Malte Herwig (born 2 October 1972) is a German-born author, journalist, and literary critic. His articles have appeared widely in U.S., British and German publications, including

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...

, Vanity Fair,

Der Spiegel ''Der Spiegel'' (, lit. ''"The Mirror"'') is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. With a weekly circulation of 695,100 copies, it was the largest such publication in Europe in 2011. It was founded in 1947 by John Seymour Chaloner ...

Die Zeit ''Die Zeit'' (, "The Time") is a German national weekly newspaper published in Hamburg in Germany. The newspaper is generally considered to be among the German newspapers of record and is known for its long and extensive articles. History The ...

Süddeutsche Zeitung The ''Süddeutsche Zeitung'' (; ), published in Munich, Bavaria, is one of the largest daily newspapers in Germany. The tone of SZ is mainly described as centre-left, liberal, social-liberal, progressive-liberal, and social-democrat. History ...

and

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung The ''Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung'' (; ''FAZ''; "''Frankfurt General Newspaper''") is a centre-right conservative-liberal and liberal-conservativeHans Magnus Enzensberger: Alter Wein in neuen Schläuchen' (in German). ''Deutschland Radio'', ...

. He studied German Literature, History and Politics at the universities of

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

, and

Mainz Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main (river), Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-we ...

, and is a former Fellow of

Merton College, Oxford Merton College (in full: The House or College of Scholars of Merton in the University of Oxford) is one of the Colleges of Oxford University, constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the ...

. In 2008, Herwig was the first to publish some of Vladimir Nabokov's original index cards from the author's last unfinished novel The Original of Laura. In the accompanying article, Herwig concluded that "Laura", although fragmentary, was "vintage Nabokov". He is the author of several books, among them a biography of Austrian poet

Peter Handke Peter Handke (; born 6 December 1942) is an Austrian novelist, playwright, translator, poet, film director, and screenwriter. He was awarded the 2019 Nobel Prize in Literature "for an influential work that with linguistic ingenuity has explored t ...

and a study of the greatest Nazi cover-up in post-war Germany, "Die Flakhelfer", which will be published in English in 2014. Herwig is also known as an interviewer, whose empathetic but also sometimes confrontational style with stars like

Michael Douglas Michael Kirk Douglas (born September 25, 1944) is an American actor and film producer. He has received numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards, five Golden Globe Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, the Cecil B. DeMille Award, and the AF ...

Charlotte Rampling Tessa Charlotte Rampling (born 5 February 1946) is an English actress, known for her work in European arthouse films in English, French, and Italian. An icon of the Swinging Sixties, she began her career as a model. She was cast in the role ...

and

Rupert Everett Rupert James Hector Everett (; born 29 May 1959) is an English actor, director and producer. Everett first came to public attention in 1981 when he was cast in Julian Mitchell's play and subsequent film '' Another Country'' (1984) as a gay pupil ...

has won acclaim. Douglas once chided Herwig for his "cheeky questions", when the journalist asked him if he'd ever have homosexual experiences. Herwig also conducted interviews with heads of government like former German chancellor

Helmut Schmidt Helmut Heinrich Waldemar Schmidt (; 23 December 1918 – 10 November 2015) was a German politician and member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), who served as the chancellor of West Germany from 1974 to 1982. Before becoming Cha ...

and nobel laureates like German writer

Günter Grass Günter Wilhelm Grass (born Graß; ; 16 October 1927 – 13 April 2015) was a German novelist, poet, playwright, illustrator, graphic artist, sculptor, and recipient of the 1999 Nobel Prize in Literature. He was born in the Free City of Da ...

. Herwig was the only journalist to get an interview with former SS-Captain

Erich Priebke Erich Priebke (29 July 1913 – 11 October 2013) was a German mid-level SS commander in the SS police force (SiPo) of Nazi Germany. In 1996, he was convicted of war crimes in Italy, for commanding the unit which was responsible for the Ar ...

, which he conducted in Priebke's flat in Rome shortly before the latter's death on 11 October 2013. Referring to Hannah Arendt’s famous phrase about the Nazis when she covered the trial of Adolf Eichmann in Israel, the New York Times quoted Herwig as saying he wanted to use “the last chance to investigate that supposed banality of evil with a living person.”.Erich Priebke, Nazi Who Carried Out Massacre of 335 Italians, Dies at 100
"The New York Times" 11 October 2013 Sensationally, the 100-year-old Priebke told Herwig he had renounced national socialism and deeply regretted his involvement in war crimes.

Bibliography

* ''Die Flakhelfer. Wie aus Hitlers jüngsten Parteimitgliedern Deutschlands führende Demokraten wurden.'' DVA, München 2013, * ''Meister der Dämmerung.

: Eine Biographie'', München: DVA, 2010, * ''Eliten in einer egalitären Welt'', Berlin: wjs-Verlag, 2005, * ''Bildungsbürger auf Abwegen. Naturwissenschaft im Werk Thomas Manns'', Frankfurt am Main: Klostermann, 2004,

References

External links

Official Blog

* [http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,501662,00.html Still Life: The Jailhouse Jackson Pollock. After nearly two decades in solitary confinement, convicted murderer Donny Johnson has started painting, 2007]
Google's Total Library. Putting The World's Books On The Web, 2007

* ttps://www.theguardian.com/books/2006/jan/22/highereducation.news 'Hitler? He was good in parts'. Malte Herwig interviews an unrepentant David Irving in his Viennese prison cell, 2006
Sex for Sexagenarians. Movies Target Frisky Seniors
{{DEFAULTSORT:Herwig, Malte Living people 1972 births German journalists German male journalists German critics Alumni of the University of Oxford Harvard University alumni Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz alumni Fellows of Merton College, Oxford German male writers