Edward Behr (journalist)
Encyclopedia
Edward Samuel Behr was a foreign correspondent
and war journalist
, who worked for many years for Newsweek.
News reports of his death confused him with the food writer of the same name
.
and St Paul's School, London
. He enlisted in the British Indian Army
on leaving school, serving in Intelligence in the North-West Frontier
from 1944 to 1948 and rising to acting brigade major in the Royal Garhwal Rifles
at the age of 22. He then took a degree in history at Magdalene College, Cambridge
.
Edward Behr is survived by his wife, Christiane.
in London and Paris. He then became press officer with Jean Monnet
at the European Coal and Steel Community
in Luxembourg
from 1954 to 1956. Later he joined Time-Life
as Paris correspondent, and in the late 1950s and early 1960s often covered the fighting in the Congo, the civil war in Lebanon
as well as the Indo-Chinese border clashes of 1962. He wrote about the unrest in Ulster
, the fighting in Angola
and the Moroccan attack on Ifni
, the Spanish enclave in West Africa.
Behr was often in Algeria
, and in 1961 published The Algerian Problem. The book had the virtue of being written by a French-speaking outsider with some understanding of, and sympathy for, the positions of both the French and the Algerians. Written when the war was far from over, and going back a century or more over the background, it was considered a fair assessment of a problem which many Frenchmen reckoned no foreigner could possibly understand. The book was said to be compulsory reading at the United States Department of State
.
Returning to India
for Time magazine, Behr served as bureau chief in New Delhi, travelled in Indo-China, then moved to the mass-circulation American magazine Saturday Evening Post as roving correspondent. In 1965 he went to Newsweek
, the weekly news magazine owned by the Washington Post Company.
Operating from Hong Kong
as Asia bureau chief, Behr wrote on China
's Cultural Revolution
, secured an interview with Mao Zedong
and reported from Vietnam
. The year 1968 turned out to be a hectic one for Behr: he was in Saigon during the Tet offensive, in Paris
for the student riots and in Prague
when it was occupied by the Russians.
Behr turned gradually from a career in war reporting to writing books and making television documentaries, including award-winning programmes on India, Ireland
and the Kennedy family. A notable production was The American Way of Death, Behr's look at America's undertaking industry.
Later came a documentary for BBC1 on Emperor Hirohito, and the three-part Red Dynasty for BBC2 on the murders in Tiananmen Square
and the developments in communist China that led up to the massacre.
In his book Hirohito
: Behind the Myth Behr went into the debate about what the emperor knew about war preparations, about the rape of Nanking, the Bataan death march
, the Burma railway and Changi prison
. Behr's case was that Hirohito knew as long ago as 1931 - when his troops took control of Manchuria
in the putsch that became known as the Mukden Incident
- what his military chiefs were doing; that he encouraged it; and that he was fully aware of their preparations for the Second World War.
In his book on the Ceauşescu
s, Behr said that the couple established a dictatorship more Byzantine than Marxist-Leninist. The title, Kiss the Hand You Cannot Bite, was a Romanian proverb.
Behr's biography of Pu Yi, The Last Emperor (1987) - Pu Yi survived the Cultural Revolution and ended his life as a gardener - was made into a film by Bernardo Bertolucci
and won Behr the Gutenberg Prize.
In 1978 he published his memoirs. Memorably entitled Anyone Here Been Raped and Speaks English?, it was retitled more blandly for the American market as Bearings: A Foreign Correspondent's Life Behind the Lines.
In a thriller, Getting Even (1981), Behr used his foreign correspondent experience. He was the author (with Sydney Liu) of The Thirty-Sixth Way: A Personal Account of Imprisonment and Escape from Red China (1969), wrote a book on the musical Les Misèrables
and collaborated on another about the making of Miss Saigon
.
He also wrote Thank Heaven for Little Girls: The True Story of Maurice Chevalier
's Life and Times (1993). He contributed regularly to American, French and British periodicals.
Foreign correspondent
Foreign Correspondent may refer to:*Foreign correspondent *Foreign Correspondent , an Alfred Hitchcock film*Foreign Correspondent , an Australian current affairs programme...
and war journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
, who worked for many years for Newsweek.
News reports of his death confused him with the food writer of the same name
Edward Behr (food writer)
Eduardo Behr is an American food writer. His books include "The Art of Eating Cookbook: Essential Recipes from the First 25 Years", and The Artful Eater". Behr publishes a quarterly food magazine, ...
.
