Sebastian Haffner (December 27, 1907, Berlin – January 2, 1999, pseudonym for Raimund Pretzel) was a German journalist and author. He wrote mainly about recent German history. December 27 is the 361st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1907 (MCMVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... This article is about the city in Germany. ... January 2 is the second day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1999 (MCMXCIX) is a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... The word author has several meanings: The author of a book, story, article or the like, is the person who has written it (or is writing it). ... The history of Germany is, in places, extremely complicated and depends much on how one defines Germany. ...

In 1938 he emigrated from Nazi Germany with his Jewish fiancée to London, where he intended to work as an author and journalist. He adopted the pseudonym Sebastian Haffner so that his family, who remained in Germany, would not be endangered by his writing. 1938 (MCMXXXVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... Nazi Germany, or the Third Reich, commonly refers to Germany in the years 1933–1945, when it was under the firm control of the totalitarian and fascist ideology of the Nazi Party, with the Führer Adolf Hitler as dictator. ... The word Jew ( Hebrew: יהודי) is used in a wide number of ways, but generally refers to a follower of the Jewish faith, a child of a Jewish mother, or someone of Jewish descent with a connection to Jewish culture or ethnicity and often a combination of these attributes. ... Part of the London skyline viewed from the South Bank London is the most populous city in the European Union, with an estimated population on 1 January 2005 of 7,500,000 and a metropolitan area population of between 12 and 14 million. ... A pseudonym (Greek: false name) is a fictitious name used by an individual as an alternative to their legal name (whereas an allonym is the name of another actual person assumed by one person, usually historical, in authorship of a work of art; e. ...

Under the auspices of his mentor, David Astor, Haffner wrote for the London Sunday newspaper, The Observer, and became its editor-in-chief. However, because of differences between Astor, who had become the newspaper's publisher, and the London editorship regarding a divided Germany, he became the German correspondent in Berlin in 1954, a position which he kept until the building of the Berlin Wall. The Honourable Francis David Langhorne Astor (March 5, 1912, London – December 7, 2001, London) was a newspaper publisher and member of the prominent Astor family. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... The Editor in chief is a publications primary editor. ... 1954 (MCMLIV) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Berlin Wall on November 16, 1989 The Berlin Wall (German: Die Berliner Mauer) was a long barrier separating West Berlin from East Berlin and the surrounding territory of East Germany. ...

He then wrote for a German newspaper, Die Welt, until 1962, and from then until 1975 was a columnist for the "Stern" magazine. Haffner was a frequent guest on the television show Internationalen Frühschoppen (translates roughly to "international morning pint"), hosted by Werner Höfer, and even had his own television program on the German channel Sender Freies Berlin. Die Welt is a German national daily newspaper published by the Axel Springer company. ... 1962 (MCMLXII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1975 (MCMLXXV) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1975 calendar). ... Stern (English Star) is a weekly news magazine published in Germany. ...

Haffner is considered as one of the most successful German authors on the history of the 19th and 20th century written for a broad, nonacademic audience.

He wrote most of his works in German, some of which have been translated into English. The manuscript of Defying Hitler, discovered posthumously by his son, is an insightful memoir of the Nazis' rise to power, as witnessed by Haffner before he went into exile.

Selected writings

• 1940 Germany: Jekyll & Hyde, (German language) ISBN 3-930-27804-9
• 1964 Die sieben Todsünden des deutschen Reiches im Ersten Weltkrieg
• 1967 Winston Churchill, Biography (German language) ISBN 3-463-40413-3
• 1968 Der Verrat (about the revolution in November 1918 in Germany)
• 1978 The Meaning of Hitler ISBN 0674557751, translated from Anmerkungen zu Hitler, Publishing house. Fischer Taschenbuch, Frankfurt am Main. ISBN 3-596-23489-1.
• 1979 Preußen ohne Legende
• 1980 Ueberlegungen eines Wechselwaehlers, Publishing house. Kindler GmbH, Muenchen. ISBN 3-463-00780-0
• 1985 Im Schatten der Geschichte: Historisch-politische Variationen,. Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart. ISBN 3-421-06253-6
• 1987 Von Bismarck zu Hitler: Ein Rückblick, Publishing house Kindler GmbH, Muenchen. ISBN 3-463-40003-0
• 1989 Der Teufelspakt: Die deutsch-russischen Beziehungen vom Ersten zum Zweiten Weltkrieg,.Publishing house Manesse, Zuerich. ISBN 3-717-58121-X
• 1995 Der Verrat: Deutschland 1918/19. Publishing house 1900, Berlin. ISBN 3-930-27800-6
• 1997 Zwischen den Kriegen. Essays zur Zeitgeschichte, ISBN 3-930-27805-7
• 2000 Defying Hitler: A Memoir ISBN 0312421133, translated from Geschichte eines Deutschen. Die Erinnerungen 1914-1933. (Written in approximately 1940, was published after he passed away) ISBN 3-423-30848-6 Book review by Charles Taylor in the webmagazine www.Salon.com
• 2000 Der Neue Krieg, (contains an email from Juergen Kuttner), Publishing house Alexander, Berlin. ISBN 3-895-81049-5
• 2002 Die Deutsche Frage: 1950 - 1961: Von der Wiederbewaffnung bis zum Mauerbau, Publishing house Fischer Taschenbuch, Frankfurt am Main. ISBN 3-596-15536-3

The period of German history from 1919 to 1933 is known as the Weimar Republic (IPA , German Weimarer Republik). ... The Meaning of Hitler is the title of the English translation of the originally German 1978 book Anmerkungen zu Hitler by the journalist and writer Raimund Pretzel, who published all his books under the pseudonym Sebastian Haffner. ...

Biography

• Uwe Soukup: Ich bin nun mal Deutscher. Sebastian Haffner. Eine Biographie, Berlin (Aufbau-Verlag) 2001 - ISBN 3-351-02526-2

External links

• "Stern words from Berlin" published in The Guardian days after Haffner's death, retelling his life (January 14, 1999)