Wolf Schneider

Children3, including Curt [de]^[1]WebsiteOfficial website (in German)

Wolf Dietrich Schneider (7 May 1925 – 11 November 2022) was a German journalist, author, and language critic. After World War II, he learned journalism on the job with Die Neue Zeitung, a newspaper published by the US military government. He later worked as a correspondent in Washington for the Süddeutsche Zeitung, then as editor-in-chief and from 1969 manager of the publishing house of Stern. He moved to the Springer Press in 1971. From 1979 to 1995, he was the first director of a school for journalists in Hamburg, shaping generations of journalists. He wrote many publications about the German language, becoming an authority. He promoted a concise style, and opposed anglicisms and the German orthography reform.

Life

Schneider was born on 7 May 1925 in Erfurt^[2] and grew up in Berlin.^[3] Having passed his Abitur, he served with the Luftwaffe until the end of the Second World War. His post-war career began as a translator for the US Army, and in 1947 he joined the Munich-based Neue Zeitung, a newspaper run by the US military government.^[4] It was here that he received journalistic training and later worked as an editor. In the early 1950s Schneider was a correspondent for the news agency AP; in later years he was in charge of the news team and correspondent in Washington for the Süddeutsche Zeitung.^[5]

In 1966, Schneider joined Stern magazine, where he worked as editor-in-chief, and from 1969 as manager of the publishing house.^[5] German media tycoon Axel Springer hired Schneider in 1971 to design the news magazine Dialog, aimed at challenging Der Spiegel's dominant position in the German market.^[6] The project ended in failure,^[6] however, and Schneider was appointed editor-in-chief of Springer's conservative daily Die Welt, based in Hamburg.^[4] Springer dismissed Schneider after only one year.^[7]

Schneider remained at Springer as editor-in-chief without portfolio. In 1979, he was appointed the inaugural director of the newly founded Hamburger Journalistenschule, which later became known as Henri-Nannen-Schule.^[4] He was to hold this position until 1995.^[8] He taught hundreds of students,^[9] many of whom are now in prominent positions. He also became widely known during this time as the godfather of concise German prose.^[10][11]

In the 1980s and early 1990s, Schneider also presented the NDR Talk Show [de].^[4]

Schneider was married and a father of three children.^{[12][13][14][15]} He lived in Starnberg, where he died on 11 November 2022 at the age of 97.^[4][11][16]

Language critic

From 1995, Schneider was a vigorous lecturer on the German language, and gave seminars for press officers and young journalists.^[17] He was a prolific writer and produced 28 best-selling nonfiction books,^[18] among them staple works on proper German style (e.g. "German for life. What school forgot to teach").^[19] His last works were "Speak German", a defence of the German language in the face of anglicisms,^[20] and Man: a Career, which tells the story of mankind's rise to mastery of the earth, and plots our uncertain future.^[21]

Schneider's ideal was a concise written style, avoiding the typically-German pitfalls of rambling sentences, separated verbs, and complex constructions. Schneider was a critic of the German orthography reform^[4] and founded with others the pressure group Aktion Lebendiges Deutsch [de] (Living German).^[22] Schneider opposed gender neutrality in the German language.^[23]

Awards

Schneider received several prizes,^[24] including the Henri Nannen Prize for his life's work,^[3][25][26] and the media prize for language culture (Medienpreis für Sprachkultur) of the Gesellschaft für deutsche Sprache.^[3] He held a chair as honorary professor at the University of Salzburg.^[27]

Publications

Language

• Wörter machen Leute : Magie und Macht der Sprache (in German). München: R. Piper. 1976. ISBN 3-492-02218-9. OCLC 2781113.^[28]
• Schneider, Wolf; Murschetz, Luis [in German] (2001). Deutsch für Profis : Wege zu gutem Stil (in German). München: Goldmann. ISBN 3-442-16175-4. OCLC 248928080.^[28][6]
• Deutsch für Kenner : Die neue Stilkunde (in German). Hamburg: Gruner + Jahr. 1987. ISBN 3-570-07958-9. OCLC 17385563.^[28]
• Deutsch fürs Leben : Was die Schule zu lehren vergass (in German). Reinbek bei Hamburg. 1994. ISBN 978-3-499-19695-9. OCLC 263552413.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Schneider, Wolf (2005). Deutsch! das Handbuch für attraktive Texte (in German). Reinbek bei Hamburg. ISBN 978-3-498-06381-8. OCLC 76561621.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Speak German! : Warum Deutsch manchmal besser ist (in German). Reinbek bei Hamburg: Rowohlt. 2008. ISBN 978-3-498-06393-1. OCLC 225871884.^[20]
• Schneider, Wolf (2009). Gewönne doch der Konjunktiv! Sprachwitz in 66 Lektionen (in German). Reinbek bei Hamburg. ISBN 978-3-499-62463-6. OCLC 699916394.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Schneider, Wolf (2011). Deutsch für junge Profis : Wie man gut und lebendig schreibt (in German). Reinbek bei Hamburg. ISBN 978-3-499-62629-6. OCLC 724778708.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Deutsch lebt! Ein Appell zum Aufwachen (in German) (2. ed.), Paderborn: Institut für Betriebslinguistik IFB, Verlag Deutsche Sprache, 2010, ISBN 978-3-942409-01-8

