Peter Scholl-Latour facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Peter Scholl-Latour
Scholl-Latour at a lecture in the Bundeswehr University of Munich, 2008
Born	Peter Roman Scholl-Latour (1924-03-09)9 March 1924 Bochum, Germany (Weimar Republic)
Died	16 August 2014(2014-08-16) (aged 90) Rhöndorf, Germany
Nationality	German and French
Alma mater	Institut d'études politiques de Paris, Sorbonne, Saint Joseph University
Genre	Political science
Notable works	Death in the Rice-fields
Notable awards	Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur, 2005 Cross of Merit, First class, 2006 Gerhard Löwenthal Honor Award, 2008 (issued by Junge Freiheit)

Peter Roman Scholl-Latour (born March 9, 1924 – died August 16, 2014) was a famous French-German journalist, writer, and reporter. He was known for his brave reporting from many parts of the world.

Peter Scholl-Latour's Life Story

Peter Scholl-Latour was born in the Province of Westphalia and grew up in Lorraine. His father, Otto Scholl-Latour, was a skin doctor. His mother, Mathilde Zerline Nußbaum, was from Alsace. Her brother, Robert Nußbaum, was a doctor who died in a Nazi concentration camp.

When Peter was young, the Nazis caused him trouble because his mother was Jewish. He had to escape to France. Later, he joined the French army. He fought against the Nazis and also in the Indochina War.

Youth and Education

Because his mother was Jewish, the Nazis considered Peter to be of "mixed race." To protect him, his parents had him baptized as a Catholic. They sent him to a Jesuit school called Collège Saint-Michel in Fribourg, Switzerland.

In 1940, his parents could no longer send money to Switzerland, so he had to return to Germany. He finished high school in Kassel in 1943.

In his book Living with France, Peter wrote about joining the French army after France was freed from German control in 1944. He tried to reach French territory but couldn't. So, he decided to join Tito's Partisan army. However, he was arrested in Austria and put in a Gestapo prison.

After being freed, Scholl-Latour joined a French paratrooper unit called the Commando Parachutiste Ponchardier from 1945 to 1946. With them, he fought in the First Indochina War.

He later earned a master's degree from Institut d'études politiques de Paris. He then completed his doctoral studies at the Sorbonne. He also earned another master's degree in Arab and Islamic studies from the Lebanese University in Beirut.

Work as a Journalist

In 1948, Peter Scholl-Latour started as a trainee journalist at the Saarbrücker Zeitung. He traveled a lot, visiting America, Africa, the Middle East, and many parts of Asia.

From 1954 to 1955, he worked for the government of Saarland. In 1956, he decided to focus fully on journalism. He traveled to Africa and Southeast Asia. From 1960 to 1963, he was a permanent reporter in Africa for the ARD TV channel.

From 1963 to 1983, he was in charge of the Paris office for both the ARD and the ZDF TV channels. From 1969 to 1971, he was a director at the WDR TV station.

From Paris, he often traveled the world as a special reporter. In 1973, he and his camera crew were captured by the Vietcong in Vietnam. During his week in captivity, he was allowed to film a documentary about his experience. It was called "8 Days with the Viet Cong." He made more trips to Vietnam in 1976, Canada in 1978, Cambodia in 1980, and Afghanistan and China in 1981.

In 1983, Scholl-Latour became the Editor-in-Chief of the magazine Stern. He also joined the board of Gruner + Jahr, a large media company. From 1984, he was on the advisory board of UFA Film- und Fernsehen GmbH. After 1988, Scholl-Latour worked as a freelance writer. He published many books, made reports, and appeared as an expert on TV and radio.

In 1978, Scholl-Latour met Ayatollah Khomeini, who was living in Paris at the time. He was one of the few journalists allowed to fly with Khomeini when he returned to Iran.

In 1985, Scholl-Latour joined the German-Arabian Association. He became its chairman in 2007.

Even when he was older, he kept writing and traveling. In 2008, he visited East Timor, which was the only country he hadn't seen before. After the 9/11 attacks, he published at least one book every year, and they all became bestsellers. Scholl-Latour said he was Germany's best-selling non-fiction author for 25 years.

Awards and Honors

Publications

Some of his most popular books include:

• Der Tod im Reisfeld (Death in the Rice-fields) (1980)
• Allah ist mit den Standhaften (Allah is with the Steadfast) (1983)
• Mord am grossen Fluss (Murder at the Great River) (1986)
• Mit Frankreich leben (Living with France) (1988)
• Der Wahn vom Himmlischen Frieden (The Delusion of Heavenly Peace) (1990)
• Das Schwert des Islam (The Sword of Islam) (1990)
• Den Gottlosen die Hölle (Hell to the Godless) (1991)
• Unter Kreuz und Knute (Under cross and knout) (1992)
• Eine Welt in Auflösung (A world in dissolution) (1993)
• Im Fadenkreuz der Mächte (In the crosshairs of the Powers) (1994)
• Schlaglichter der Weltpolitik (Highlights of International Politics) (1995)
• Das Schlachtfeld der Zukunft (The Battlefield of the Future) (1996)
• Lügen im Heiligen Land (Lies in the Holy Land) (1998)
• Allahs Schatten über Atatürk (Allah's Shadow Over Atatürk) (1999)

His 2001 book, Afrikanische Totenklage (African Dirge), was on the Spiegel bestseller list for three years. His 2002 book, Kampf dem Terror – Kampf dem Islam? Chronik eines unbegrenzten Krieges (Fight against Terror – fight against Islam? Chronicle of a Never Ending War), explored complex global events. His last book was Russland im Zangengriff (Russia Surrounded) (2007), followed by Der Weg in den neuen Kalten Krieg (The road to the new cold war) in 2008.

Documentaries and Interviews

In 2006, he broadcast a TV documentary called "Russia Surrounded: Putin's Empire faces NATO, China and Islam".

He also gave interviews to publications like Junge Freiheit and FOCUS magazine.

Images for kids

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  Peter Scholl-Latour

See also

In Spanish: Peter Scholl-Latour para niños