Biography
His parents were of Russian-Jewish descent, and he had a bilingual education at the Lycée Janson de SaillyLycée Janson de Sailly
Lycée Janson de Sailly is a lycée located in the XVIe arrondissement of Paris, France. It is generally considered as one of the most prestigious lycées in Paris...
and St Paul's School, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. He enlisted in the British Indian Army
British Indian Army
The British Indian Army, officially simply the Indian Army, was the principal army of the British Raj in India before the partition of India in 1947...
on leaving school, serving in Intelligence in the North-West Frontier
North-West Frontier (military history)
The North-West Frontier was the most difficult area, from a military point of view, of the former British India in the Indian sub-continent. It remains the frontier of present-day Pakistan, extending from the Pamir Knot in the north to the Koh-i-Malik Siah in the west, and separating the...
from 1944 to 1948 and rising to acting brigade major in the Royal Garhwal Rifles
Garhwal Rifles
The Garhwal Rifles is a light infantry or 'rifle' regiment of the Indian Army. It was originally raised as the 39th Garhwal Rifles of the Bengal Army, became part of the old Indian Army, and received its present name on Indian independence...
at the age of 22. He then took a degree in history at Magdalene College, Cambridge
Magdalene College, Cambridge
Magdalene College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England.The college was founded in 1428 as a Benedictine hostel, in time coming to be known as Buckingham College, before being refounded in 1542 as the College of St Mary Magdalene...
.
Edward Behr is survived by his wife, Christiane.
Career
His early career as a reporter was with ReutersReuters
Reuters is a news agency headquartered in New York City. Until 2008 the Reuters news agency formed part of a British independent company, Reuters Group plc, which was also a provider of financial market data...
in London and Paris. He then became press officer with Jean Monnet
Jean Monnet
Jean Omer Marie Gabriel Monnet was a French political economist and diplomat. He is regarded by many as a chief architect of European Unity and is regarded as one of its founding fathers...
at the European Coal and Steel Community
European Coal and Steel Community
The European Coal and Steel Community was a six-nation international organisation serving to unify Western Europe during the Cold War and create the foundation for the modern-day developments of the European Union...
in Luxembourg
Luxembourg
Luxembourg , officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , is a landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. It has two principal regions: the Oesling in the North as part of the Ardennes massif, and the Gutland in the south...
from 1954 to 1956. Later he joined Time-Life
Time-Life
Time–Life is a creator and direct marketer of books, music, video/DVD, and multimedia products. Its products are sold throughout North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia through television, print, retail, the Internet, telemarketing, and direct sales....
as Paris correspondent, and in the late 1950s and early 1960s often covered the fighting in the Congo, the civil war in Lebanon
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
as well as the Indo-Chinese border clashes of 1962. He wrote about the unrest in Ulster
Ulster
Ulster is one of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the north of the island. In ancient Ireland, it was one of the fifths ruled by a "king of over-kings" . Following the Norman invasion of Ireland, the ancient kingdoms were shired into a number of counties for administrative and judicial...
, the fighting in Angola
Angola
Angola, officially the Republic of Angola , is a country in south-central Africa bordered by Namibia on the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the north, and Zambia on the east; its west coast is on the Atlantic Ocean with Luanda as its capital city...
and the Moroccan attack on Ifni
Ifni
Ifni was a Spanish province on the Atlantic coast of Morocco, south of Agadir and across from the Canary Islands.It had a total area of 1,502 km² , and a population of 51,517 in 1964. The main industry was fishing....
, the Spanish enclave in West Africa.
Behr was often in Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
, and in 1961 published The Algerian Problem. The book had the virtue of being written by a French-speaking outsider with some understanding of, and sympathy for, the positions of both the French and the Algerians. Written when the war was far from over, and going back a century or more over the background, it was considered a fair assessment of a problem which many Frenchmen reckoned no foreigner could possibly understand. The book was said to be compulsory reading at the United States Department of State
United States Department of State
The United States Department of State , is the United States federal executive department responsible for international relations of the United States, equivalent to the foreign ministries of other countries...
.
Returning to India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
for Time magazine, Behr served as bureau chief in New Delhi, travelled in Indo-China, then moved to the mass-circulation American magazine Saturday Evening Post as roving correspondent. In 1965 he went to Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
, the weekly news magazine owned by the Washington Post Company.
Operating from Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
as Asia bureau chief, Behr wrote on China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
's Cultural Revolution
Cultural Revolution
The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, commonly known as the Cultural Revolution , was a socio-political movement that took place in the People's Republic of China from 1966 through 1976...
