Horst Schäfer (journalist)

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Horst Schäfer (* 10. July 1930 in Detmold , † 8. March 2020 in Berlin ) was a German journalist, author and foreign correspondent of the German General Intelligence Service (ADN) and other DDR - Press media reported.

Life

Horst Schäfer, who grew up in an anti-fascist family in Westphalia, began working as a freelance journalist in West Germany in 1948 . In the early 1950s he went to Leipzig to study journalism with Professor Hermann Budzislawski . During his studies in the GDR he met his wife Ilse, who also worked as a journalist. After completing his studies, Schäfer returned to the Federal Republic of Germany. He moved into an apartment with his wife in Munich and worked there from 1955 to 1972 as a correspondent for the Berlin press office . The Berlin press office was a GDR news agency that worked with journalists from the FRG in many federal states. As a freelance journalist, Schäfer also reported for Radio Sofia , Zeit im Bild and the communist Italian evening newspaper Paese Sera . During the Adenauer era and afterwards, he and his wife were suspected of being active in the FRG for the youth organization FDJ , which had been banned since 1951, and of the KPD , which was also banned, and of spying for the GDR. Therefore the couple was under observation by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution . In May 1963, as part of the Maitest campaign, a house search took place during which all business and work documents and their journalistic equipment, including a telex, were confiscated from the couple's living and work rooms. After the Spiegel affair triggered by Franz Josef Strauss in 1962 , which was widely perceived in the West German press and public as an attack on freedom of the press , the nationwide "Maitest" campaign was viewed much less critically in the FRG and was considered legitimate, although The searches and seizures did not reveal any judicial facts. After further disabilities and as a result of the radical decree of 1972, the contacts with important politically or state-committed persons in the FRG necessary for press work were lost, especially if there were professional connections to the public service , so that the Schäfer couple moved to East Berlin .

Ilse and Horst Schäfer were considered staunch comrades and continued to be reliable reporters from the West for the GDR. In 1972, Schäfer worked as a special rapporteur and court reporter for ADN on site at the trial of Angela Davis . Among other things, he reported on an almost one-hour interview he was able to conduct with Angela Davis in mid-February 1972 in the prison cell in San Jose . On the occasion of her release from prison after leaving bail, he met Angela Davis and personally congratulated her on behalf of many people from the GDR. After the San Jose Court pronounced Davis' acquittal, his mission as Special Rapporteur for ADN ended. Schäfer returned from California to East Berlin, where he initially worked as a freelance journalist again. From 1975 he reported for 11 years as a foreign correspondent from the USA , from other North and Central American countries and from the United Nations . From 1975 to 1981 and from 1983 to 1987 Schäfer lived in Washington , at times also in New York City . During this period he mainly worked for ADN and Zentralbild (ZB or ADN-ZB ), but also reported for other media in the GDR: Wochenpost , Neue Berliner Illustrierte , Horizont , Für Dich und Funk and Fernsehen .

In 1987, Schäfer went to Bonn , the then federal capital, as a foreign correspondent for the GDR , where he and his wife Ilse ran the ADN office. Through his membership in the Association of Foreign Press (VAP), he had access to the government press conferences and the Federal Press Ball . Schäfer was elected to the board of the VAP in 1990 as the first and ultimately only representative of the GDR. With the reunification of the two German states, he became a German domestic journalist on October 3, 1990 and had to apply for membership in the Federal Press Conference (BPK). Don F. Jordan replaced him on the board of the VAP . As now citizens of the FRG, Ilse and Horst Schäfer moved their center of life back to Berlin. In Berlin, Schäfer worked for ADN until 1991, then as a freelance journalist and author who published articles on contemporary history in various, predominantly left-wing media. Schäfer's book Im Fadhreuz: Kuba received wider public attention , for example in the Bundestag newspaper Das Parlament . With reference to original documents of the CIA, the White House, the US State Department and the committees of inquiry of the US Congress that concern the US foreign policy towards Cuba, Schäfer proves in the book published in 2004 that Cuba has been carrying out attacks, some of which are contrary to international law, since 1961 the US was exposed. With economic sanctions, traffic and trade blockades, robberies, acts of sabotage, murder operations and other acts of terrorism, US governments tried for more than 50 years to destabilize the political system in Cuba and bring about a "regime change" in your favor.

