Peter Radtke, Author and Actor
January 27, 2014As a member of the German Ethics Council he is an advocate for the rights of people with disabilities. On Talking Germany he tells us about his combative life.
Peter Radtke was born in 1943 with a genetic disorder, 'brittle bone disease'. He miraculously avoided falling victim to the Nazis' persecution of people with physical disabilities and thanks to private tuition and evening school, managed to train as an interpreter, study Romance languages and gain a PhD. In 1974 he married and moved to Munich. There Peter Radtke began writing for the theater and co-founded a cabaret troupe in 1982. Throughout the 80s and 90s, he worked with dramatists George Tabori and Franz Xaver Kroetz on many a scandalous production. Today he rarely acts, but as a member of the German Ethics Council and an active campaigner for the rights of people with disabilities, he's still a busy man A few years ago, he and his wife adopted a daughter from China.