Brigitte Hamann
Brigitte Hamann (née Deitert; 26 July 1940 – 4 October 2016) was a German-Austrian author and historian based in Vienna.
Also recorded as Brigitte Deitert
Brigitte Hamann

User:HPaul · Crop of File:Preisverleihung_Hamann.jpg · CC BY-SA 3.0
- Full name
- Brigitte Deitert.
- Born
- 1940. · Essen.
- Died
- 2016. · Vienna.
- Nationality
- Germany and Austria.
- Occupation
- writer, historian, journalist, biographer and collector.
- Education
- University of Münster and University of Vienna.
- Honours
- Anton Wildgans Prize, Concordia Prize, Preis der Stadt Wien für Publizistik, Ernst Robert Curtius Award and Ehrenpreis des österreichischen Buchhandels für Toleranz in Denken und Handeln.
- Languages
- German.
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
VALÉORINE documentary reading
Documentary summary
Brigitte Hamann (née Deitert; 26 July 1940 – 4 October 2016) was a German-Austrian author and historian based in Vienna.
Admitted source layer · organised and presented by VALÉORINE
Note VALÉORINE
No house-authored Note is published until its assertions and sources pass the VALÉORINE evidence contract. The documentary article remains available in full while that enrichment is being consolidated.
Documentary enrichment in progress · no unsupported statement published
Reference Check
Propose documentary evidence for Brigitte Hamann. A contribution is never written directly as fact: identity, source, rights and evidence gates still decide.
Sign in to contribute
World of VALÉORINE
Documentary connections
Only confirmed graph relationships appear here. Images are shown only when their identity and reuse rights both pass the documentary gate.
Documentary evidence
Evidence Panel
not yet certified
- Identity
- resolved
- Independent source families
- 0
- Admitted assertions
- 0
- Open conflicts
- 0
Authority files
wikidata · Q65619 · wikipedia · Brigitte Hamann
In this article
Biography
Biography
Brigitte Hamann studied at University of Münster and University of Vienna. The recorded working language is German. Places of work recorded in the authority are Vienna. Employment is recorded with University of Vienna. Distinctions recorded are Anton Wildgans Prize, Concordia Prize, Preis der Stadt Wien für Publizistik and Ernst Robert Curtius Award.
Born in Essen, Germany, Hamann studied history in Münster and Vienna. She worked as a journalist in Essen for some time. In 1965, she married a historian Günther Hamann (1924–1994), moved to Vienna and obtained Austrian citizenship in addition to her German. The couple had three children; one of them is journalist and feminist Sibylle Hamann. Brigitte Hamann worked with her husband at the University of Vienna and in 1978 obtained a doctor's degree on the basis of a thesis on the life of Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria. The thesis was published as a book the same year. She described her working method as follows: "(Coming from Germany) I had a different view of Austria, and I began to write with a certain detachment". The success of her first book led to further books, notably on Empress Elisabeth of Austria, Adolf Hitler, and Winifred Wagner. Hamann's 1996 book Hitler's Vienna: A Dictator's Apprenticeship examined how societal attitudes at the time shaped Hitler's anti-Semitic views during his time in Vienna between 1908 and 1913, and the effects of his inordinate fear of both infection and women. Following the publication of The Hidden Hitler by historian and University of Bremen professor Lothar Machtan, Hamann investigated claims about Hitler's homosexuality and appears in the 2004 HBO documentary film, Hidden Fuhrer: Debating the Enigma of Hitler's Sexuality, by American documentarians Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato. In 2005, Hamann released Winifred Wagner: A Life at the Heart of Hitler's Bayreuth, a biography of Winifred Wagner, the British-born woman who became a founding member of the Nazi Party and a close friend of Hitler. The publication earned her "Book of the Year" honors by Opernwelt (Operaworld) magazine and "Historical Book of the Year" honors from Damals history magazine. That same year she received the Presseclub Concordia "Concordia-Preis" in recognition of her work. Hamann died on 4 October 2016 in Vienna at the age of 76.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
Explore 1940–2016
The full dated record · 3 entries
1940
Brigitte Hamann born at Essen.
1999
Hitler`s Vienna; A Dictators Apprenticeship (1999) — Brigitte Hamann (1999) is digitised and catalogued by Internet Archive.
2016
Brigitte Hamann died at Vienna.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Essen.
Birth place
Vienna.
Death place
Books translated into English
Books translated into English
The Reluctant Empress: A Biography of Empress Elisabeth of Austria (Knopf: 1986) (ISBN 0-394-53717-3) The Reluctant Empress, Ullstein Verlag, Berlin 1982, 6th ed. 2000 Bertha von Suttner: A Life for Peace (Syracuse Studies on Peace and Conflict Resolution) (Syracuse University Press: 1986) ISBN 0-8156-0387-8 Rudolf. The Road to Mayerling (German and English, picture book) München 1988 Sissi, Elisabeth, Empress of Austria (Taschen America: 1997) (ISBN 3-8228-7865-0) Hitler's Vienna: A Dictator's Apprenticeship. (1999: Oxford University Press) ISBN 0-19-514053-2 Winifred Wagner: A Life at the Heart of Hitler's Bayreuth. (2005: Granta publications, England) ISBN 1-86207-671-5 Winifred Wagner: A Life at the Heart of Hitler's Bayreuth, Harcourt Books, Orlando USA 2006 An English translation of the rororo monograph Die Familie Wagner is to appear.
