Journalist and “language pope” Wolf Schneider trained numerous journalists, but is also known to a wider audience as the author of books such as “Deutsch für Profis”. He started his career without any training. He was 97 years old.
The journalist and language critic Wolf Schneider has died. He died this Friday at the age of 97 in Starnberg, as his family announced.
Schneider, born in Erfurt, headed the Henri Nannen School of Journalism in Hamburg, among other things, and held leading positions at well-known German media companies. With his books like “German for professionals” he became known throughout Germany as an expert for language and style. Schneider was a critic of spelling reform.
He began his journalistic career as a translator for the American military government’s “Neue Zeitung” in Munich after the Second World War. There he became an editor without studying and without a traineeship. He later switched to the AP news agency, then to the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”. There he was head of the news department, frequent author of the “Striplight” column, then Washington correspondent.
“Stern” founder Henri Nannen brought him to Hamburg in 1966. Schneider first became the manager on duty, then the publishing manager, before moving to Springer in 1971. In 1973, Schneider became editor-in-chief of the daily newspaper “Die Welt” for about a year.
Around five years later he took over the management of the Hamburg School of Journalism, today’s Henri Nannen School. He held this post until 1995, after which he became increasingly known as a language critic. Schneider also received further teaching assignments at universities in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. In later years he wrote as a columnist for the “Neue Zürcher Zeitung” and the “Handelsblatt”.
