Fritz J. Raddatz


Fritz Joachim Raddatz was a German feuilletonist, essayist, biographer, journalist and romancier.

Life

Fritz Raddatz was born in Berlin. His mother, according to Raddatz a "Parisienne from a rich family", died after giving birth to him. His father was, as Raddatz once put it, "a relatively known" man. Raddatz, who knew his name but had no relationship to his biological father, never identified him. His stepfather was a fighter pilot in World War I. Raddatz was battered by him and also forced to have sex with his stepmother.
After his stepfather had died in 1946 the Protestant pastor Hans-Joachim Mund became his legal guardian. At age 15 Raddatz started an affair with Mund. In 1950 Raddatz moved to East Berlin. He started to study German studies, history, theatre studies, art and American studies. In 1953 he closed his studies with the Staatsexamen at Humboldt University of Berlin. In 1958 Raddatz received a doctorate and in 1971 he was habilitated at University of Hannover under Hans Mayer.
Aged 20 he started to write for Berliner Zeitung. From 1953 to 1958 he led the foreign department of the publishing house Volk und Welt in East Berlin. Because Raddatz had ongoing conflicts with East German authorities he moved back to West Germany in 1958.
In 1960 he became chief editor and deputy publishing manager of Rowohlt Verlag. He held these positions until 1969, when he had to step down due to the "balloon affair". From 1976 until 1985 he was leading the feuilleton of Die Zeit.
Raddatz was one of the most influential literary critics in the field of German literature. He also published his diaries as well as many essays, novels and biographies.
Raddatz lived openly as a bisexual. In Hamburg he lived for more than 30 years with his partner Gerd.
In September 2014 Raddatz announced his retirement from active writing.
Raddatz, who was an advocate of Euthanasia, committed suicide at the age of 83 on 26 February 2015 in Zurich. He never wanted to become a nursing case. In full possession of his powers he decided: "That's it, it's enough."
He was chairman of the Kurt Tucholsky Foundation and a member of PEN-Zentrum Germany and the Freie Akademie der Künste Hamburg.

Awards

awarded him the Officier des Arts et des Lettres. In 2010 Raddatz was awarded the Hildegard-von-Bingen-Preis für Publizistik.

Selected works