Theodor Wolff

Theodor Wolff
Born(1868-08-02)2 August 1868
Berlin, Prussia
Died23 September 1943(1943-09-23) (aged 75)
Berlin, Germany
NationalityGerman
Occupation(s)Journalist and critic
Dramatist
Newspaper editor (Berliner Tageblatt)
Writer
Political partyGerman Democratic Party (1918–1926)
SpouseMarie Louise Charlotte Anna Hickethier
Parent(s)Adam Wolff
Recha Wolff, née Davidsohn

Theodor Wolff (2 August 1868 – 23 September 1943) was a German writer who was influential as a journalist, critic and newspaper editor.[1] He was born and died in Berlin.[2] Between 1906 and 1933 he was the chief editor of the politically liberal newspaper Berliner Tageblatt.

His talent as a writer won praise from an unlikely quarter: In 1939 Joseph Goebbels recommended his Propaganda Ministry staff to study Wolff's contributions in back numbers of the newspaper that he had edited. According to Goebbels, despite him being Jewish, the quality of Wolff's writing was matched by only very few in Germany.[3] What Goebbels did not mention was that as a younger man he had himself on at least one occasion applied to work for the newspaper in question.

  1. ^ Kühn, Alexander (30 September 2014). "Mut zur Wahrheit". Spiegel Geschichte. 5. Spiegel-Verlag: 108–109.
  2. ^ "Short biography of Theodor Wolff". Gedenkstätte Deutscher Widerstand. Retrieved 27 November 2017.
  3. ^ Kühn, Alexander (30 September 2014). "Mut zur Wahrheit". Spiegel Geschichte. 5. Spiegel-Verlag: 108–109. Das Lob kam von höchster Stelle, doch es war verlogen und zynisch. Sie sollten mal in den alten Bänden des Berliner Tageblatts nachlesen, empfahl Propagandaminister Joseph Goebbels 1939 seinen Parteischreibern, bei einem 'gewissen Theodor Wolff', der 'zwar Jude' sei, 'aber schreiben konnte wie nur ganz wenige in Deutschland'.