Ralph Giordano

Ralph Giordano (23 March 1923 – 10 December 2014) was a German writer and publicist.

Life and career Giordano was born to a Sicilian father and a German Jewish mother in Hamburg. He attended the Gelehrtenschule des Johanneums from 1933 to 1940. Because his mother, a piano teacher, was Jewish, the family was persecuted repeatedly after the Nazis seized power in January 1933. Ultimately, they survived the Holocaust by hiding in a friend's cellar.

While working on German television programs, Giordano produced the first TV documentary on the Armenian genocide, The Armenian Question No Longer Exists: The Tragedy of a People, in 1986 for ARD, Germany's public broadcasting service. The documentary relied on long readings from contemporary German diplomatic reports. The film elicited a harsh reaction from Turkey, which denies the genocide, and Giordano received threats. To placate Turkey, ARD director Friedrich Nowottny agreed not to re-broadcast the documentary.

Personal life Giordano was married three times. His longtime first wife, Helga, died of cancer in 1984. He and his second wife, Tanja, were divorced in 1988 after one year together. He was married to his third wife, Roswitha Everhan, from 1994 until her death from cancer in 2002. He lived in Cologne.

The square Piazzetta-Ralph-Giordano in Barmbek-Nord in Hamburg was named after him.