Hermann Poelking, born in 1954, lives in Bremen and Berlin. He began studying Journalism in West-Berlin in 1974 and became a partner at the publishing house “Elefanten Press” in 1979. Since 1983, he has edited and written books about 20-th century history, the history of technology, and everyday culture.
He relocated to Bremen in 1985. In 1998, he began work on the project “Zeitreise Deutschland” (Time Travel Germany) in which films from regional and local archives, businesses, orangisations and private individuals were compiled to produce more than 30 film chronicles on various German regions.
2005 saw the start of a new project entitled “Die Deutschen 1815 bis heute“ (The Germans 1815 to the Present Day), in which German contemporary history was brought to life in 12 episodes, using just historical film sources. These projects led to the foundation of the film archive “Saeculum Archivgesellschaft.” He is also executive partner at “Helden der Geschichte GmbH.”
Pölking spent 2008-2010 in Perm (Russia) and Budapest (Hungary); he has been partner, author and project developer, and more recently also manager at “Helden der Geschichte GmbH”, where multimedia is used to bring history to life. His 7.5 hour film “Wer War Hitler” (English: “The Hitler Chronicles”) was premiered at the Munich International Film Festival on 24 June 2017 and brought to cinema in Germany in November the same year. Together with Linn Sackarnd he is now working on a TV-series about Franco–German War (1870/1871).
Selected Films (Auszug):
“FilmChroniken“ – (30 episodes about historical German regions) – (1998 – 2006)
“Die Deutschen 1815 bis heute“ (The Germans 1815 to the Modern Day) – 12 episodes (2006/2007), 18 hours, writer and director.
“Die Deutschen 1918 bis 1972“ (The Germans 1918 to 1972) – 10 episodes (2006), 7.5 hours, writer and director.
“Unternehmen Barbarossa“ (Operation Barbarossa) – 4 episodes (2010), with Stefan Aust
“William Wylers Memphis Belle –Die Wahrheit des Luftkrieges“ – (William Wylers Memphis – The Truth Behind the Air War) (2011)
“100 Jahre Norddeutsches Landleben“ (100 Years of North German Rural Life) – 3 episodes, coproduced with Christoph Weinert (2012)
“Hitlers Berlin in Farbe“ (Hitler’s Berlin in Colour) – 2 episodes (2013), 2 hours, coproduced with Linn Sackarnd
“Ostpreußen – Panorama einer Provinz” (East Prussia – Panorama of a Province) – 5 episodes, 5 hours (2014)
Project „Wer war Hitler“ (“Who Was Hitler”) (2017), 13 part TV-series, 4 part TV-series, 7 ½ hour film in 3 parts (long version for cinema), 3 ¼ hours film (short version for cinema)