, secured an interview with Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong, also transliterated as Mao Tse-tung , and commonly referred to as Chairman Mao , was a Chinese Communist revolutionary, guerrilla warfare strategist, Marxist political philosopher, and leader of the Chinese Revolution...
and reported from Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
. The year 1968 turned out to be a hectic one for Behr: he was in Saigon during the Tet offensive, in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
for the student riots and in Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
when it was occupied by the Russians.
Behr turned gradually from a career in war reporting to writing books and making television documentaries, including award-winning programmes on India, Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
and the Kennedy family. A notable production was The American Way of Death, Behr's look at America's undertaking industry.
Later came a documentary for BBC1 on Emperor Hirohito, and the three-part Red Dynasty for BBC2 on the murders in Tiananmen Square
Tiananmen Square
Tiananmen Square is a large city square in the center of Beijing, China, named after the Tiananmen Gate located to its North, separating it from the Forbidden City. Tiananmen Square is the third largest city square in the world...
and the developments in communist China that led up to the massacre.
In his book Hirohito
Hirohito
, posthumously in Japan officially called Emperor Shōwa or , was the 124th Emperor of Japan according to the traditional order, reigning from December 25, 1926, until his death in 1989. Although better known outside of Japan by his personal name Hirohito, in Japan he is now referred to...
: Behind the Myth Behr went into the debate about what the emperor knew about war preparations, about the rape of Nanking, the Bataan death march
Bataan Death March
The Bataan Death March was the forcible transfer, by the Imperial Japanese Army, of 75,000 American and Filipino prisoners of war after the three-month Battle of Bataan in the Philippines during World War II, which resulted in the deaths of thousands of prisoners.The march was characterized by...
, the Burma railway and Changi prison
Changi Prison
Changi Prison is a prison located in Changi in the eastern part of Singapore.-First prison and POW camp:...
. Behr's case was that Hirohito knew as long ago as 1931 - when his troops took control of Manchuria
Manchuria
Manchuria is a historical name given to a large geographic region in northeast Asia. Depending on the definition of its extent, Manchuria usually falls entirely within the People's Republic of China, or is sometimes divided between China and Russia. The region is commonly referred to as Northeast...
in the putsch that became known as the Mukden Incident
Mukden Incident
The Mukden Incident, also known as the Manchurian Incident, was a staged event that was engineered by Japanese military personnel as a pretext for invading the northern part of China known as Manchuria in 1931....
- what his military chiefs were doing; that he encouraged it; and that he was fully aware of their preparations for the Second World War.
In his book on the Ceauşescu
Nicolae Ceausescu
Nicolae Ceaușescu was a Romanian Communist politician. He was General Secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 to 1989, and as such was the country's second and last Communist leader...
s, Behr said that the couple established a dictatorship more Byzantine than Marxist-Leninist. The title, Kiss the Hand You Cannot Bite, was a Romanian proverb.
Behr's biography of Pu Yi, The Last Emperor (1987) - Pu Yi survived the Cultural Revolution and ended his life as a gardener - was made into a film by Bernardo Bertolucci
Bernardo Bertolucci
Bernardo Bertolucci is an Italian film director and screenwriter, whose films include The Conformist, Last Tango in Paris, 1900, The Last Emperor and The Dreamers...
and won Behr the Gutenberg Prize.
In 1978 he published his memoirs. Memorably entitled Anyone Here Been Raped and Speaks English?, it was retitled more blandly for the American market as Bearings: A Foreign Correspondent's Life Behind the Lines.
In a thriller, Getting Even (1981), Behr used his foreign correspondent experience. He was the author (with Sydney Liu) of The Thirty-Sixth Way: A Personal Account of Imprisonment and Escape from Red China (1969), wrote a book on the musical Les Misèrables
Les Misérables (musical)
Les Misérables , colloquially known as Les Mis or Les Miz , is a musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg, based on the novel of the same name by Victor Hugo....
and collaborated on another about the making of Miss Saigon
Miss Saigon
Miss Saigon is a musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil, with lyrics by Boublil and Richard Maltby, Jr.. It is based on Giacomo Puccini's opera Madame Butterfly, and similarly tells the tragic tale of a doomed romance involving an Asian woman abandoned by her American lover...
.
He also wrote Thank Heaven for Little Girls: The True Story of Maurice Chevalier
Maurice Chevalier
Maurice Auguste Chevalier was a French actor, singer, entertainer and a noted Sprechgesang performer. He is perhaps best known for his signature songs, including Louise, Mimi, Valentine, and Thank Heaven for Little Girls and for his films including The Love Parade and The Big Pond...
's Life and Times (1993). He contributed regularly to American, French and British periodicals.