Dankwart Guratzsch (born 14 June 1939) is a German journalist. He has made a name for himself above all as an

architecture critic Architecture criticism is the critique of architecture. Everyday criticism relates to published or broadcast critiques of buildings, whether completed or not, both in terms of news and other criteria. In many cases, criticism amounts to an assessmen ...

Life

Guratzsch was born in Dresden in 1939, the son of the writer and teacher Curt Guratzsch (1891-1965). In 1957, he left his native city for West Germany. After studying history and

German studies German studies is the field of humanities that researches, documents and disseminates German language and literature in both its historic and present forms. Academic departments of German studies often include classes on German culture, German hi ...

in Marburg, Munich and Hamburg, he was awarded a doctorate in 1970 at the Faculty of Philosophy of the

University of Hamburg The University of Hamburg (german: link=no, Universität Hamburg, also referred to as UHH) is a public research university in Hamburg, Germany. It was founded on 28 March 1919 by combining the previous General Lecture System ('' Allgemeines Vor ...

with ''Macht durch Organisation. Die Grundlegung des Hugenbergschen Presseimperiums'', a dissertation about

Alfred Hugenberg Alfred Ernst Christian Alexander Hugenberg (19 June 1865 – 12 March 1951) was an influential German businessman and politician. An important figure in nationalist politics in Germany for the first few decades of the twentieth century, Hugenbe ...

. In 1957, he left his native city and went to West Germany. Guratzsch began in the mid-1970s as a feature editor at the daily newspaper ''

Die Welt ''Die Welt'' ("The World") is a German national daily newspaper, published as a broadsheet by Axel Springer SE. ''Die Welt'' is the flagship newspaper of the Axel Springer publishing group. Its leading competitors are the ''Frankfurter Allg ...

'', where he specialised in architecture as well as urban planning and

urban design Urban design is an approach to the design of buildings and the spaces between them that focuses on specific design processes and outcomes. In addition to designing and shaping the physical features of towns, cities, and regional spaces, urban de ...

. Even before this was taken up in other media, Guratzsch advocated a cautious approach to architectural heritage and urban planning that was oriented towards the traditions of the respective place. He was particularly displeased with the urban planning developments in the

German Democratic Republic German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

. In critical articles he reported on the demolition of quarters there, rejecting

commuter town A commuter town is a populated area that is primarily residential rather than commercial or industrial. Routine travel from home to work and back is called commuting, which is where the term comes from. A commuter town may be called by many o ...

housing estate A housing estate (or sometimes housing complex or housing development) is a group of homes and other buildings built together as a single development. The exact form may vary from country to country. Popular throughout the United States a ...

s and

Plattenbau (plural: , german: Platte + Bau, lit=panel/slab' + 'building/ construction) is a building constructed of large, prefabrication, prefabricated concrete slabs. The word is a compound of (in this context: panel) and (building). Such buildings ...

quarters as "red urbanism". He always advocated private home ownership as well as the preservation and sustainable maintenance of old building quarters - especially those of

historism Historism (Italian: ''storicismo'') is a philosophical and historiographical theory, founded in 19th-century Germany (as ''Historismus'') and especially influential in 19th- and 20th-century Europe. In those times there was not a single natural, hu ...

from the

Gründerzeit (; "founders' period") was the economic phase in 19th-century Germany and Austria before the great stock market crash of 1873. In Central Europe, the age of industrialisation had been taking place since the 1840s. That period is not precisely ...

- in West and East. The Ministry of State Security of the GDR observed Guratzsch suspiciously, his comprises 200 pages. Guratzsch remained particularly attached to his hometown of Dresden, whose air raids on Dresden had sharpened his view of architecture and urban planning throughout his life. After the fall of the

Berlin wall The Berlin Wall (german: Berliner Mauer, ) was a guarded concrete barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and East Germany (GDR). Construction of the Berlin Wall was commenced by the government ...

