Constanze (magazine)
| Constanze
|
|
|---|---|
| description | Women's magazine |
| publishing company | Constanze-Verlag, Gruner + Jahr |
| First edition | March 1948 |
| attitude | 22nd December 1969 |
| Frequency of publication | monthly / bi-weekly |
| Sold edition | 550,000 copies |
| Editor-in-chief | Hans Huffzky, Ewald Struwe |
| editor | John year |
| ZDB | 40523-1 |
Constanze was a market-leading German women's magazine , which appeared in Hamburg from 1948 to 1969 . Despite the high number of copies, it ultimately had to be discontinued due to increased losses.
founding
After the Second World War , the approval of the occupying powers was required for the publication of newspapers and magazines in Germany . The publishers who were friends at the time, John Jahr senior and Axel Springer , received license number 150 from the British military government in 1947 for the publication of a women's magazine called Constanze and founded the Constanze publishing house. In March 1948 the first edition of the sheet appeared with an edition of 60,000 copies. Axel Springer left the publishing house in 1960. Jahr founded the publishing house Gruner + Jahr with Gerd Bucerius and Richard Gruner , in which Constanze continued to appear.
First years
The content concept came mainly from the editor-in-chief Hans Huffzky , who had been working for the publisher John Jahr senior since 1939. had directed the women's magazine The Young Lady . With him, a number of employees from the editorial and publishing houses came to Constanze . He brought in his school friend Henry Reinhard Möller as a layouter . Deputy (and later his successor as editor-in-chief) was Helmut Grömmer. Huffzky stayed until 1957. The division into departments from fashion to cosmetics and cooking recipes to furnishing tips and partnership issues served as a model for many papers founded later. Publisher John Jahr senior took an active part in the work of the almost all-male editorial team. According to Spiegel, at times he personally heated the coal stoves in the editorial rooms.
success
Constanze was successful. While the first edition of the paper comprised 24 pages, including two advertising pages, the total volume increased to an average of 36 in 1949, including 10 advertising pages (= 27.8 percent). As early as December 1948, it had a print run of over 300,000 copies per print edition. Until the sixties it was the undisputed market leader in its branch. According to a reader survey by the Institute for Demoskopie Allensbach , Constanze had the strongest reader-newspaper connection of all popular magazines. To the astonishment not only of the publisher, the pollsters found in 1956 that 41.8 percent of the readership of the women's magazine was men.
Employee
- The editors included Peter Brasch and Hannelore Krollpfeiffer , who later took over as chief editor of the rival magazine Brigitte .
- Photographers included: Charlotte March , Inge Feltrinelli , Walter E. Lautenbacher , Hubs Flöter , Ewald Hoinkis , Peter Brüchmann and Jay Ullal .
- the fashion designer Wolfgang Joop laid the foundation for his career at Constanze . Together with his wife Karin, he won the first three prizes in a fashion competition organized by the magazine in 1970. He was then hired as a fashion editor by the women's magazine Neue Mode .
- Erich Godal worked for the paper as an illustrator and caricaturist.
Problems
Problems arose with increasing success: thanks to the growing number of advertisements , the individual issues became more and more extensive. In 1955, the lucrative advertisements made up around 45 percent of the 114-page magazine. This resulted in higher transport costs, not only for the publisher. Sales and reading circles protested against the extensive booklets.
To overcome the difficulties, Jahr switched the magazine to a weekly publication. This turned out to be a mistake that could not be reversed. Readers didn't want to buy a new magazine every week. In addition, with the weekly publication date, the publisher entered into increased competition with the magazines Stern , Quick and Spiegel , which appear in the same rhythm . Circulation and advertising volume fell.
The end
On the advice of co-partner Richard Gruner, the publishing house appointed Ewald Struwe as editor-in-chief in 1968 . Struwe, often called the sex pope in the industry , came from the Neue Revue . High financial investments and new content concepts in the direction of the boulevard were unsuccessful. The circulation continued to decline. When a deficit of almost 17 million became apparent for 1970, John Jahr senior decided to hire Constanze, who was no longer up-to-date, at the end of 1969. It was formally merged with the women's magazine Brigitte , published by the same publisher . With her concept tailored to younger readers, Brigitte seemed more promising for the future. Jahr was right. The name Constanze was deleted, Brigitte got 400,000 new readers in one fell swoop and is still published today. The last edition of Constanze was 550,000.
literature
- Sylvia Lott: The women's magazines by Hans Huffzky and John year. On the history of German women's magazines between 1933 and 1970. Dissertation. Wissenschaftsverlag Volker Spiess, Berlin 1985. ISBN 3-89166-011-1
- Wolf Schneider: The Gruner + Jahr story. A piece of German press history. Verlag Piper, Munich 2000, ISBN 3-492-04265-1 , pp. 11f, 44f, 58, 72, 76f, 101, 113.
- Alexander Rost: Goodbye Constanze. Farewell to a fallen girl who was a great lady. In: Die Zeit , December 26, 1969 ( online )
- “Constanze” in the earth. At 13, “Constanze” got too fat . In: Der Spiegel , No. 51/69 ( online )
- Sylvia Lott-Almstadt: Brigitte 1886–1986. The first 100 years. Chronicle of a women's magazine. Gruner + Jahr, Hamburg 1986, ISBN 3-570-04930-2 ( content ).
- Kurt Otto and Jens J. Meyer: Time travel through 128 years of Brigitte - history mediatribune.de, April 29, 2014
Individual evidence
- ^ Sylvia Lott: The women's magazines by Hans Huffzky and John Jahr Wissenschaftsverlag Volker Spiess, Berlin 1985. P. 2f.
- ^ Sylvia Lott: The women's magazines by Hans Huffzky and John Jahr , p. 79
- ^ Sylvia Lott-Almstadt: Brigitte 1886–1986. The first 100 years. Chronicle of a women's magazine. P. 183.
- ^ Sylvia Lott-Almstadt: Brigitte 1886–1986. The first 100 years. Chronicle of a women's magazine. P. 184.
- ↑ The beautiful Inge and her Rolleiflex Der Spiegel from May 10, 2010 ( Memento of the original from January 4, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
