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Sebastian Haffner

セバスティアン・ハフナー

Sebasuchian Haffunā

Aliases: Raimund Pretzel
Pen Names: Sebastian Haffner（Pen name derived from Johann Sebastian Bach and Mozart's Haffner Symphony to protect family in Germany）

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1907-12-27 （Berlin, German Empire）
Died
1999-01-02 （Berlin, Germany） age 91
Nationality
German, British
Languages
German, English
Residence History
Berlin (birth to exile) → England (1938-ca.1954, exile) → Berlin (post-1954)

Career

Occupations
journalist, historian
Active Years
1938-1999
Affiliations
The Observer, Picture Post, Die Welt, Stern, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Der Spiegel (contributor)
Influenced
Winston Churchill (possible influence), Student New Left

Education

Volkschule (primary school)
Period: 1914-1918
Country: Germany
Father was principal. Attended during WWI
Königstädtisches Gymnasium Berlin
Period: 戦後初期
Country: Germany
City-centre grammar school near Alexanderplatz. Befriended children from Jewish families
Schillergymnasium Lichterfelde
Period: 1924-
Country: Germany
Military families subscribed school. Influenced rightward adolescent politics
University of Berlin (law)
Faculty of Law
Period: 1930年代初頭
Country: Germany
Law student witnessing Nazi rise. Doctoral research in Paris
University of Paris
Period: 1933
Country: France
Doctoral research refuge but unable to settle

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Germany: Jekyll and Hyde

1940 Political polemic

Analysis of Nazi Germany arguing for dissolution of German Reich. Influenced British leaders

Essence of NazismLegacy of Prussian ReichAntisemitism

Defying Hitler: A Memoir (Geschichte eines Deutschen)

2000 Memoir

Personal memoir of pre-Nazi Germany. Depicts boyhood fascination with WWI as national game. Posthumous bestseller

Sources of Nazism's allureLack of resistance

The Meaning of Hitler (Anmerkungen zu Hitler)

1978 Biography/Analysis

Psychogram of Hitler in historical context. Over 1 million copies sold

Hitler's characterBetrayed revolution

Von Bismarck zu Hitler

1987 History

Continuities from Bismarck's Reich to Hitler. Prussian legacy leading to Nazism

ImperialismPrussiaMistake of unification

Failure of a Revolution: Germany 1918-1919 (Die verratene Revolution)

1968 History

Critique of 1918 revolution failure due to SPD betrayal. 13 editions

Lost revolutionary opportunityReich loyalty

Bibliography

  • Germany: Jekyll and Hyde
  • The Meaning of Hitler
  • Failure of a Revolution
  • The Ailing Empire
  • The Rise and Fall of Prussia
  • Defying Hitler
  • Winston Churchill
  • Die sieben Todsünden des deutschen Reiches im Ersten Weltkrieg
  • Parting (Abschied, posthumous 2025)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
Clear and spiritedProvocativeAccessible without footnotes
Recurring Motifs
Fateful continuities of German ReichPrussian legacyPsychological analysis of Nazism

Legacy

Renowned for sharp analyses of Nazi Germany and precursors. Exiled journalist influential in Britain and West Germany. Posthumous memoir gained new readers; unpublished novel bestseller in 2025

In Popular Culture

  • Anecdote that Churchill ordered war cabinet to read his book

Quotes

  • The German Reich must disappear, and the last seventy-five years of German history must be erased
    Source: Germany: Jekyll and Hyde (1940)
  • Hitler gained adherents by more or less normal means of persuasion and attraction
    Source: Germany: Jekyll and Hyde (1940)
  • My whole life has been determined by my experiences in these two schools
    Source: Defying Hitler (2000)

Trivia

  • Pen name from Bach and Mozart
  • Interned as enemy alien in UK but early release
  • Gained fame defending press freedom in Spiegel affair
  • Daughter Sarah Haffner painter and filmmaker
  • Son Oliver Pretzel professor of math at Imperial College London