Rolf Zick
Zick in 2013
Born	(1921-04-16)16 April 1921 Dransfeld, Province of Hanover, Prussia, Germany
Died	8 March 2024(2024-03-08) (aged 102) Hannover, Lower Saxony, Germany
Occupation	Journalist

Rolf Zick (16 April 1921 – 8 March 2024) was a German journalist.

Life and career

Rolf Zick was born in Dransfeld on 16 April 1921 to a family of teachers.^[1] His father was a member of the SPD from 1924 to 1933, and also a member of the Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold. Zick reported that his sister was killed under the Nazi regime among the Krankenmorde [de], but her name is not officially listed.^[2] and his father was degraded and relocated under the Gesetz zur Wiederherstellung des Berufsbeamtentums.

Zick achieved his Abitur at the Martino-Katharineum Braunschweig [de] in 1939 and was then drafted to the Wehrmacht.^[3][4][5] He experienced 70 bombings of Hanover as a FLAK commander.^[6] Zick was a Soviet prisoner of war until 1948 where he was abused for medical experiments, according to his reports.^[7][8]

Zick then began his career as a journalist with local news in Göttingen.^[9] He moved to Hannover in 1960 and reported for decades about state politics of Lower Saxony. He founded an independent press office in 1974, Nordreport, and worked as its chief.^[10] He served as president of the state press conference of Lower Saxony from 1971 to 1990.

His daughter Anne-Maria Zick continued the Nordreport, which merged with the Rundblick [de].^[11] Rolf Zick died in Hannover on 8 March 2024, at the age of 102.^[1]

Awards

• 1981 Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
• 1994 Lower Saxony Order of Merit
• 2011 Niedersächsische Landesmedaille [de]
• 2011 Honorary president of Landespressekonferenz Niedersachsen
• 2020 Leibniz Ring Hanover [de; Leibniz Ring] of Presse Club Hannover [de]
• 2021 Honorary president of Presse Club Hannover

Publications

• (with Burkhard Nowotny): Hörfunk in Grossbritannien. Privater Lokalrundfunk, Verband Nordwestdeutscher Zeitungsverleger, 1980
• (with Maria Haldenwanger, Rolf Manfred Hasse): Kostbarkeiten in Bibliotheken Niedersachsens, ed.: Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Bibliotheken in Niedersachsen, Hannover 1996
• Ich war dabei und habe überlebt ISBN 3-00-002062-4, 1997 (5th edition, 2002)^[12]
• Die Landespressekonferenz am Puls des Geschehens, LPK, Hannover 1997, ISBN 3-00-002338-0
• Landesverkehrswacht Niedersachsen: 50 Jahre jung – Eine Dokumentation, Landesverkehrswacht Niedersachsen, 2001
• Die CDU in Niedersachsen: eine Chronik, Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, Sankt Augustin 2008, ISBN 978-3-940955-28-9
• 60 Jahre Zahnärztekammer Niedersachsen – Eine Chronik 1949-2009, Zahnärztekammer Niedersachsen, 2009
• Walter Hirche – Ein Liberaler aus Niedersachsen, Georg Olms Verlag, 2014, ISBN 978-3-487-08534-0
• Ein starkes Land im Herzen Europas: die CDU in Niedersachsen 1945 bis 2015, Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, Sankt Augustin, Berlin 2016, ISBN 978-3-95721-190-3
• Der letzte Zeitzeuge : Ein halbes Jahrhundert hinter der landespolitischen Bühne, ed. by Presse Club Hannover, Olms Verlag, Hildesheim, Zürich, New York 2021, ISBN 978-3-487-08635-4.^[6]