, he became involved in numerous reports and reportages as well as in various committees for a history-oriented reconstruction of the city, especially of the Frauenkirche as its centrepiece. Guratzsch is co-owner of properties in the and member of the association Sachsen e. V. He also intensively accompanied journalistically the so-called and the associated

Waldschlösschen Bridge The Waldschlösschen Bridge (german: Waldschlößchenbrücke or Waldschlösschenbrücke, links=no) is a road bridge across the Elbe river in Dresden. The bridge was intended to remedy inner-city traffic congestion. Its construction was highly con ...

construction project. He welcomed the reconstruction of the

Berlin Palace The Berlin Palace (german: Berliner Schloss), formally the Royal Palace (german: Königliches Schloss), on the Museum Island in the Mitte area of Berlin, was the main residence of the House of Hohenzollern from 1443 to 1918. Expanded by order of ...

. Guratzsch suggested the establishment of a "bomb war museum" in Dresden. He proposes the large in Dresden-Reick as the location. For him,

Bombing of Dresden The bombing of Dresden was a joint British and American aerial bombing attack on the city of Dresden, the capital of the German state of Saxony, during World War II. In four raids between 13 and 15 February 1945, 772 heavy bombers of the Roya ...

stands symbolically for the horrors of the Bombing War like no other city in Europe. During the 1980s, in the course of the debate on the so-called

Forest dieback Forest dieback (also "", a German loan word) is a condition in trees or woody plants in which peripheral parts are killed, either by pathogens, parasites or conditions like acid rain, drought, and more. These episodes can have disastrous conseq ...

, he also dealt journalistically with the phenomenon of new forest damage and published the book ''Baumlos in die Zukunft?'' (1984), which brought together expert contributions from twelve experts - among them several forest scientists. Guratzsch received several awards for his publications in the field of

Cultural heritage management Cultural heritage management (CHM) is the vocation and practice of managing cultural heritage. It is a branch of cultural resources management (CRM), although it also draws on the practices of cultural conservation, restoration, museology, archae ...

and as an architecture critic. The awarded him the ''German Prize for Monument Protection'' twice: the ''Journalist Prize'' in 1976 and the "Silver Hemisphere" in 1980. Guratzsch is on the board of trustees of the

Deutsche Stiftung Denkmalschutz The ''Deutsche Stiftung Denkmalschutz'' ("German Foundation for Monument Protection") is a German private initiative founded in 1985 that works for the preservation of cultural heritage in Germany and to promote the idea of cultural heritage m ...

. The journalist is one of the critics of the

German orthography reform of 1996 The German orthography reform of 1996 (') was a change to German spelling and punctuation that was intended to simplify German orthography and thus to make it easier to learn, without substantially changing the rules familiar to users of the lang ...

. Guratzsch lives and works mainly in

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

Publications

* ''Macht durch Organisation. Die Grundlegung des Hugenbergschen Presseimperiums.'' Dissertationsschrift, Hamburg 1970 (im Druck als Band 7 der Reihe ''Studien zur modernen Geschichte,'' Bertelsmann-Universitätsverlag, Gütersloh 1974, ). * as publisher: ''Baumlos in die Zukunft?'' Kindler, Munich 1984, . * as publisher: ''Das neue Berlin. Konzepte der Internationalen Bauausstellung 1987 für einen Städtebau mit Zukunft.'' Mann, Berlin 1987, . * ''Wieviel ist Braunschweig seine Mitte wert? Die Stadt, das Schloß und das Center.'' (''Braunschweiger Museumsvorträge,'' vol. 5). Braunschweigisches Landesmuseum, Braunschweig 2003, .

Awards

* 1976: Deutscher Preis für Denkmalschutz – ''Journalistenpreis'' – of the * 1980: Deutscher Preis für Denkmalschutz – ''Silberne Halbkugel'' – of the Deutschen Nationalkomitees für Denkmalschutz * 1986: Literaturpreis of the .

Quote

* Only the city of short distances, the city of density, diversity and livability is capable of survival.

References

External links