Joachim Fest – A Twentieth-Century Life
‘Hitler’, Speer and the historians’ debate
Joachim Fest was one of West Germany’s great intellectuals, member of the Flak generation, best-selling author and editor-in-chief of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Yet he always saw himself as a loner, resistant to the whims of trends and the spirit of the times. He clashed with Jürgen Habermas, Günter Grass and Walter Jens. And he worked tirelessly at fashioning himself as last in a long line of bourgeois traditionalists, diverting attention from his social ascent from modest beginnings. Initially a nonconformist, he eventually became a conservative and lifelong opponent of the 1968 generation.
Franz Walter, a political scientist and historian, had access to his entire estate, including all of Fest’s letters. On this basis and thanks to other archival findings, he was able not only to paint a portrait of Joachim Fest but of West-German intellectualism.
- With excerpts from the unpublished estate, including correspondence: the narrative biography of one of the most influential journalists
- To coincide with Joachim Fest’s 100th birthday in December 2026
Franz Walter
Franz Walter, born in 1956, was a professor of Political Science and the director of the Institute for Democracy Research at the University of Göttingen until 2017. His research focuses on the history of political milieus, parties, youth movements and the significance of charisma in politics. He has also published articles in the SPIEGEL, FAZ, taz, DIE ZEIT and SZ.
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