dissolved de facto or de jure. a Kurds, Kurdish militant political organization and armed ...

leader

Abdullah Öcalan Abdullah Öcalan ( ; ; born 4 April 1948 or 1949), also known as Apo (short for Abdullah in Turkish; Kurdish for "uncle"), is a founding member of the militant Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). Öcalan was based in Syria from 1979 to 1998. He ...

. According to him, the Kurds were used as pawns on the chessboard of regional and international politics. Günther Deschner died on 11 January 2023, at the age of 81.

Publications

*''Gobineau und Deutschland: Der Einfluß von J. A. de Gobineaus „Essai sur inégalité des races humaines“ auf die deutsche Geistesgeschichte 1853-1917'' (1968) *''Menschen im Ghetto'' (1969) *''Reinhard Heydrich. Statthalter der totalen Macht'' (1977) *''Saladins Söhne: Die Kurden – das betrogene Volk'' (1983) *''Der 2. Weltkrieg. Bilder, Daten, Dokumente'' (1983) *''Gab es ein „Unternehmen Barbarossa“ der Westmächte? Eine historische Betrachtung'' (1984) *''Die Kurden, das betrogene Volk'' (1989) *''Die Kurden. Volk ohne Staat'' (2003) *''Bomben auf Baku, Kriegspläne der Alliierten gegen die Sowjetunion 1939/1940'' (2009) *''Friedrich der Große und sein Preußen in historischen Gemälden'' (2010)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Deschner, Gunther 1941 births 2023 deaths German writers German historians German journalists German film producers People from Fürth