Peter von Zahn (29 January 1913 – 26 July 2001) was a German author,

film maker Filmmaking or film production is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, beginning with an initial story, idea, or commission. Production then continues through screenwritin ...

, and journalist. Born in

Chemnitz Chemnitz (; from 1953 to 1990: Karl-Marx-Stadt (); ; ) is the third-largest city in the Germany, German States of Germany, state of Saxony after Leipzig and Dresden, and the fourth-largest city in the area of former East Germany after (East Be ...

as a son of an officer, he grew up in

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

and studied law, history, and philosophy. He was drafted at the beginning of

World War II 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 ...

. After the war, he was one of the founders of the

Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk (NWDR; ''Northwest German Broadcasting'') was the organization responsible for public broadcasting in the German Federal States of Hamburg, Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein and North Rhine-Westphalia from 22 September ...

(NWDR). For three years, he managed the NWDR Studio in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

where he introduced Anglo-Saxon style journalism with self-critical irony. In 1951, he went to the United States as a foreign correspondent. He worked until a very advanced age and produced over 3000 radio shows and 1000 television films. He received many awards such as the Adolf-Grimme-Preis (3), the DAG-Fernsehpreis in Silver and Gold, the

Goldene Kamera The Goldene Kamera ("Golden Camera") is an annual German film and television award, awarded by the Funke Mediengruppe. The award show was usually held in early February in Hamburg, but also took place in Berlin on occasion. It has been paused ...

and the Bavarian TV Award, and is considered the standard for subsequent radio and television journalism. The State of Hamburg promoted him in 1995 to a Professor honoris causa. He died in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

aged 88.

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zahn, Peter Von 1913 births 2001 deaths German male journalists German television journalists 20th-century German journalists German television directors People from Chemnitz German non-fiction writers German male writers ZDF people