Our guest on 17.05.2009 Wibke Bruhns, Journalist

In 1971, Wibke Bruhns was the first and only female news anchor on West German television – a sensation at the time. The journalist, born in 1938 in Halberstadt, worked for television as well as well-known print media, such as the German weekly magazine "Stern." As the "Joan of Arc of the ’68 German student movement, Bruhns significantly shaped three decades of West German media history. In her critical reports on social inequities in Germany, she was always causing a stir. She achieved nationwide recognition in 2004 with her book, "My Father’s Country," which touched on her own family history. Bruhns is the daughter of Hans Georg Klamroth, who was involved in the Graf Stauffenberg-led plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler. Klamroth was executed in 1944 by the Nazis.

Wibke Bruhns, born Wibke Klamroth, was born on September 8, 1939, as the last of five children in Halberstadt/Harz. The fate of her father, Hans Georg Klamroth, an intelligence officer who was executed as an accomplice to the unsuccessful plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler on July 20, 1944, marked a defining moment in Bruhn’s political consciousness. After the war, her mother became active in the diplomatic service, taking the family to cities like Copenhagen, Stockholm and London – the cities where Bruhns spent her childhood.

Early on, it was there that she learned how difficult it was to escape her personal history. It was especially hard to be a German abroad in the post-war era. The children at the Swedish school she attended were forbidden from playing with her because she was German. Later, when the 14-year-old Bruhns left her German boarding school, the director called after her, "No wonder that you’ve got such a bad character – your father was a traitor." Later, she says, she came to terms with the shame that accompanied being German.

A Career in Journalism

After her school-leaving exams in Berlin, she studied history and political science for several semesters in Hamburg, though without completing her degree. Instead, in 1960 she started a traineeship at the German newspaper "Bild," which she cut short one year later for political reasons.

As a freelancer, she joined NDR television in Hamburg and became an editor and moderator at Hamburg’s ZDF studio in 1962. After the birth of her second daughter, Bruhns worked from 1968 on as a freelance journalist for German weekly newspaper "Die Zeit," NDR Radio, and ZDF, among others. In 1971, Bruhns made her public debut as the first female news anchor on German television. Her May 12 appearance on the late edition of the ZDF show "Today," and shortly thereafter, May 24, on the main news program, was a sensation at the time.

Looking back, she says "It was time for someone to open the door, and that’s something I achieved."

After 380 "Today" shows, Bruhns left ZDF in 1973 and joined WDR, West German Broadcasting. There she worked for the political magazine "Panorama," among other programs, where she caused a stir with her critical reports on a number of topics, including the conditions in a retirement home in Baden-Baden. Dubbed the "Joan of Arc of ’68," her reputation grew to reflect her rising profile.

Political Engagement

Her foray into politics with the SPD, and the party’s candidate for chancellor, Willy Brandt, were quite controversial in the run-up to the German parliamentary elections in 1972. Bruhns has consistently denied rumors of an alleged affair with Brandt. Yet several CDU politicians demanded that she be banned from the television screen, citing a political conflict of interest.

The Year Abroad

In tandem with her television engagements, Bruhns started working in 1974 as a reporter for German weekly magazine "Der Stern."

In 1979, she traveled to Jerusalem as the magazine’s Middle East correspondent. She chronicled her impressions of the city in her 1982 book "My Jerusalem." Looking back, she views her year in Israel as her most exciting. After that, she reported for "Stern" from Washington from 1984 to 1988. Other important stages in her career included her work as a news speaker for commercial TV broadcaster VOX in 1993. Two years later, Bruhns headed the cultural desk at an eastern German TV station, and in 2000 she worked as a speaker for the global exhibition "Expo" in Hanover.

"My Father’s Country"

In 2004, Bruhns published her much talked-about family chronicle, "My Father’s Country," in which she reconciles her family history with their involvement in National Socialism. In the book, she details the "worm-like contamination of the German elite through nationalistic ideas." And she shows how her father, an officer in the Third Reich’s armed forces, transformed from a dedicated Nazi to a regime-critical confidant.

Her blunt analysis was criticized as an attempt to "air her dirty laundry" in public. Yet many praised her courage in transcending "the widespread family agreement to avoid discussing the past."

Prizes and Awards

For her journalistic and published work, Wibke Bruhns has been honored with numerous prizes and awards – among them, the prestigious Egon Erwin Kisch Prize in 1989.

Wibke Bruhns has two grown daughters. She currently lives in Berlin.