Publications (selection)

Book publication:

  • In the crosshairs: CUBA. The long war against the pearl of the Antilles. (= Edition Contemporary History. Volume 18). Kai Homilius Verlag , Berlin 2004, ISBN 3-89706-876-1 .
    • In the crosshairs: Cuba. 50 years of US state terrorism ... and the "family jewels" of the CIA. (= Edition Contemporary History. Volume 18). Kai Homilius Verlag, Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-3-89706-518-5 (paperback edition).

Articles in books:

  • Murder report. State terrorism made in USA. (Co-author: Ilse Schäfer) In: Arnold Schölzel (Ed.): Das Schweigekartell. Questions & Contradictions for September 11th. (= Edition Contemporary History. Volume 3). Kai Homilius Verlag, Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-89706-892-3 , pp. 219-250.
  • Torture strategies since 1960. In: Ronald Thoden (Hrsg.): Terror und Staat. September 11th - background and consequences. Geostrategy, terrorism, secret services, media, wars, torture. (= Edition Contemporary History. Volume 13). Kai Homilius Verlag, Berlin 2004, ISBN 3-89706-882-6 , pp. 277-284.

Journalistic contributions:

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See how the Bonn “constitutional state” wanted to silence correspondents for the GDR media 50 years ago. In: Junge Welt online. May 14, 2013. (See online under DDR-Kabinett-Bochum )
  2. ↑ See GDR journalists, grip on the tie. Quote: "The action - alias:" Maitest "- was legally incontestable: The zone men were suspected of having combined their journalistic activities with treasonous news service." In: Der Spiegel from June 19, 1963 (last accessed on June 22, 1963). March 2020)
  3. ↑ Michael Minholz, Uwe Stirnberg: The General German Intelligence Service (ADN): good news for the SED. De Gruyter , Berlin 2012, p. 229, ISBN 9783111357522 .
  4. ↑ Ewald König : The FRG as a lady without abdomen . In: euractiv.de (as of March 7, 2014, accessed on March 17, 2020)
  5. ↑ Now more than ever in solidarity with Angela. In: Neues Deutschland (ND) from February 25, 1972; Message (ADN, ND) about Angela Davis's temporary release on bail with the following excerpt: "In a conversation with the special correspondent Horst Schäfer in San Jose, Angela thanked her again for the numerous proofs of solidarity from the GDR."
  6. ↑ Global solidarity movement saved Angela Davis. San Jose: Indescribable cheers after the acquittal. In: Neues Deutschland from June 6, 1972; Horst Schäfer describes the dramatic minutes on Sunday, June 4th.
  7. ↑ See e.g. B .: Biggest scandal since Watergate. United States Congressmen and state politicians involved in bribery. In: ND of February 5, 1980, p. 6. (Rapporteur: Horst Schäfer)
  8. ↑ See e.g. B .: Speedy signing of the Contadora Plan required. Corresponding resolution passed unanimously in the UN. In: ND of October 27, 1984, p. 6; or Uno for the peace of the stars and the stop of nuclear tests. In: ND of December 4, 1986, p. 5 (Rapporteur: Horst Schäfer)
  9. ^ Ewald König: Correspondents of the GDR in Bonn . In: euractiv.de (as of March 7, 2014, accessed on March 17, 2020)
  10. ^ Reviews on war. Horst Schäfer: In the crosshairs: Cuba. In: Verband Arbeiterfotografie from January 22, 2006 (online review, last accessed on March 26, 2020)
  11. ↑ Reiner Oschmann: The undeclared war. The journalist Horst Schäfer sifted through US secret papers on Cuba. Review. In: New Germany . January 4, 2005.
personal data
SURNAME Shepherd, Horst
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German journalist
DATE OF BIRTH July 10, 1930
PLACE OF BIRTH Detmold
DATE OF DEATH March 8, 2020
Place of death Berlin