Lippmann, Max

Journalist, film historian, politician (Member of Parliament)

Born: 16.02.1906 in Poznan

Died: 26.01.1966 in Mainz

Lippmann worked as a newspaper correspondent and commentator for Breslau radio, became a member of the SPD and was chairman of the German League for Human Rights in Silesia.

In 1933, he fled for political reasons and because he was Jewish, first to Prague and then to Paris in 1938. From there he was deported to Algiers and interned. After his liberation in 1943, he lived in London and Paris and worked for the US Office of Strategy in 1944/45. He returned to Germany in 1948.

From 1950-59, he was delegated by representatives of the film industry to the Voluntary Self-Regulation of the Film Industry (FSK), where he worked full-time from 1951. In 1959, he was appointed director of the German Institute for Film Studies (Deutsches Institut für Filmkunde e.V.). From then on, his commitment was directed towards film work.

Lippmann was also actively involved in shaping cultural life in Wiesbaden. From 1954, he was involved in the Volkshochschule Wiesbaden e.V. (VHS), where he was a member of the board. Together with the VHS, he developed the "Filmic Treasures" series. In 1964, he organized the "Shakespeare Film Festival" and compiled the catalog for the photo exhibition "The German Silent Film", a project that made his name widely known. Lippmann was a member of the board of the "Wangener Kreis", which was committed to promoting Silesian culture and cultural exchange with its neighbor Poland. The association awarded him the "Golden Badge of Honor" in 1965.

He was a member of the Hessian state parliament for the SPD from 1954-58 and a member of the Wiesbaden city council from 1956 and October 1964.

Lippmann was buried in the Jewish cemetery in Wiesbaden.