Frank Schirrmacher | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | (1959-09-05)5 September 1959 |
| Died | 12 June 2014(2014-06-12) (aged 54) Frankfurt am Main, Germany |
| Occupation | Co-publisher of theFAZ |
| Alma mater | University of Siegen University of Heidelberg University of Cambridge |
Frank Schirrmacher (5 September 1959 – 12 June 2014) was a German journalist, literature expert andessayist, writer, and from 1994 co-publisher of the national German newspaperFrankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
After studyingGerman studies,English studies, andphilosophy inHeidelberg andCambridge, Schirrmacher joined the FAZ as editor of thefeuilleton (literature and arts section) in 1985. In 1988, he received hisdoctorate for a work aboutFranz Kafka at theUniversity of Siegen. Several years later,Der Spiegel criticized him forself-plagiarism in his dissertation—asserting that most of the text had already been used as hismagister thesis and in aSuhrkamp book publication—, as well as for other inconsistent statements about his biography.[1]
In 1989, Schirrmacher succeededMarcel Reich-Ranicki as the director of the editorial staff of the FAZ's arts supplement – Feuilleton. In 1994, he succeededJoachim Fest as one of the five publishers of the newspaper, responsible for the Feuilleton, Science and other parts. Under Schirrmacher's direction FAZ coverage ofscience andpopular culture was expanded.
As the press boomed around 2000, Schirrmacher expanded the Feuilleton supplement, recruiting journalists from other newspapers. A few years later, however, he was forced to reduce the number of pages in the Feuilleton and for the first time in the history of the FAZ laid off employees.
Schirrmacher often influenced the public discussion in Germany of controversial topics such as the debates aboutgenetic engineering andbrain research and about the lowbirth rates in Germany and Europe. Newsweek named him one of Germany's leading intellectuals andRay Kurzweil called Schirrmacher one of the "big thinkers".[2]
Schirrmacher's roasting ofMartin Walser's novelTod eines Kritikers in 2002 caused a stir in the German press. Schirrmacher claimed the book, which was seen as aroman à clef centering on Schirrmacher's predecessor Reich-Ranicki (a German literature critic of Jewish ancestry), containedanti-semitic passages. He had reviewed the book before it came out, so the publishers changed the novel before publishing it, the first time abook review had this effect in German history.
In his 2004 bookDas Methusalem-Komplott, published in 14 languages and selling more than 1 million copies in Germany, Schirrmacher prognosticated the ageing of society as a result of low birth rates and calling for an "uprising of the old". He received theGoldene Feder award for this book. In 2006,Minimum was published, which became a bestseller too. The title refers to Schirrmacher's assertion that thefamily was dissolving as the smallest cell of society, resulting in diminution of social relationships to a minimum. To prove the superiority of the family, he cites the event of theDonner Party, resorted to cannibalism. Critics claimed that he exaggerated the statistics and that he supported a conservative view of the family. Through a PR campaign which included publishing some passages inDer Spiegel andBild-Zeitung, the book caused another media debate about the topic.
In a 2006 interview with Schirrmacher, Nobel laureateGünter Grass admitted to have served in the Waffen-SS as a young man. Grass made the admission in a conversation about his new autobiography,Peeling the Onion, saying he had been drafted at the age of 17 into the Waffen-SS—the combat force of the SS—in the final months of World War II.[3] The interview stirred up a worldwide debate and forced Grass' publisher to publish the book earlier than intended.
Schirrmacher died on 12 June 2014 following a cardiac arrest, at the age of 54.[4]
Among other awards and honours, Schirrmacher received theInternational Corinne Book Prize, and in 2007 he was awarded the "Kulturpreis Deutsche Sprache" which is among the highest cultural prizes in the German-speaking world[citation needed].
Media related toFrank Schirrmacher at Wikimedia Commons