Books in German
Books in German
Rudolf, Kronprinz und Rebell, Wien 1978 Elisabeth, Kaiserin wider Willen, Wien 1981 Mit Kaiser Max in Mexiko, Wien 1983 Kaiserin Elisabeth. Das poetische Tagebuch, Verlag der Österr. Akademie der Wissenschaften, Wien 1984 Bertha von Suttner. Ein Leben für den Frieden, München 1986 Die Habsburger. Ein biographisches Lexikon, München 1988 Nichts als Musik im Kopf. Das Leben von Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Wien 1990 (Kinderbuch) Elisabeth. Bilder einer Kaiserin, Wien 1995 Meine liebe, gute Freundin! Die Briefe Kaiser Franz Josephs an Katharina Schratt, München 1992 Hitlers Wien. Lehrjahre eines Diktators, München 1996 Kronprinz Rudolf: 'Majestät, ich warne Sie...', München 2002 Winifred Wagner oder Hitlers Bayreuth, München 2002 Der erste Weltkrieg. Wahrheit und Lüge in Bildern und Texten, München 2004 Ein Herz und viele Kronen. Das Leben der Kaiserin Maria Theresia. Illustriert von Rolf Rettich, Wien 2004 (Kinderbuch) Die Familie Wagner, Reinbek bei Hamburg 2005 Kronprinz Rudolf. Ein Leben, Wien 2005 Mozart. Sein Leben und seine Zeit, Wien 2006 Hitlers Edeljude. Das Leben des Armenarztes Eduard Bloch, München 2008 Numerous editions, paperbacks, and translations

Verleihung des Ehrenpreises des Österreichischen Buchhandels für Toleranz in Denken und Handeln an Brigitte Hamann, 22. Nov. 2012
HPaul
Primary material
Documents and archives
scholarly publication
- Brigitte Hamann, Winifred Wagner oder Hitlers Bayreuth (Munich: Piper, 2002), The Americanization/Westernization of Austria, 2017
Scholarly · Crossref registry · 2017
- Brigitte Hamann: Hitler’s Wien: Lehrjahre eines Diktators (Munich: R. Piper, 1996), The Marshall Plan in Austria, 2018
Scholarly · Crossref registry · 2018
- Brigitte Hamann. <i>Hitler’s Vienna: A Dictator’s Apprenticeship</i>, Urban History Review, 2001
Scholarly · Crossref registry · 2001
reference work
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q65619: Brigitte Hamann
Reputable secondary · Wikimedia Foundation
- “Brigitte Hamann”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
Honors
Heinrich Drimmel Preis (1978) Premio Comisso (1982) Donauland Sachbuchpreis (1986) Anton Wildgans Prize (1994) Kreisky Preis (1997) Friedrich-Schiedel-Literaturpreis (1998) Prize of the City of Vienna for Journalism (2004) Ehrenmedaille der Bundeshauptstadt Wien in Silber (2006) Honorary prize of the Austrian Booksellers for tolerance in thought and deed (2012)
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Hamann Brigitte – biografiA. biografiA – Ihr Ausgangspunkt für Frauenforschung.
- 2.Brigitte Hamann - Biography. IMDb.
- 3.ORF-Seite.
- 4.Hitler's Vienna : a dictator's apprenticeship WorldCat.org. search.worldcat.org.
- 5.The Hidden Fuhrer: Debating The Enigma Of Hitler's Sexuality. The World Holocaust Remembrance Center.
- 6.Presseclub Concordia.
- 7.Mayr, Lisa. Historikerin Brigitte Hamann gestorben (Historian Brigitte Hamann has died). Der Standard. Standard Verlagsgesellschaft m.b.H. 4 October 2016.
- 8.Graz University of Technology. Hamann, Brigitte. Austria Forum.
- 9.Brigitte Hamann celebrated her 70th birthday. ORF.
- 10.Granta: Winifred Wagner.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
scholarly publication
Brigitte Hamann, Winifred Wagner oder Hitlers Bayreuth (Munich: Piper, 2002), The Americanization/Westernization of Austria, 2017Crossref registry
Verifiedscholarly publication
Brigitte Hamann: Hitler’s Wien: Lehrjahre eines Diktators (Munich: R. Piper, 1996), The Marshall Plan in Austria, 2018Crossref registry
Verifiedscholarly publication
Brigitte Hamann. <i>Hitler’s Vienna: A Dictator’s Apprenticeship</i>, Urban History Review, 2001Crossref registry
Verifiedreference work
Wikidata, structured authority record Q65619: Brigitte HamannWikimedia Foundation
Partially resolvedreference work
Partially resolved
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Books
39,285 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Brigit Pegeen KellyAuthor
- Brigitte ByrdAuthor
- Brigitte FontaineAuthor
- Brigitte GiraudAuthor
- Brigitte KronauerAuthor
- Brigitte MaillardAuthor
- Brigitte ReimannAuthor
- Brij Mohan Dattatreya KaifiAuthor
Best supported in this field
For owners
Own a work by Brigitte Hamann?
A specialist will read what you send and tell you what the house can establish, what it cannot, and whether the object is suited to sale. There is no charge and no obligation. The object stays with you throughout; nothing is shipped to us unless it is arranged in writing beforehand.