Bredow, Hans

Engineer, District President

Born: 26.11.1879 in Schlawe (Pomerania)

died: 09.01.1959 in Wiesbaden

Bredow studied physics and electrical engineering at the University of Kiel and the Köthen/Anhalt Industrial College from 1898 to 1903.

In 1903, he began working for AEG and became a project engineer in Berlin and Riga in the field of high-voltage systems. From 1908, he was director of the "Gesellschaft für drahtlose Telegraphie m.b.H." (Telefunken) in Berlin.

In 1908, he set up the German ship and overseas radio service and in 1913 organized transatlantic radio traffic between Germany and the USA. When Bredow succeeded in presenting several wireless music transmissions in the USA for the first time shortly afterwards, his name already had a worldwide reputation. Bredow went down in the history of entertainment radio as the founder and organizer of the so-called Reichsfunknetz (1919). In 1923, the first trial broadcast of the "Deutsche Stunde" took place in Berlin; one year later, the "Deutsche Stunde in Bayern" began broadcasting to 155 officially registered radio stations.

Bredow became Ministerial Director in the Reich Post Ministry in 1919 and State Secretary for Telecommunications in 1921. In 1926, he was appointed Reich Broadcasting Commissioner and Chairman of the Board of the Reichsrundfunk-Gesellschaft.

When the National Socialists came to power in 1933, Bredow, a democrat, tendered his resignation and sent a telegram to the Reich Postal Minister requesting the immediate release of his arrested employees. As a result, he was imprisoned for 15 months. A show trial was held against him for alleged corruption, which dragged on for months. From 1937 to 1945, he was banned from working. In 1935, he moved his residence to Wiesbaden.

After the end of the war in 1945, Bredow, as a "man of the first hour", temporarily became President of the Government of Hesse-Nassau (May to September). From 1949-51, he was Chairman of the Board of Directors of Hessischer Rundfunk and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Buderus-Röchling in Wetzlar (1949-1953).

He played a decisive role in the reorganization of German industry and broadcasting by the Allies. In 1954, he was awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany with Star; the Technical University of Gdansk made him an honorary doctor. The Hans Bredow Institute was founded in Hamburg in 1950. A street in Wiesbaden is named after him.