Hilmar Hoffmann

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Hilmar Hoffmann
Hoffmann in April 1989
Born(1925-08-25)25 August 1925
Died1 June 2018(2018-06-01) (aged 92)
Frankfurt, Germany
EducationFolkwang Hochschule
Occupations
  • Stage director
  • Cultural politician
  • City councillor in Frankfurt
  • Lecturer

Hilmar Hoffmann (25 August 1925 – 1 June 2018) was a German stage and film director, cultural politician and academic lecturer. He founded the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen. He was for decades an influential city councillor in Frankfurt, where he initiated the Museumsufer of 15 museums, including the Jewish Museum Frankfurt. He was the president of the Goethe-Institut and taught at universities such as Bochum and Tel Aviv. He wrote the book Kultur für alle (Culture for All), which was a motto of his life and work.

Biography

Hoffmann was born in Bremen on 25 August 1925, the son of an export merchant. He attended the gymnasium in Lünen and then in Oberhausen. He was a Fallschirmjäger in World War II and a prisoner of war in the US. When he returned in 1947, he studied directing at the Folkwang Hochschule for Music and Theater in Essen, graduating with a diploma.[1]

He began work as assistant stage director at the

opera house became in the "Gielen era" one of the leading houses in Germany, focused on Regietheater.[2]

From 1993 to 2001, he was also president of the Goethe-Institut, in a period of needed expansion in Eastern Europe and reduced funding.[2] He taught film theory and cultural politics at the universities of Bochum, Marburg and Frankfurt, and as a visiting professor in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.[9][8]

He died in Frankfurt on 1 June 2018.[8]

Legacy

When he retired from the post as president of the Goethe-Institut in 2002, Bundespräsident Johannes Rau said "Der Mann streitet glaubwürdig – und ein begnadeter Bettler ist er auch" (The man argues believably, and is also a gifted beggar").[2] After his death, Germany's minister of culture, Monika Grütters said that Germany lost one of its most formative and successful cultural politicians ("einen ihrer prägendsten und erfolgreichsten Kulturpolitiker") who had the great talent to inspire people across party barriers ("Menschen zu begeistern auch über alle Parteigrenzen hinweg").[8] Hoffmann's successor in Frankfurt, Ina Hartwig, said that he was known beyond Frankfurt for his demand for a broad cultural participation and the founding of the Museumsufer ("... mit seiner Forderung nach einer breiten kulturellen Teilhabe und der Gründung des Frankfurter Museumsufers", and continued that he was one of the most important cultural politicians not only of Frankfurt but of the Federal Republic ("Mit Hilmar Hoffmann verlieren wir einen der bedeutendsten Kulturpolitiker nicht nur Frankfurts, sondern der gesamten Bundesrepublik").[8]

Awards

Publications

During his time in Frankfurt, Hoffman published a book summarizing his creed and program for the future, Kultur für alle.[4] He wrote Die großen Frankfurter / Ehrenwürdige Bürger und Ehrenbürger, portraying 27 honorary citizens of Frankfurt, and those who deserve to be honoured. Its fourth edition added Walter Wallmann, mayor of Frankfurt and honorary citizen of 2009, who was for many years a supporter of Hoffmann's visions such as the Museumsufer. His publications are held by the German National Library, including:[13]

Literature

References

  1. ^ a b "Hilmar Hoffmann" (in German). Munziger. Retrieved 7 June 2018.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Glaubwürdiger Streiter, begnadeter Bettler" (in German). FAZ. 2 June 2018. Retrieved 8 June 2018.
  3. ^ . Retrieved 8 June 2018.
  4. ^ a b c d e Reichwein, Marc (2 June 2018). "Kultur ist für alle da". Die Welt (in German). Retrieved 7 June 2018.
  5. ^ a b Amling, Ulrich (2 June 2018). "Zum Tod von Hilmar Hoffmann / Kultur für alle". Der Tagesspiegel (in German). Retrieved 7 June 2018.
  6. ^
    Washington Post
    . Retrieved 14 June 2018.
  7. .
  8. ^ a b c d e "Kultur für alle / Hilmar Hoffmann ist im Alter von 92 Jahren gestorben" (in German). 3sat. 4 June 2018. Retrieved 7 June 2018.
  9. ^ a b c "Die großen Frankfurter / Ehrenwürdige Bürger und Ehrenbürger" (PDF) (in German). Societaets-Verlag. Retrieved 7 June 2018.
  10. ^ Deutscher Filmpreis, 1976 deutscher-filmpreis.de
  11. ^ Helmut-Käutner-Preis Düsseldorf
  12. ^ "Das Glas der Vernunft" Kassel
  13. ^ "Publications by Hilmar Hoffmann" (in German). German National Library. Retrieved 23 July 2018.

External links