Axel Constantin August Eggebrecht (10 January 1899 – 14 July 1991) was a German

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, p ...

, and

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

Life

Eggebrecht grew up in

bourgeois The bourgeoisie ( , ) is a social class, equivalent to the middle or upper middle class. They are distinguished from, and traditionally contrasted with, the proletariat by their affluence, and their great cultural and financial capital. They ...

surroundings in

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

until 1917 when he volunteered to serve in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

where he received a serious wound, the effects of which he would continue to feel for his entire life. Indecisive politically, he alternated between right and left. After the war he was a member of

nationalist Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: The ...

organizations. From 1920 to 1925 he was a member of the

KPD The Communist Party of Germany (german: Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands, , KPD ) was a major political party in the Weimar Republic between 1918 and 1933, an underground resistance movement in Nazi Germany, and a minor party in West German ...

(Communist Party of Germany), traveling twice to the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

in 1923 and 1924, but he returned to

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

disappointed in

Bolshevism Bolshevism (from Bolshevik) is a revolutionary socialist current of Soviet Marxist–Leninist political thought and political regime associated with the formation of a rigidly centralized, cohesive and disciplined party of social revolution, fo ...

. In 1925 he began his work with

Siegfried Jacobsohn Siegfried Jacobsohn (28 January 1881 – 3 December 1926) was a German writer and influential theatre critic. Life Born in Berlin into a Jewish family, Jacobsohn decided at the age of 15 to become a theatre critic. In October 1897 he left ...

's ''

Die Weltbühne ''Die Weltbühne'' (‘The World Stage’) was a German weekly magazine for politics, art and the economy. It was founded in Berlin in 1905 as (‘The Theater’) by Siegfried Jacobsohn and was originally a theater magazine only. In 1913 it beg ...

'', besides which he also wrote for the ''Literarische Welt''. In Berlin, he was one of the inhabitants of the so-called ''Künstlerkolonie Berlin'', a housing complex in southeastern Berlin constructed for the purpose of providing financially insecure writers and artists with affordable housing. In 1933 he was imprisoned for several months at the Hainewalde concentration camp. After his release he used pseudonyms to eke out a living in the film industry as a

, assistant, and critic. After the end of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, in June 1945, he was brought by British occupation officers to the former site of the governmental broadcast station. There, in September 1945 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 Länder of Hamburg, Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein and North Rhine-Westphalia from 22 September 1945 to ...

(Northwest German Broadcasting). As a journalist, Eggebrecht was one of the pioneers of the

radio documentary A radio documentary is a spoken word radio format devoted to non-fiction narrative. It is broadcast on radio as well as distributed through media such as tape, CD, and podcast. A radio documentary, or feature, covers a topic in depth from one or ...

. From 1963 to 1965 he reported on the

Frankfurt Auschwitz Trials The Frankfurt Auschwitz trials, known in German as ''der Auschwitz-Prozess'', or ''der zweite Auschwitz-Prozess,'' (the "second Auschwitz trial") was a series of trials running from 20 December 1963 to 19 August 1965, charging 22 defendants unde ...

. In 1965 he became a member of the

International PEN PEN International (known as International PEN until 2010) is a worldwide association of writers, founded in London in 1921 to promote friendship and intellectual co-operation among writers everywhere. The association has autonomous Internationa ...

association, in 1972 becoming Vice President of the German branch. In 1983 he was awarded the Gerrit-Engelke-Preis, the literature prize of the city of

Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

. In 1989, he received the Bürgermeister-Stolten-Medaille, the highest honor awarded by the city of

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

, where he later died.

Axel Eggebrecht Prize

In Eggebrecht's memory, the Media Foundation of the City of

endowed the Axel Eggebrecht Prize to be awarded for radio documentaries. Since 2008, it is awarded every two years, alternating with the Günter Eich Prize for

radio drama Radio drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre) is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine ...

s. Both prizes award 10,000

Euro The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...

Selected filmography

* ''

Two Under the Stars ''Two Under the Stars'' (German: ''Zwei unterm Himmelszelt'') is a 1927 German silent film directed by Johannes Guter and Ernst Wolff and starring Margarete Schlegel, Ernst Deutsch and Jean Angelo.Bock & Bergfelder p.87 Cast References Bibli ...

'' (1927) * ''

The Republic of Flappers ''The Republic of Flappers'' (German: ''Die Republik der Backfische'') is a 1928 German silent comedy film directed by Constantin J. David and starring Käthe von Nagy, Raimondo Van Riel and Ernst Stahl-Nachbaur.Eickhoff p.494 The title refers ...

'' (1928) * '' Fight of the Tertia'' (1929) * ''

Pappi In Asteraceae, the pappus is the modified calyx, the part of an individual floret, that surrounds the base of the corolla tube in flower. It functions as a wind-dispersal mechanism for the seeds. The term is sometimes used for similar s ...

'' (1934) * '' Miss Madame'' (1934) * '' The Valley of Love'' (1935) * ''

Maria the Maid ''Maria the Maid'' (german: Maria, die Magd) is a 1936 German drama film directed by Veit Harlan and starring Hilde Körber, Hilde Hildebrand, and Alfred Abel. It is based upon ''Die Kindsmagd'', a novella by (the director's father). It was shot ...

'' (1936) * ''

When the Cock Crows ''When the Cock Crows'' (German: ''Wenn der Hahn kräht'') is a 1936 German comedy film directed by Carl Froelich and starring Heinrich George, Hans Brausewetter and Marianne Hoppe. It was shot at the National Studios in Berlin.Klaus p.228-29 ...

'' (1936) * ''

Operetta Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs, and dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, length of the work, and at face value, subject matter. Apart from its s ...

'' (1940) * '' Vienna Blood'' (1942) * '' A Man Like Maximilian'' (1945) * ''

The Lost One ''The Lost One'' (german: Der Verlorene) is a 1951 West German drama film directed by Peter Lorre and starring Lorre, Karl John and Renate Mannhardt. It is an art film in the film noir style, based on a true story. Lorre wrote, directed, and sta ...

'' (1951) * ''

The Land of Smiles ''The Land of Smiles'' (German: ') is a 1929 romantic operetta in three acts by Franz Lehár. The German language libretto was by and Fritz Löhner-Beda. The performance duration is about 100 minutes. This was one of Lehár's later works, and h ...

'' (1952) * ''

Captain Wronski ''Captain Wronski'' (german: Rittmeister Wronski) is a 1954 West German spy film directed by Ulrich Erfurth and starring Willy Birgel, Elisabeth Flickenschildt, and Antje Weisgerber. A Polish officer works undercover in 1930s Berlin to discover N ...

'' (1954) * '' A Love Story'' (1954) * '' The Ambassador's Wife'' (1955) * '' Stresemann'' (1957) * ''Wer überlebt, ist schuldig'' (1960, TV film) * ''Der Röhm-Putsch'' (1967, TV film) * ''In Sachen Erzberger gegen Helfferich'' (1967, TV film)

References

External links

*
Literature by and about Axel Eggebrecht in the German National Library
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Eggebrecht, Axel 1899 births 1991 deaths German male journalists German military personnel of World War I Writers from Leipzig People from the Kingdom of Saxony Hainewalde concentration camp survivors German male writers Jewish concentration camp survivors Mass media people from Saxony