Erich Brost
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{{Short description|German journalist (1903–1995)}}
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Erich Brost (29 October 1903 – 8 October 1995) was a German journalist and publisher.{{Cite web |url=http://www.brost.org/erich-brost-1+M52087573ab0.html |title=Biography |access-date=25 January 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110725103535/http://www.brost.org/erich-brost-1+M52087573ab0.html |archive-date=25 July 2011 |url-status=dead }}
Biography
Brost was born in Elbing, West Prussia to a Schichau-Werke shipyard worker and a tailor. In 1915 his family moved to Danzig (modern Gdańsk, Poland), where he became a bookseller and engaged in politics and the labour movement.
Aged 19 Brost wrote his first column for the Social democratic Danziger Volksstimme, for which he worked until 1936, when the Volksstimme got suspended and the Social Democratic Party of the Free City of Danzig was forbidden. In 1935 he became a member of the Volkstag, the Free City of Danzig's parliament, representing the SPD.[http://library.fes.de/pdf-files/netzquelle/a03-03861/a03-03861-dt.pdf Erich Brost Stiftung] {{in lang|de}} Brost went into exile to Poland, Sweden, Finland and Great Britain, where he worked for the BBC.[http://www.bundespraesident.de/dokumente/-,2.93341/Rede/dokument.htm Speech]{{Dead link|date=December 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} by Johannes Rau at The Artus Court {{in lang|de}} After World War II and the expulsion of the German populace Brost moved to the Ruhr area in 1945 to build up the German News Service, a predecessor of the Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa). Brost was active in the Social Democratic Party of Germany and represented the party at the Allied Control Council.[http://www.ebbk.essen.de/web/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=19&Itemid=27 Biography] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719000534/http://www.ebbk.essen.de/web/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=19&Itemid=27 |date=19 July 2011 }} {{in lang|de}} He received an Allied licence to publish a newspaper in the British Zone of occupied Germany. The first copy of the Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung (WAZ) was published on 3 April 1948 and Brost influenced the WAZ for the next decades.
Brost founded the Erich-Brost-Stiftung in 1991, the "Erich Brost University Lecturership" at the University of Oxford's "Institute of European and Comparative Law" is dedicated to him.
Erich-Brost-Danzig-Award
Brost donated the Erich-Brost-Danzig-Preis of 20,000 Euro, which is awarded to people or institutions for their merits in Polish-German reconciliation.[http://library.fes.de/pdf-files/netzquelle/03032.pdf Erich-Brost-Stiftung: Our Activities in Poland] (Friedrich Ebert Foundation {{in lang|de}})
It was awarded to:
- 1996: Kashubian-Pomeranian Association
- 1997: Stefan Chwin, author
- 1998: Szczepan Baum and Ryszard Semka, Architects
- 1999: "Forschungsstelle Osteuropa" at the University of Bremen
- 2001: Cultural Association "Borussia", Olsztyn
- 2003: the twin towns of Bremen and Gdańsk
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.brost.org/index.php?id=14&L=1 Erich Brost Institute for international journalism]
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Category:People from West Prussia
Category:Social Democratic Party of Germany politicians
Category:Free City of Danzig politicians
Category:German male journalists
Category:German newspaper journalists
Category:20th-century German journalists
Category:Grand Crosses with Star and Sash of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany