Aargauer Volksblatt

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The Aargauer Volksblatt was a Catholic-conservative Swiss daily newspaper in Baden , Canton Aargau . It was published from 1911 to 1992.

Aargauer Volksblatt, title page of the first edition from December 16, 1911
Aargauer Volksblatt, title through the ages
Aargauer Volksblatt, last issue of October 31, 1992

history

The founding of the Catholic Aargauer Volksblatt (AV) was the result of the predominance of the liberalism that had prevailed since the time of the monastery storms . The first attempt by a Catholic newspaper in Aargau dates back to 1840. But the "Freiämter" only had a short life until 1841, after an unsuccessful resistance to the abolition of the monastery in Aargau . It was not until 1856 that the battle sheet “The Message” by the Catholic leader Johann Nepomuk Schleuniger , published in Klingnau, was established . However, it was only published three times a week and lost its effectiveness after Schleuniger's death.

Roman Catholic clergy founded the Catholic Press Association in 1894. Together with Roman Catholic politicians, in 1895 they created the "Badener Volksblatt" with three issues a week. Pastor Eugen Heer from Lenzburg and the 23-year-old lawyer Alfred Wyrsch from Wettingen were in charge . But the influence of the paper did not show itself to the desired extent, which is why the press association strived for a daily newspaper. Again Wyrsch was the driving force, together with the pastors Albert Karli from Baden and Julius Waldesbühl from Wettingen. Wyrsch also prevailed in the appointment of the first editor : Johann Baptist Rusch , who had been an editor at Sarganserländer for two years, resigned in good time after differences with the conservative editors. Rusch received three pastors on his side: Burkhard Villiger from Sarmenstorf , Eugen Heer from Lenzburg and Hermann Suter from Mumpf . From 1911 onwards, they supplied the new “Aargauer Volksblatt” with articles on features , history , economics and social justice .

Rusch had a sharp pen and no small dispute. He preferred Christian social issues, neglected conservative issues and called for the separation of church and state . During the First World War he took a clear stance against the German Reich, which further exacerbated the tensions between him and the press association. So he left the Aargauer Volksblatt in 1917 in a dispute. Dr. phil. August Bärlocher from St. Gallen , who looked after the editorial team as a staunch clerical conservative until 1962.

August Heller took care of the printing in a building right next to the mostly closed railway barrier on Bruggerstrasse in Baden . The Aargauer Volksblatt was popularly known as “Barrier Times”. In 1931 members of the press association bought the Heller printing house and founded the "Baden printing house". The number of copies rose continuously between 1911 and 1970 from 2,800 to around 14,000.

Along with secularization , the readership began to crumble. The responses of those responsible lay in upholding the previous Catholic-conservative principles of a party and church newspaper. In the fight for survival, the AV entered into a number of collaborations. Once with similar opinion sheets like the Neue Zürcher Nachrichten , the Luzerner Vaterland , the Basler Volksblatt and the Ostschweiz , in 1982 even with the local competition Badener Tagblatt (BT) in the area of ​​supplements and sports. As early as 1971, the AV was printed in the BT printing house.

The change in the board of directors of the printing company in 1987 also resulted in changes in the concept of the newspaper. The shackles of the party and church were loosened considerably, the sports section returned and a new editorial team took care of the move to the forum sheet, a newspaper of diversity of opinion . Columnists with even extreme opinions were regularly featured in the Aargauer Volksblatt. With the open and critical nature, many young new subscribers could be won, the old customers, however, quit in a row. Thus the newspaper could no longer be held. After contract negotiations, BT's competitors took over the publishing rights to the Aargauer Volksblatt, and Buchdruckerei AG took over BT's commercial area . The last issue of the Aargauer Volksblatt appeared on October 31, 1992.

Numerous personalities earned their spurs at the Aargauer Volksblatt such as Othmar Hersche (Director of Radio and Television DRS), Martin Merki , Pirmin Meier , Niklaus Oberholzer ,

List of editors-in-chief

  • 1911–1917: Johann Baptist Rusch
  • 1917–1962: August Bärlocher
  • 1962–1970: Eugen Kaufmann
  • 1970–1973: Interregnum without editor-in-chief
  • 1973–1976: Franz Lenz
  • 1976–1979: Hansueli Fischer
  • 1979–1982: Walter Schäfer
  • 1982–1988: Othmar Müller
  • 1988–1992: Ruedi Baumann

literature

  • Baden New Year's Papers: Volume 69, 1994; Andreas Steigmeier
  • David Luginbühl: From central organ to independent daily newspaper ; Academic Press Friborg
  • 75 years of Aargauer Volksblatt . Anniversary edition of the Aargauer Volksblatt; Müller Othmar, Renold Thomas; October 29, 1986, No. 252

Web links