Fritz singer

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Fritz Singer (born December 24, 1901 in Stettin , † July 30, 1984 in Munich ) was a German journalist and politician ( SPD ). He was the first managing director of the German Press Agency , co-author of the Godesberg program and is the namesake for the Fritz-Singer-Prize for courageous journalism .

Life

Fritz Sanger's father, a wholesale merchant, died in autumn 1908; from then on the mother found it difficult to feed her three children. As a student at the Arndt Middle School in Stettin (there was no money for a secondary school), he managed to pass the volunteer exam as an external student at the Bismarck High School in 1918, which enabled him to do military service as a one-year volunteer and also to visit a teacher’s seminar . He attended the teachers' college in Pyritz , did his Abitur there and passed the examination as a teacher at public elementary schools in September 1921.

At that point, however, he decided to become a journalist rather than a teacher. He attended an administration academy and the German School of Politics , albeit without a degree, and volunteered from 1921 to the end of 1922 at the General-Anzeiger for Stettin and the Province of Pomerania . As a seminarian, he had previously directed the magazine for prospective teachers Der Ruf , which was published by the Prussian Teachers' Association.

During this time he made his first contacts with the SPD, which he joined in 1920, but also with politicians from other parties (including Ernst Lemmer , then a member of the Reichstag of the German Democratic Party - after the war CDU member in the German Bundestag) and became a member in December 1922 sent to Berlin as a representative of the Prussian teachers' association to the German Association of Officials . There, however, he met with resistance with his progressive ideas: the Reichsschulkonferenz was rather conservative in nature. From 1923 to 1926 he worked in the German Association of Officials as managing director of the Pomeranian provincial cartel and in 1927 became federal secretary in Berlin. From 1927 he was the chief editor of the Prussian teachers 'newspaper and managing director of the Prussian teachers' association until he was dismissed without notice on April 18, 1933 for political reasons.

During the time of National Socialism, the staunch social democrat Fritz Singer went through difficult times. Until 1935 he was able to make a living as a stenographer. He was almost penniless when he was offered a job in the Berlin editorial office of the respected Frankfurter Zeitung . The National Socialists tried to integrate this daily newspaper, which is also renowned abroad, into their propaganda machinery, but this was not achieved. There he worked until the newspaper was banned in August 1943 and immediately afterwards, through the mediation of his friend and then editor-in-chief Otto Haecker, he was able to switch to the Berlin editorial office of the Neue Wiener Tagblatt . During this time he not only made contact with resistance groups (e.g. Julius Leber , who was executed in 1945 in Berlin-Plötzensee ), but also helped many Jews and opponents of the regime by hiding them or organizing their escape.

Due to his political background and the professional disadvantages he suffered during the Nazi regime, the British military government classified him as "unencumbered" and allowed him to resume political and journalistic activities. In 1945 he was employed by the district administrator in Gifhorn as a special representative to look after those who had previously been persecuted. He also became editor-in-chief of the Braunschweiger Zeitung in October 1945 and in 1946 a member of the Lower Saxony state parliament . With the founding of the Social Democratic Press Service , he became its managing director and editor-in-chief, and in the following years from 1947 to 1959 he reached his journalistic peak as managing director (until 1955) and editor-in-chief of the Hamburg German press service (later the German press agency dpa). He had to vacate this post at the instigation of Konrad Adenauer . In 1959, after Erich Ollenhauer had appointed him to the editorial committee of the SPD party executive committee, Fritz Sänger devoted all his energy to the elaboration and editing of the Godesberg program, and later to the election campaign of party chairman Willy Brandt (1961).

Following this, he was elected as a member of the German Bundestag for two legislative terms via the Schleswig-Holstein state list of the SPD. In his committee work as Member of the Bundestag, he mainly focused on media policy and press law .

On June 26, 1969, Fritz Singer was awarded the Great Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. In 1958 he was accepted into the Hamburg Freemason Lodge Die Brückenbauer .

Fritz Singer held many honorary posts and positions well into old age. Among other things, he was a member of the German Press Council , a member of the Broadcasting Council of Deutschlandfunk, a member of the Advisory Board of the Deutsche Wochenschau and chairman of the board of trustees of the “ Foundation July 20, 1944 ”. As a member of the Advisory Board of the Humanist Union , he campaigned for the protection and enforcement of human rights. He was a member of the council of the community of Gifhorn and the local council, from August 23, 1946 to October 29, 1946 a member of the appointed Hanover State Parliament, from December 9, 1946 to March 28, 1947 a member of the appointed Lower Saxony State Parliament, from April 20, 1947 until September 30, 1947 member of the Lower Saxony state parliament (1st electoral period) and from 1961 to 1969 member of the German Bundestag. In the Archives of Social Democracy of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation . 11.2 Meter: be more extensive written heritage outsourced.

The thematic focal points in this fund of post-war German history are the press and media policy of the Federal Republic as well as detailed materials on the Godesberg program of the SPD, in whose formulation he was instrumental.

Fonts

  • Social democracy. Comments on the basic program of the SPD. Dietz Verlag, Bonn 1960.
  • Politics of deceptions. Abuse of the press in the Third Reich. Instructions, information, notes 1933-1939. Europa-Verlag, Vienna 1975, ISBN 3-203-50542-8 .
  • Hidden threads. Memories and remarks from a journalist. Dietz Verlag, Bonn 1978, ISBN 3-878-31267-9 .
  • Serving freedom. Critical comments on current affairs. Steidl-Verlag, Göttingen 1985, ISBN 3-882-43045-1 .
  • Lived for freedom. Emil Henk's essence and work. In: Richard Henk (ed.): In Memoriam Emil Henk 1893–1969. Memories of his friends. (with contributions by Carl Zuckmayer , Henry Goverts , Fabian von Schlabrendorff and others), Brausdruck, Heidelberg 1970, pp. 39–44.

literature

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personal data
SURNAME Singer, Fritz
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Singer, Fritz Paul (full name); Friebe, Günther (pseudonym); Monten, Matthias (pseudonym); Pommer, Paul (pseudonym)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German journalist and politician (SPD), Member of the Bundestag, Member of the Bundestag
DATE OF BIRTH December 24, 1901
PLACE OF BIRTH Szczecin
DATE OF DEATH July 30, 1984
Place of death Munich