Reich-Ranicki, Marcel

Historical and biographical dates 

• 1920 Born in Wloclawek (Poland). Both his parents were Jews. His father David Reich was Polish. His mother Helene Reich (maiden name Auerbach) was German.
• 1927 Attends German language school in Wloclawek.
• 1929 Emigrates to his mother's family in Berlin
• 1930 School at the Werner von Siemens Gymnasium (Berlin, suburb of Schöneberg).
• 1934 Member of the Jewish Boy Scouts movement in Germany.
• 1935 Fichte Gymnasium (Berlin, Wilmersdorf).
• 1938 A-levels
• 1938 His application for university matriculation (German studies) is rejected
• 1938 Deportation from Berlin to Warsaw (“Poland Action”)
• 1940 Forced resettlement in the Warsaw ghetto. He works with the Council of Elders, the “Jewish Council”.
• 1942 Start of deportations of the ghetto inhabitants to the Treblinka extermination camp. Marries Teofila Langnas (members of the Jewish Council and married people were not at first deported)
• 1943 Flight from the ghetto
• 1944 Liberated from his hiding place by the Red Army
• 1944 Start of his work for the postal censorship office, sub-department of the Ministry of Public Security (MBP)
• 1945 Deputy head of Department III of the Head Office of Censorship in Warsaw
• 1945 Joins the Polish Communist Party PPR ("Polish Workers’ Party").
• 1946 Works for the Polish military mission and the foreign news service in Berlin. From April, in Warsaw, work in Department II, Section IV of the MBP.
• 1948 under the name Ranicki, Vice Consul (later Consul) of the Republic of Poland in London and in the rank of colonel, head of the foreign news service
• 1949 Recalled to Warsaw from London. 14 days solitary confinement in prison.
• 1950 Sacked from the Foreign Service and Secret Service
• 1950 Expelled from the Communist Party
• 1950 Lector for German literature in the publishing department of the Ministry of Defence
• 1951 Publications in the Warsaw weekly "Nowa Kultura".
• 1952 Freelance work and for the Warsaw monthly journal "Twórczos´c´". Translator 
• 1953 Publication ban.
• 1954 Publication ban lifted.
• 1957 First study trips to Austria and the Federal Republic of Germany arranged by the Polish Writers’ League.
• 1958 Study trip to the Federal Republic of Germany. He does not return to Poland but lives in Frankfurt am Main.
• 1958 Initial participation in a meeting of "Gruppe 47", a democratic amalgamation of writers and publicists
• 1958 Literary critic on the Frankfurter Allgemeinen Zeitung (FAZ)
• 1959 Moves house to the Hamburg suburb of Niendorf
• 1960 Literary critic on the Hamburg weekly “Die Zeit”
• 1971 to 1975 Guest professor in Stockholm and Uppsala
• 1973 to 1988 Head of the literature department on the FAZ
• 1974 Honorary professor at the Eberhard Karls University, Tübingen
• 1988 to 2001 Regular appearance on the programme “The Literary Quartet” on ZDF
• 1990 Heinrich Heine Guest Professor at the Heinrich Heine University, Düsseldorf
• 1991 Heinrich Hertz Guest Professor at the University of Karlsruhe
• 1999 Publishes his autobiography “Mein Leben”
• 2006 Made an honorary doctor at the Humboldt University, Berlin
• 2013 Marcel Reich-Ranicki dies in Frankfurt am Main