Journalism

• Unsere tägliche Desinformation: Wie die Massenmedien uns in die Irre führen (in German) (5. ed.). Hamburg: Gruner und Jahr. 1992 [1984]. ISBN 3-570-03915-3.
• Schneider, Wolf; Esslinger, Detlef [in German] (2007). Die Überschrift Sachzwänge, Fallstricke, Versuchungen, Rezepte (in German). Berlin. ISBN 978-3-430-20021-9. OCLC 180071289.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Schneider, Wolf; Raue, Paul-Josef [in German] (2003). Das neue Handbuch des Journalismus (in German). Reinbek bei Hamburg. ISBN 978-3-499-61569-6. OCLC 231977538.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Wörter waschen : 26 gute Gründe, politischen Begriffen zu misstrauen (in German). Reinbek bei Hamburg: Rowohlt Taschenbuch Verlag. 2006. ISBN 3-499-62106-1. OCLC 69105022.
• Die Gruner + Jahr Story : ein Stück deutsche Pressegeschichte (in German). München: Piper. 2000. ISBN 3-492-04265-1. OCLC 45036247.

Other topics

• Überall ist Babylon. Die Stadt als Schicksal der Menschen von Ur bis Utopia. Econ, Düsseldorf 1960^[29]
• Essen : Abenteuer einer Stadt (in German). Düsseldorf: Econ-Verlag. 1978. ISBN 3-430-18011-2. OCLC 5311010.
• Schneider, Wolf; Mangold, Guido [in German] (1984). Die Alpen Wildnis – Almrausch – Rummelplatz (in German). Hamburg. ISBN 978-3-570-02380-8. OCLC 165862170.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Wir Neandertaler : der abenteuerliche Aufstieg des Menschengeschlechts (in German). Hamburg: Gruner + Jahr. 1988. ISBN 3-570-05998-7. OCLC 180610323.
• Der Kölner Dom : wie die Deutschen zu ihrem Weltwunder kamen (in German). Hamburg: Gruner + Jahr. 1991. ISBN 3-570-09259-3. OCLC 28399918.
• Glück, was ist das? : Traum u. Wirklichkeit (in German). München: Piper. 1978. ISBN 3-492-02391-6. OCLC 4906282.
• Mythos Titanic : das Protokoll der Katastrophe, drei Stunden, die die Welt erschütterten (in German). Hamburg: Gruner + Jahr. 1986. ISBN 3-570-05991-X. OCLC 15152258.
• Die Sieger: wodurch Genies, Phantasten und Verbrecher berühmt geworden sind. Gruner und Jahr, Hamburg 1992; Taschenbuchauflage: Piper-TB 2217, München / Zürich 1996, ISBN 3-492-22217-X.
• Schneider, Wolf; Fasel, Christoph [in German] (1995). Wie man die Welt rettet und sich dabei amüsiert (in German). Reinbek bei Hamburg: Rowohlt. ISBN 3-498-06294-8. OCLC 40330508.
• Schneider, Wolf (1999). Am Puls des Planeten Expeditionen, Zeitreisen, Kulturgeschichten (in German). Hamburg. ISBN 978-3-455-11280-1. OCLC 612156165.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Grosse Verlierer : von Goliath bis Gorbatschow (in German). Reinbek bei Hamburg: Rowohlt. 2004. ISBN 3-498-06365-0. OCLC 55962864.
• Schneider, Wolf (2008). Der Mensch eine Karriere (in German). Reinbek bei Hamburg. ISBN 978-3-498-06405-1. OCLC 263414224.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)^[21][30]
• Schneider, Wolf (2012). Die Wahrheit über die Lüge warum wir den Irrtum brauchen und die Lüge lieben (in German). Reinbek bei Hamburg. ISBN 978-3-498-06418-1. OCLC 809980186.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Der Soldat – Ein Nachruf : eine Weltgeschichte von Helden, Opfern und Bestien (in German). Reinbek: Rowohlt. 2014. ISBN 978-3-498-06429-7. OCLC 877888692.^[31][32]
• Denkt endlich an die Enkel. Eine letzte Warnung, bevor alles zu spät ist. Rowohlt Verlag, Hamburg 2019. ISBN 978-3-498-00153-7

Autobiography

• Schneider, Wolf (2015). Hottentottenstottertrottel. Mein langes, wunderliches Leben (in German). Reinbek bei Hamburg: Rowohlt. ISBN 978-3-498-06435-8.

References

Further reading

• "Pressemitteilung: Bundespräsident Steinmeier kondoliert zum Tod von Wolf Schneider". Der Bundespräsident (in German). Retrieved 13 November 2022.
• Schnibben, Cordt. "Unsterblich". Die Zeit (in German). Retrieved 13 November 2022.
• Esslinger, Detlef (11 November 2022). "Nachruf auf Wolf Schneider: Der Mann, der seine Adresse redigierte". Süddeutsche.de (in German). Retrieved 13 November 2022.

External links

•  German Wikiquote has quotations related to: Wolf Schneider
• Official website (in German)