Background
BROST, Erich was born on October 29, 1903 in Elbing. Son of Gustav Brost and Maria Brest.
journalist politician publisher
BROST, Erich was born on October 29, 1903 in Elbing. Son of Gustav Brost and Maria Brest.
Saint Peter and Saint Paul’s High School, Danzig.
Aged 19 Brost wrote his first column for the Social democratic Danziger Volksstimme, for which he worked until 1936, when the "Volksstimme" got suspended and the Social Democratic Party of the Free City of Danzig was forbidden. Brost went into exile to Poland, Sweden, Finland and Great Britain, where he worked for the British Broadcasting Corporation. After World World War II and the expulsion of the German populace Brost moved to the Ruhr area in 1945 to build up the German News Service, a predecessor of the Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa). He received an Allied licence to publish a newspaper in the British Zone of occupied Germany.
The first copy of the Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung (WAZ) was published on 3 April 1948 and Brost influenced the WAZ for the next decades.
Brost founded the Erich-Brost-Stiftung in 1991, the „Erich Brost University Lecturership“ at the University of Oxford"s „Institute of European and Comparative Law“ is dedicated to him. Brost donated the „Erich-Brost-Danzig-Preis“ of 20,000 Euro, which is awarded to people or institutions for their merits in Polish-German reconciliation.
lieutenant was awarded to
1996: Kashubian-Pomeranian Association
1997: Stefan Chwin, author
1998: Professor Szczepan Baum and Professor
Ryszard Semka, Architects
1999: "Forschungsstelle Osteuropa" at the University of Bremen
2001: Cultural Association „Borussia“, Olsztyn
2003: the twin towns of Bremen and Gdańsk.
In 1915 his family moved to Danzig (modern Gdańsk, Poland), where he became a bookseller and engaged in politics and the labour movement. Brost was active in the Social Democratic Party of Germany and represented the party at the Allied Control Council.
In 1935 he became a member of the Volkstag, the Free City of Danzig"s parliament, representing the Social Democratic Party of Germany.
Married Anneliese Brinkmann in 1975.