Erik Durschmied
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Erik Durschmied is an author, military history professor and a former war correspondent for BBC, CBS.Newsweek called him a "supremly gifted reporter who has changed the media he works in", while The New York Times wrote "he has seen more wars than any living general". Durschmied is best known for his book The Hinge Factor (since retitled How Chance and Stupidity Have Changed History). For the sum of his literary work, (his books are published in two dozen languages) he received the honorary citizenship of Austria.
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[edit] Biography
Born in 1930 in Vienna, Austria, Durschmied got his first taste of war firsthand as a child when the Germans entered Vienna, and the Allied bombers reduced his neighborhood to rubble. In 1952, Durschmied emigrated to Canada and attended McGill University. As a war correspondent, he reported on the ground during every conflict from Vietnam to Afghanistan. He reported for BBC from 1959 to 1971. Durschmied interviewed many international figures, including John F. Kennedy, Salvador Allende, David Ben Gurion, and Saddam Hussein.
He also worked as a cinematographer, covering various conflicts. In 1958, he shot the only film about Fidel Castro, on-site in the Sierra Maestre mountains. In 1964, Durschmied was part of the first North American film crew to be allowed to shoot inside the People's Republic of China, filming the documentary The Seven Hundred Million for the CBC series This Hour has Seven Days. The following year, he shot The Mills of the Gods: Vietnam for the CBC series Document; this episode won two Canadian Film Awards, Film of the Year and TV Information Certificate of Merit. In 1968, Durshmied shot the CBS special report Hill 943 in which reporter John Laurence followed three soldiers in Alpha Company as they tried to capture Hill 943 in Vietnam.[1] He also developed the television series Die Welt des GEO for Germany's UFA.
Of his work, Newsweek wrote "Durschmied is a supremely gifted reporter who has transformed the media he works in" and in Le Monde: "He's survived more battles than any living general."[2]
In later years, he has served as Professor of Military History at the Military Academy of Vienna, and has been a guest lecturer at the United States Military Academy at West Point. Durschmied lives with his family in France.
[edit] Bibliography
- Shooting Wars: My Life As a War Cameraman, from Cuba to Iraq, Pharos Books, 1991. ISBN 0-88687-623-0
- Don't Shoot the Yanqui, HarperCollins Publishers, 1992. ISBN 0-586-20919-0
- How Chance and Stupidity Have Changed History: The Hinge Factor, MJF Books, New York, 1999. ISBN 1-56731-738-3 (This book has also been printed under the title The Hinge Factor.)
- Whisper of the Blade: Revolutions, Mayhem, Betrayal, Glory and Death, Hodder & Stoughton, London, 2001. ISBN 0-340-77083-X
- The Hinges of Battle, Hodder & Stoughton, 2002. ISBN 0-340-81978-2
- The Weather Factor: How Nature has Changed History, Arcade Publishing, 2002 ISBN 1-55970-624-4
- From Armageddon to the Fall of Rome, Coronet Books, 2003. ISBN 0-340-82177-9
- Blood of Revolution: From the Reign of Terror to the Rise of Khomeini ISBN 1-55970-656-2
- Unsung Heroes : The Twentieth Century's Forgotten History-Makers, Hodder & Stoughton, 2004. ISBN 0-340-82520-0
- Whores of the Devil:Witch-Hunts and Witch-Trials , Sutton Publishing, 2005 ISBN 0-7509-4007-7
- "Attenti Al Dragone" (The China Factor), Edizione Piemme, 2006
[edit] Filmography (as cinematographer)
- National Geographic Special, 1964 IMDb
- The Seven Hundred Million, 1964 Film Reference Library
- Hill 943, 1968
- The Mills of the Gods: Vietnam, 1965 IMDb
