Donhoff, Marion

▪ 2003

Marion Hedda Ilse Gräfin [Countess] Dönhoff 

      German journalist (b. Dec. 2, 1909, Castle Friedrichstein, near Königsberg, East Prussia [now Kaliningrad, Russia]—d. March 11, 2002, Berlin, Ger.), was known as the doyenne of German journalism for her nearly 60-year association with the liberal weekly Die Zeit as a founding staff member (1946–55), political editor (1955–68), editor in chief (1968–72), and co-publisher (1972–2002). Dönhoff, who also wrote several books, supported reunification with East Germany and was highly critical of the Allied reluctance to recognize the resistance movement within Nazi Germany. Her 1994 memoir revealed the little-known fact that she had been involved in the 1944 assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler but had avoided arrest and execution with her coconspirators.

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