Hellmuth Karasek

Who is Hellmuth Karasek?

Hellmuth Karasek is a German journalist, literary critic, novelist and the author of many books on literature and film.

Karasek was born in Brünn. In 1944, when he was ten, his family escaped from Bielitz to Bernburg. After finishing his schooling in the early 1950s he moved from there—then part of East Germany—to West Germany and became a student at the University of Tübingen.

After his graduation Karasek started working as a journalist, and in 1968 became the theatre critic of Die Zeit. From 1974 until 1996 he worked for Der Spiegel. In 1999, he was a member of the jury at the 49th Berlin International Film Festival.

In recent years Karasek has frequently appeared on German television, both in quiz shows and, together with Marcel Reich-Ranicki, as one of the permanent members of Das Literarische Quartett.