Sebastian Leitner

Sebastian Leitner (1919 – 1989) was a German commentator and science popularizer. In his 1972 book So lernt man Lernen (Learning to Learn)¹ he advocated learning with flashcards.

Leitner was born in 1919 in Salzburg.

As a student in Vienna, he was briefly kept in custody by the Nazis in 1938 because of his opposition to the annexation of Austria into Greater Germany.² Later he moved to Frankfurt to study law, and he joined the Nazi army in 1942. After spending several years in a Soviet POW camp, he returned to Germany in 1949 and started a career as a commentator. His wife was the Austrian journalist and author Thea Leitner.

• Leitner, Sebastian (1972). So lernt man lernen. Der Weg zum Erfolg [How to learn to learn: The way to success] (in German). Freiburg im Breisgau: Verlag Herder. ISBN 3-451-05060-9.
• Leitner, Sebastian (1974). So lernt man leben [How to learn to live] (in German). Munich: Droemer Knaur. ISBN 3-426-04571-0.