Karl-Heinz Köpcke (29 September 1922 – 27 September 1991) was a German television presenter and newsreader.

Life

Köpcke wanted to make a commercial training in his hometown of Hamburg, when he was drafted in 1941 to the

Reichsarbeitsdienst The Reich Labour Service (''Reichsarbeitsdienst''; RAD) was a major organisation established in Nazi Germany as an agency to help mitigate the effects of unemployment on the German economy, militarise the workforce and indoctrinate it with Naz ...

. As a member of the

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German '' Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the '' Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabt ...

, Köpcke was captured by the French in 1945; he was freed in 1946. He first went to

Radio Bremen Radio Bremen (RB), Germany's smallest public radio and television broadcaster, is the legally mandated broadcaster for the city-state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (which includes Bremerhaven). With its headquarters sited in Bremen, Radio B ...

, before going to Hamburg in 1949 to take up a position as a radio announcer for the

NWDR Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk (NWDR; ''Northwest German Broadcasting'') was the organization responsible for public broadcasting in the German Länder of Hamburg, Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein and North Rhine-Westphalia from 22 September 1945 to ...

channel. His long-term presence on the screen – he was a newsreader on the

Tagesschau (German 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 ...

bulletins from 2 March 1959 to 10 September 1987 – earned him the nickname '' Mr. Tagesschau ''. He was the chief newsreader from 1964. In 1978, the ''

Tagesthemen ''Tagesthemen'' is one of Germany's main daily television news magazines, presented by journalists Caren Miosga and Ingo Zamperoni. Second only to the 20:00 ''Tagesschau'' ("Review of the Day") ''Tagesthemen'' ("Issues of the Day") is ARD's mos ...

'' news analysis programme was introduced, in which the newsreader played a background role to the main presenter. During the first broadcast, Köpcke protested by demonstratively shuffling his papers and by coughing. In German-speaking countries, he set standards for the appearance and operation of newscasters. He died four years after his retirement at the age of 68 years from cancer just two days short to his 69th birthday, shortly after the death of his wife, broadcasting colleague Gertie Kelkenberg. They married in 1948. His grave is located in Hamburg at the

Cemetery Ohlsdorf Ohlsdorf Cemetery (german: Ohlsdorfer Friedhof or (former) ) in the Ohlsdorf quarter of the city of Hamburg, Germany, is the biggest rural cemetery in the world and the fourth-largest cemetery in the world. Most of the people buried at the cemet ...

.knerger.de
The grave of Karl-Heinz Köpcke
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Literature

References

External links

tagesschau.de

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kopcke, Karl-Heinz German television presenters German male journalists German television journalists German broadcast news analysts 20th-century German journalists 1922 births 1991 deaths German male writers Deaths from cancer in Germany Burials at the Ohlsdorf Cemetery People from Hamburg ARD (broadcaster) people Norddeutscher Rundfunk people Luftwaffe personnel of World War II German prisoners of war in World War II held by France Reich Labour Service members