They say enemies have no face. But when I see these people, it’s completely different...
Helmut Kopetzky was born on 4 September 1940 in the North Moravian town of Šumperk, where the German-speaking population was predominant at the time. Both his own father and stepfather were killed in the Second World War, after which they lived in the attic of a house on the outskirts of Šumperk with his mother and grandparents for a year before being deported to Fulda in Hesse in August 1946. Helmut Kopetzky spent his childhood and adolescence in Fulda, graduated from the Gymnasium there and after graduating in 1960 went to Berlin to study. He did not complete his studies in theatre studies and journalism, but worked steadily as a reporter for a local newspaper in Fulda. He became editor of the Berlin newspaper “Der Abend” and also worked in Morocco, Israel and Greece. Later he worked for a Berlin radio station and also worked as a freelance writer and director with radio and television. As a documentary filmmaker, he worked in the specific radio genre of features, for which he became famous. In 1983, he co-founded the “Journalists Warn of Nuclear War” event. He also worked closely with his wife Heidrun, whom he married in 1975. He has received several awards for his work as a journalist, and in 2008 he received the Axel Eggerbrecht Lifetime Achievement Award in Leipzig. He has written several books, including “Objective Lies - Subjective Truths” and “I Was a Sudeten”. The latter book was presented in Czech translation at the Book World 2024.