Lutz Hachmeister

Lutz Hachmeister
Henry Kissinger (left) and Lutz Hachmeister
Born	Minden, Germany
Alma mater	University of Münster
Occupation	Author Journalist Film director
Known for	Media studies Documentary films Journalism
Website	http://www.medienpolitik.eu

Lutz Hachmeister (born September 10, 1959 in Minden/Westphalia) is a German media historian, award-winning filmmaker and journalist. He particularly gained international attention for directing the 2005 film The Goebbels Experiment, co-produced by the BBC and the Canadian History channel, and featuring Kenneth Branagh as the narrator for the Goebbels Diaries. In 2006 Hachmeister established the Institute for Media and Communication Policy (IfM) in Berlin and Cologne, which is strongly tied to the Anglo-American media scene.

Hachmeister graduated from the University of Münster, writing his doctoral thesis about the history of communication research in Germany. His professorial thesis (Habilitation) deals with Franz Six, Adolf Eichmann's superior, who was nominated to rule Great Britain as the head of the SD (Security Service of the Nazi paramilitary force SS) in case of a German occupation. Hachmeister's book about Six's career was widely recognized as one of the "new biographies" in the 1990s, describing in detail the mentality and role of the young academic elite in shaping the "Third Reich".

Contrary to current trends in media studies and communication research, Hachmeister's "konkrete Kommunikationsforschung" (concrete communication research) relies heavily on the classical socio-psychological models in US communication studies (Harold Dwight Lasswell, Robert Ezra Park). He also frequently refers to the Canadian communication theory and the German decisionist law professor Carl Schmitt.