WRITER

Sebastian Haffner

1907 - 1999

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Raimund Pretzel (27 December 1907 – 2 January 1999), better known by his pseudonym Sebastian Haffner, was a German journalist and historian. As an émigré in Britain during World War II, Haffner argued that accommodation was impossible not only with Adolf Hitler but also with the German Reich with which Hitler had gambled. Peace could be secured only by rolling back "seventy-five years of German history" and restoring Germany to a network of smaller states. His novel Abschied ("Parting"), published posthumously in 2025 after Haffner's children found the manuscript in his desk, reached the top of Der Spiegel's best-seller list after its debut. Read more on Wikipedia

His biography is available in different languages on Wikipedia. Sebastian Haffner is the 2,256th most popular writer (down from 1,624th in 2019), the 2,434th most popular biography from Germany (down from 1,726th in 2019) and the 150th most popular German Writer.

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Among WRITERS

Among writers, Sebastian Haffner ranks 2,256 out of 7,302. Before him are Benjamin Péret, Giuseppe Giacosa, Fred Uhlman, Zbigniew Herbert, Ilse Aichinger, and Dacia Maraini. After him are Giovanni Botero, Thor Vilhjálmsson, Krishna Sobti, Abraham Sutzkever, Francesc Eiximenis, and Herman Bang.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1907, Sebastian Haffner ranks 123. Before him are Charles Eames, William Steig, Roger Peyrefitte, John Mauchly, George de Mestral, and Ilona Elek. After him are Pierre Pflimlin, Tino Rossi, Ramón de la Fuente Leal, Helmuth James von Moltke, Walter Frentz, and Konstantin Rodzaevsky. Among people deceased in 1999, Sebastian Haffner ranks 82. Before him are Walter Lini, Alfredo Kraus, William Whitelaw, 1st Viscount Whitelaw, András Hegedüs, Pierre Clémenti, and Marion Zimmer Bradley. After him are Alf Ramsey, Ilmari Juutilainen, Saul Steinberg, Michael Morris, 3rd Baron Killanin, Yuri Knorozov, and Roy Chiao.

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In Germany

Among people born in Germany, Sebastian Haffner ranks 2,435 out of 7,253. Before him are Maria Aurora von Königsmarck (1662), Fred Uhlman (1901), Honoratus (365), Ernst Chladni (1756), August Batsch (1761), and Carl Ludwig Siegel (1896). After him are Princess Louise of Hesse-Darmstadt (1757), William, Duke of Saxe-Weimar (1598), Walter Eucken (1891), William VI, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel (1629), Herbert Hainer (1954), and Jacob Philipp Hackert (1737).

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Among WRITERS In Germany

Among writers born in Germany, Sebastian Haffner ranks 150. Before him are Duchess Elisabeth Sophie of Mecklenburg (1613), Rahel Varnhagen (1771), Rudolf Rocker (1873), Karlheinz Deschner (1924), Uri Avnery (1923), and Fred Uhlman (1901). After him are Jurij Brězan (1916), Berthold Auerbach (1812), Christian Fürchtegott Gellert (1715), Wieland Wagner (1917), Gertrud von Le Fort (1876), and Karl Gutzkow (1811).

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