Brigitte Hamann


Brigitte Hamann was a German-Austrian author and historian based in Vienna.

Biography

Born in Essen, Germany, Hamann studied history in Münster and Vienna. She worked as a journalist in her native Essen for some time. In 1965, she married historian Günther Hamann, moved to Vienna and obtained Austrian citizenship in addition to her German. The couple had three children; one of them is journalist and feminist Sibylle Hamann. Brigitte Hamann worked with her husband at the University of Vienna and in 1978 obtained a doctor's degree on the basis of a thesis on the life of Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria. The thesis was published as a book the same year. She described her working method as follows: " I had a different view of Austria, and I began to write with a certain detachment".
The success of her first book led to further books, notably on Empress Elisabeth of Austria, Adolf Hitler, and Winifred Wagner.
Hamann's 1996 book ' examined how societal attitudes at the time shaped Hitler's anti-Semitic views during his time in Vienna between 1908 and 1913, and the effects of his inordinate fear of both infection and women. Following the publication of The Hidden Hitler by historian and University of Bremen professor Lothar Machtan, Hamann investigated claims about Hitler's homosexuality and appears in the 2004 HBO documentary film, ', by American documentarians Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato.
In 2005, Hamann released Winifred Wagner: A Life at the Heart of Hitler's Bayreuth, a biography of Winifred Wagner, the British-born woman who became a founding member of the Nazi Party and a close friend of Hitler. The publication earned her "Book of the Year" honors by Opernwelt magazine and "Historical Book of the Year" honors from Damals history magazine. That same year she received the "" in recognition of her work.
Brigitte Hamann died on 4 October 2016 at the age of 76.

Honors

An English translation of the rororo monograph Die Familie Wagner is to appear.

Books in German

Numerous editions, paperbacks, and translations