Hans Rosenthal
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Hans Rosenthal (April 2, 1925 in Berlin - February 10, 1987 in Berlin) was a German entertainer and radio and TV presenter.
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[edit] Life
Rosenthal grew up in a Jewish family in Berlin (Prenzlauer Berg: Winsstraße). His childhood was marked by an agressive antisemitic atmosphere, the result of German Nazism . His father died in 1937. His mother died of colorectal cancer in 1941. His brother Gert and other siblings died in the Holocaust. Starting in 1940, Rosenthal was forced to participate in unfree labour. Between 1943 and 1945 Rosenthal was able to stay at safe house in a small garden allotment in Berlin, where three German women helped him to survive.
After 1945 Rosenthal started working for one of Berlin's public broadcasters: Berliner Rundfunk. From 1948 onwards he worked in Berlin for RIAS, a broadcaster controlled by the American occupying forces. He hosted several radio quiz shows: Allein gegen alle, Wer fragt, gewinnt., Das klingende Sonntagsrätsel, Spaß muß sein, Opas Schlagerfestival, Da ist man sprachlos, Die Rückblende and Günter Neumann und seine Insulaner. Later on German TV channel ZDF, he hosted shows like Gut gefragt ist halb gewonnen, Tate mal mit Rosenthal, KO OK, Dalli Dalli and Das Schlagerfestival der 20er Jahre.
The TV show Dalli Dalli was very popular in the 1980s. He is known in Germany for his catchphrase Sie sind der Meinung, das war ... ? ("So you all think that was... ?"). The TV audience answered Spitze! ("Great!" (lit. top/summit)) at which point Rosenthal would jump into the air. He was often affectionately known as "Hänschen Rosenthal".
He was a member of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, the Zentralrat der Juden from the 1960s onwards. He often took his vacation in Utersum on Föhr, of which he was eventually made an honorary citizen. Rosenthal was a fan of Tennis Borussia Berlin football team. Rosenthal started a foundation called Schnelle Hilfe in Akuter Not (freely translated as "Fast help for acute needs")-
In 1980 Rosenthal published his autobiography Zwei Leben in Deutschland ("Two lives in Germany"). In 1986, along with Paul Spiegel, he started an international media agency, which promoted actors, TV presenters and artists. Rosenthal died of stomach cancer in 1987.
[edit] Awards
- 1972 Federal Cross of Merit (Bundesverdienstkreuz)
- 1973 Bambi
- 1974 Goldene Kamera
- 1979 Goldene Kamera
- 1984 Goldene Kamera
- 1985 Goldene Europa
- 1986 Telestar
[edit] other honours
- 1993 The square in front of the RIAS building (now the home of Deutschlandradio Kultur, a successor to RIAS) was named Hans-Rosenthal-Platz
- 2007 A sports center in Berlin-Charlottenburg was named Hans-Rosenthal-Sportanlage
[edit] Books by Rosenthal
- Zwei Leben in Deutschland, Bergisch Gladbach 1980, ISBN 3-7857-0265-5
[edit] Literature about Rosenthal
- Thomas Henschke: Hans Rosenthal. Ein Leben für die Unterhaltung. Schwarzkopf u. Schwarzkopf, Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-89602-307-1
- Michael Schäbitz, Paul Spiegel, Curth Flatow: Hans Rosenthal. Deutschlands unvergessener Quizmaster; bewusster, stolzer Jude. Jüdische Miniaturen, Band 19. Stiftung Neue Synagoge Berlin - Centrum Iudaicum / Hentrich and Hentrich, Teetz 2004, ISBN 3-933471-73-7
