Brigitte Hamann
Presentation of the Honorary Prize of the Austrian Booksellers to Brigitte Hamann in the Vienna City Hall on 22 November 2012. To the left: the eulogist, Prof. Gerald Stourzh, to the right city councillor Michael Ludwig
Born
Brigitte Deitert

(1940-07-26)July 26, 1940
Essen, Germany
DiedOctober 4, 2016(2016-10-04) (aged 76)
Vienna, Austria
NationalityGerman-Austrian
Occupation(s)author and historian

Brigitte Hamann (née Deitert; 26 July 1940 – 4 October 2016) was a German-Austrian[1] author and historian based in Vienna.

Biography

Born in Essen, Germany, Hamann studied history in Münster and Vienna. She worked as a journalist in Essen for some time. In 1965, she married a historian Günther Hamann (1924–1994),[2] moved to Vienna and obtained Austrian citizenship in addition to her German.[3] The couple had three children; one of them is journalist and feminist Sibylle Hamann. Brigitte Hamann worked with her husband at the University of Vienna and in 1978 obtained a doctor's degree on the basis of a thesis on the life of Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria. The thesis was published as a book the same year. She described her working method as follows: "(Coming from Germany) I had a different view of Austria, and I began to write with a certain detachment".[3]

The success of her first book led to further books, notably on Empress Elisabeth of Austria,[2] Adolf Hitler, and Winifred Wagner.[citation needed]

Hamann's 1996 book Hitler's Vienna: A Dictator's Apprenticeship examined how societal attitudes at the time shaped Hitler's anti-Semitic views during his time in Vienna between 1908 and 1913, and the effects of his inordinate fear of both infection and women. Following the publication of The Hidden Hitler by historian and University of Bremen professor Lothar Machtan, Hamann investigated claims about Hitler's homosexuality and appears in the 2004 HBO documentary film, Hidden Fuhrer: Debating the Enigma of Hitler's Sexuality, by American documentarians Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato.[citation needed]

In 2005, Hamann released Winifred Wagner: A Life at the Heart of Hitler's Bayreuth, a biography of Winifred Wagner, the British-born woman who became a founding member of the Nazi Party and a close friend of Hitler. The publication earned her "Book of the Year" honors by Opernwelt (Operaworld) magazine and "Historical Book of the Year" honors from Damals history magazine. That same year she received the Presseclub Concordia [de][4] "Concordia-Preis [de]" in recognition of her work.

Hamann died on 4 October 2016 in Vienna at the age of 76.[2][5]

Honors

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Books translated into English

An English translation of the rororo monograph Die Familie Wagner is to appear.[citation needed]

Books in German

Numerous editions, paperbacks, and translations[citation needed]

References

  1. ^ "Hamann Brigitte – biografiA". biografiA – Ihr Ausgangspunkt für Frauenforschung (in German). Retrieved 13 November 2022.
  2. ^ a b c "Brigitte Hamann - Biography". IMDb. Retrieved 26 February 2024.
  3. ^ a b "ORF-Seite". Archived from the original on 6 July 2011. Retrieved 28 May 2009.
  4. ^ "Presseclub Concordia". Archived from the original on 9 October 2006. Retrieved 27 February 2006.
  5. ^ Mayr, Lisa (4 October 2016). "Historikerin Brigitte Hamann gestorben (Historian Brigitte Hamann has died)". Der Standard (in German). Vienna: Standard Verlagsgesellschaft m.b.H. Retrieved 23 April 2017.
  6. ^ "Granta: Winifred Wagner". Archived from the original on 13 February 2007. Retrieved 27 February 2006.

External links

Authority control databases
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