Peter Bamm (a pen name; his real name was Curt Emmrich; 20 October 1897 in Hochneukirch, now part of

Jüchen Jüchen is a municipality in the Rhein-Kreis Neuss, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is situated approximately 17 km southwest of Neuss and 10 km southeast of Mönchengladbach. Mayor Harald Zillikens (* 1959) (CDU) was elected may ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

– 30 March 1975 in

Zollikon Zollikon is a municipality in the district of Meilen in the canton of Zürich, Switzerland known for being one of Switzerland's most exclusive districts. Besides the main settlement of Zollikon, which lies on the shore of Lake Zürich, the municip ...

, Switzerland) was a German writer. Peter Bamm volunteered for military service in

World War I 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 ...

, after which he studied

medicine Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pr ...

and

sinology Sinology, or Chinese studies, is an academic discipline that focuses on the study of China primarily through Chinese philosophy, language, literature, culture and history and often refers to Western scholarship. Its origin "may be traced to th ...

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

Göttingen Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the capital of the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, the population was 118,911. General information The ori ...

and Freiburg im Breisgau. As a ship's doctor he travelled the world a great deal before eventually settling in

Berlin-Wedding Wedding (german: der Wedding; ) is a locality in the borough of Mitte, Berlin, Germany and was a separate borough in the north-western inner city until it was fused with Tiergarten and Mitte in Berlin's 2001 administrative reform. At the same ti ...

. During

World War II 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 opposing ...

he served as a military doctor on the Russian Front, and later described his experiences in the book "Die Unsichtbare Flagge" (''The Invisible Flag''). After the war he travelled for study purposes between 1952 and 1957 in the Near and

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europ ...

, after which he wrote as a journalist and feature writer for a number of Berlin newspapers. He is buried in the Stöcken Cemetery in

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 ...

Works

Peter Bamm published many journalistic pieces, many of them extremely witty and ironic. He also wrote scientific and medical essays, culture-historical travel books and an autobiography. * ''Ex ovo'' (''"Out of the Egg"'') (essays about medicine), 1948 * ''Die unsichtbare Flagge'' (''"The Invisible Flag"'') (account of his war experiences), 1952 * ''Frühe Stätten der Christenheit'' (''"Early Sites of Christianity"'') (travel book), 1955 * ''Wiege unserer Welt'' (''"Cradle of Our World"''), 1958 (ed.) * ''Welten des Glaubens'' (''"Worlds of Faith"''), 1959 * ''Frühe Stätten der Christenheit'' (''"The Kingdoms of Christ: From the Days of the Apostles to the Middle Ages"''), 1959 * ''An den Küsten des Lichts'' (''"On the Coasts of Light"'') (travel book), 1961 * ''Alexander oder die Verwandlung der Welt'' (''"Alexander, or The Transformation of the World"'') (biography), 1965 * ''Alexander der Große. Ein königliches Leben'' (''"Alexander the Great. A Royal Life"''), 1968 * ''Anarchie mit Liebe'' (''"Anarchy with Love"'') (collection of essays) * ''Eines Menschen Zeit'' (''"Time of a Human Being"'') (autobiography), 1972 * ''Am Rande der Schöpfung'' (''"On the Edge of Creation"'') (essays and articles), 1974

External links

* 1897 births 1975 deaths German military doctors German medical writers German military personnel of World War I German military personnel of World War II German travel writers German male journalists German biographers Male biographers German essayists People from the Rhine Province German male writers German male essayists 20th-century essayists Commanders Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany 20th-century German journalists {{Germany-journalist-stub