Reichenbach, Bernhard (1888-1975)

Scope and Content

Papers of Bernhard Reichenbach, 1953-1974, document the post-war journalistic and broadcasting activities of Reichenbach, former actor, political party official, journalist and refugee from Nazi Germany.

The papers consist largely of annotated drafts of broadcast transcripts, produced for the German radio station, Süddeutscher Rundfunk . They cover a wide range of subjects providing, for the German audience, an insight into the economic, social and political life of Britain, 1963-1974. Also included are book reviews and correspondence.

Administrative / Biographical History

Bernhard Reichenbach, 1888-1975, was the son of a Jewish businessman and a protestant teacher; childhood and schooling in Hamburg; later became an actor in Bochum and Hamburg, 1912-1914; studied literature, art history and sociology in Berlin; active in the youth movement and a member of the Freie Studentenschaft , Berlin. As a medical orderly in World War One he won the Ehren Kreuz II Klass . In 1917 he was a founding member of the Unabhångige Sozialistischepartei Deutschlands ; co-founder of the Kommunistische Arbeiterpartei Deutschlands , and, as a representative of the latter party, he attended the Executive Committee of the Communist International in Moscow, and the third World Congress of the Communist International. He left the KAPD on his return to Berlin and joined the SPD in the beginning of 1925. He continued his activities as a journalist for a number of left-wing periodicals whilst working as a company secretary for a weaving business in Krefeld. After the Nazis came to power he could no longer continue working as a journalist, and after pressure from the police he emigrated to Great Britain.

In 1935 he joined the Labour Party. He was interned on the Isle of Man, 1940-1941, and after his release worked in the field of political instruction of German POWs. From 1944-1948 he edited the British government periodical for German POWs in Great Britain, Die Wochenpost .

He was a member of Club 1943. He became the London correspondent of the Süddeutscher Rundfunk and Westfålische Rundschau . He also worked on Contemporary Review and Socialist Commentary and Welt der Arbeit. He was awarded the Bundesverdienstkreuz in 1958.

Arrangement

Chronological

Access Information

Open

Acquisition Information

Tania England

Other Finding Aids

Description exists to this archive on the Wiener Library's online catalogue www.wienerlibrary.co.uk.

Conditions Governing Use

Copies can be made for personal use. Permission must be sought for publication.

Geographical Names