Wolf "Hecki" Heckmann (10 February 1929 – 13 December 2006) was a German journalist.

Biography

Heckmann came to prominence in 1969 when he was appointed to edit the ''

Hamburger Morgenpost The ''Hamburger Morgenpost'' (Hamburg Morning Post) (also known as Mopo) is a daily German newspaper published in Hamburg in tabloid format. As of 2006 the ''Hamburger Morgenpost'' was the second-largest newspaper in Hamburg after '' Bild Zeitu ...

'', at that time a mass-market daily newspaper which had been founded ten years earlier by the powerful Hamburg branch of the Social Democratic Party (SPD). The newspaper market at the time was changing, however, as the relentless growth in circulation by less didactically political titles – headed up by Bild – challenged the various newspapers established by the SPD after the

war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

. In 1972, after not quite three years, he resigned the editorship of ''Morgenpost'' amid recriminations about falling circulation, missed opportunities and ill-considered strategy. Afterwards Heckmann commented ruefully, "I had the feeling I was wading in thick mud". He returned to ''Morgenpost'' in 1989, working with Ernst Fischer as a member of the editorial team. Three years after that, when Fischer moved across to the

Gruner + Jahr Gruner may refer to: People * Dov Gruner (1912–1947), Jewish Zionist leader * Eduard Gruner, Swiss engineer * Elioth Gruner (1882–1939), Australian painter * Gottlieb Sigmund Gruner (1717–1778), Swiss cartographer and geologist * K ...

magazine, '' Stern'', Heckmann resumed the post of managing editor, seventeen years after resigning from it. According to the newspaper's own assessment, During the dramatic political developments of the next year his astute political judgment provided an important element of level-headed reassurance to young colleagues. When he retired he was succeeded at '' Morgenpost'' by his deputy Manfred von Thien. Other papers for which he wrote included the ''

Abendzeitung The Abendzeitung (''"Evening Paper"''), sometimes abbreviated to AZ, is a liberal morning tabloid newspaper from Munich, Germany. A localized edition is published in Nuremberg. The paper is published six days a week; the masthead of the Saturday ...

'', '' Bild'' and the ''

Berliner Zeitung The ''Berliner Zeitung'' (, ''Berlin Newspaper'') is a daily newspaper based in Berlin, Germany. Founded in East Germany in 1945, it is the only East German paper to achieve national prominence since reunification. It is published by Berliner ...

''. He also worked as a translator and, briefly in 1983/84, as a film actor i
Der Havarist
Heckmann's 300 page biographical work on Erwin Rommel appeared in 1976 under the title "Rommels Krieg in Afrika". It can be seen as the first serious work published in German to deal critically with the military performance of the commander in chief of the

Afrika Korps The Afrika Korps or German Africa Corps (, }; DAK) was the German expeditionary force in Africa during the North African Campaign of World War II. First sent as a holding force to shore up the Italian defense of its African colonies, the ...

. According to a review in Der Spiegel, "after three decades of blind belief in Rommel from German – and even more from British – commentators, Heckmann is the first author thoroughly to get hold of the myth and understand why Rommel, during his life time and directly following his death, was greatly over-estimated". In 1973 Heckmann flew alone in a

Scheibe Falke The Scheibe SF-25 Falke ( en, Falcon) is a German touring motor glider developed from the earlier Bergfalke glider by Scheibe Flugzeugbau. Since May 2006 the business has been run by Scheibe Aircraft GmbH. Development The company had produce ...

(powered glider) from

Rotenburg an der Wümme Rotenburg an der Wümme (also known as ''Rotenburg (Wümme)''; ''Rotenburg in Hannover'' until May 1969; Northern Low Saxon: ''Rodenborg'') is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Rotenburg. Geography Rotenburg ...

(between Bremen and

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

) to

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

. It took 230 hours and 34 minutes, establishing what sources describe as an "unofficial world record" in the process. He later wrote up the adventure in his book "Haie fressen keine Deutschen" (''"Sharks don't eat Germans"'').

Personal

Wolf Heckmann married the author

Brigitte Klump Brigitte Klump (23 January 1935 – 10 July 2023) was a German author and campaigner. She was born into a relatively poor farming family, originally of Huguenot provenance. She grew up, between 1949 and 1957, in the German Democratic Republic ( ...

in 1960. She had escaped from the east in 1957. The marriage produced one son and one daughter, the singer-composer Inga Heckmann. but ended in divorce in 1988.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heckmann, Wolf Journalists from Hamburg German newspaper editors 1929 births 2006 deaths Hamburger Morgenpost editors