Erich Brost (29 October 1903 – 8 October 1995) was a German journalist and publisher.

Biography

Brost was born in Elbing,

West Prussia The Province of West Prussia (german: Provinz Westpreußen; csb, Zôpadné Prësë; pl, Prusy Zachodnie) was a Provinces of Prussia, province of Prussia from 1773 to 1829 and 1878 to 1920. West Prussia was established as a province of the Kin ...

to a Schichau-Werke shipyard worker and a tailor. In 1915 his family moved to Danzig (modern Gdańsk, Poland), where he became a bookseller and engaged in politics and the labour movement. Aged 19 Brost wrote his first column for the

Social democratic Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote so ...

'' Danziger Volksstimme'', for which he worked until 1936, when the ''Volksstimme'' got suspended and the Social Democratic Party of the Free City of Danzig was forbidden. In 1935 he became a member of the

Volkstag The Volkstag (English: ''People's Diet'') was the parliament of the Free City of Danzig between 1919 and 1939. After World War I Danzig (Gdańsk) became a Free City under the protection of the League of Nations. The first elections to a const ...

, the

Free City of Danzig The Free City of Danzig (german: Freie Stadt Danzig; pl, Wolne Miasto Gdańsk; csb, Wòlny Gard Gduńsk) was a city-state under the protection of the League of Nations between 1920 and 1939, consisting of the Baltic Sea port of Danzig (now Gda ...

's parliament, representing the SPD. Brost went into exile to

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

, Sweden,

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bot ...

and Great Britain, where he worked for the BBC.Speech
by

Johannes Rau Johannes Rau (; 16 January 193127 January 2006) was a German politician (SPD). He was the president of Germany from 1 July 1999 until 30 June 2004 and the minister president of North Rhine-Westphalia from 20 September 1978 to 9 June 1998. In th ...

at The Artus Court After

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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

and the expulsion of the German populace Brost moved to the

Ruhr area The Ruhr ( ; german: Ruhrgebiet , also ''Ruhrpott'' ), also referred to as the Ruhr area, sometimes Ruhr district, Ruhr region, or Ruhr valley, is a polycentric urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population density of 2,800/km ...

in 1945 to build up the ''German News Service'', a predecessor of the

Deutsche Presse-Agentur Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH (dpa) is a German news agency founded in 1949. Based in Hamburg, it has grown to be a major worldwide operation serving print media, radio, television, online, mobile phones, and national news agencies. News is ava ...

(dpa). Brost was active in the

Social Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, ; SPD, ) is a centre-left social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been ...

and represented the party at the

Allied Control Council The Allied Control Council or Allied Control Authority (german: Alliierter Kontrollrat) and also referred to as the Four Powers (), was the governing body of the Allied Occupation Zones in Germany and Allied-occupied Austria after the end of ...

. He received an Allied licence to publish a newspaper in the

British Zone Germany was already de facto occupied by the Allies from the real fall of Nazi Germany in World War II on 8 May 1945 to the establishment of the East Germany on 7 October 1949. The Allies (United States, United Kingdom, Soviet Union, and Fra ...

of occupied Germany. The first copy of the ''

Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung The ''Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung'' (''WAZ'') is a commercial newspaper from Essen, Germany, published by Funke Mediengruppe. History and profile ''Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung'' was founded by Erich Brost and first published 3 April ...

'' (WAZ) was published on 3 April 1948 and Brost influenced the WAZ for the next decades. Brost founded the Erich-Brost-Stiftung in 1991, the "Erich Brost University Lecturership" at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

's "Institute of European and Comparative Law" is dedicated to him.

Erich-Brost-Danzig-Award

Brost donated the Erich-Brost-Danzig-Preis of 20,000 Euro, which is awarded to people or institutions for their merits in Polish-German reconciliation.Erich-Brost-Stiftung: Our Activities in Poland
(

Friedrich Ebert Foundation The Friedrich Ebert Foundation (''German: Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung e.V.; Abbreviation: FES'') is a German political party foundation associated with, but independent from, the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). Established in 1925 as th ...

) It was awarded to: * 1996:

Kashubian-Pomeranian Association The Kashubian-Pomeranian Association ( Kashubian- Pomeranian: ''Kaszëbskò-Pòmòrsczé Zrzeszenié'', Polish: ''Zrzeszenie Kaszubsko-Pomorskie'') is a regional non-governmental organization of Kashubians ( Pomeranians), Kociewiacy and other p ...

* 1997:

Stefan Chwin Stefan Chwin (born 11 April 1949 in Gdańsk) is a Polish novelist, literary critic, and historian of literature whose life and literary work is closely linked to his hometown. He holds a post of Literature Professor at the University of Gdansk ...

, author * 1998: Szczepan Baum and Ryszard Semka, Architects * 1999: "Forschungsstelle Osteuropa" at the

University of Bremen The University of Bremen (German: ''Universität Bremen'') is a public university in Bremen, Germany, with approximately 23,500 people from 115 countries. It is one of 11 institutions which were successful in the category "Institutional Strategi ...

* 2001: Cultural Association "Borussia",

Olsztyn Olsztyn ( , ; german: Allenstein ; Old Prussian: ''Alnāsteini'' * Latin: ''Allenstenium'', ''Holstin'') is a city on the Łyna River in northern Poland. It is the capital of the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, and is a city with county rights. ...

* 2003: the twin towns of

Bremen Bremen ( Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state cons ...

and Gdańsk

References

External links

Erich Brost Institute for international journalism
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brost, Erich 1903 births 1995 deaths People from West Prussia People from Elbląg Social Democratic Party of Germany politicians Free City of Danzig politicians German male journalists German journalists German newspaper journalists 20th-century German journalists German male writers Grand Crosses with Star and Sash of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung people