Erich Brost

Erich Brost (29 October 1903 – 8 October 1995) was a German journalist and publisher.

Biography Brost was born in Elbing, West Prussia to a Schichau-Werke shipyard worker and a tailor. Brost went into exile to Poland, Sweden, Finland and Great Britain, where he worked for the BBC. After World War II and the expulsion of the German populace Brost moved to the Ruhr area in 1945 to build up the German News Service, a predecessor of the Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa). Brost was active in the Social Democratic Party of Germany and represented the party at the Allied Control Council. He received an Allied licence to publish a newspaper in the British Zone of occupied Germany. The first copy of the Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung (WAZ) was published on 3 April 1948 and Brost influenced the WAZ for the next decades.

It was awarded to:

1996: Kashubian-Pomeranian Association 1997: Stefan Chwin, author 1998: Szczepan Baum and Ryszard Semka, Architects 1999: "Forschungsstelle Osteuropa" at the University of Bremen 2001: Cultural Association "Borussia", Olsztyn 2003: the twin towns of Bremen and Gdańsk