Messkirch newspaper war

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The so-called Messkirch newspaper war denotes a long-lasting regional, political, journalistic, judicial and personal dispute between the Catholic center and the liberals by means of two local newspapers in the Baden town of Meßkirch in the first third of the 20th century.

As everywhere in the Baden Kulturkampf , newspapers were used as weapons in the political battle of opinion and for the often hateful fight against the political opponent, albeit later than elsewhere. As a counterpoint to the liberal “Oberbadischen Grenzbote”, which was founded in 1872, the “Heuberger Volksblatt”, which is close to the center, was created in 1899. From then on, the Catholic rival newspaper, under its editor Albert Zimmermann, relentlessly fought the liberal town hall party right into the outgoing Weimar Republic . Even the philosopher Martin Heidegger took sides and took part in the newspaper war between liberalism and Catholic conservatism (" ultramontanism "). Both newspapers tried to strengthen the position of their own camp and to weaken that of the other. Almost every means was acceptable to them. The highlights of the hateful disputes in the urban microcosm were court cases between the opposing parties and in 1930 a fatal heart attack of the liberal mayor Johann Christian Weißhaupt at an election event triggered by attacks by the center newspaper. The journalistic mud battle came to an end in 1933 when the National Socialists came to power with their press censorship and the state-controlled propaganda unified press . The competing liberal and Catholic papers were brought into line or banned.

Preconditions

Political starting point

At the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th century, the former royal-Fürstenberg residence city of Meßkirch found itself in serious economic difficulties, for which the devastating battle of Meßkirch on May 5, 1800 was largely to blame. A change began with the newly founded Grand Duchy of Baden in 1806 . As the official place of the district office of Messkirch , the city soon gained momentum.

At the end of the 19th century, Meßkirch was an economically prosperous and ambitious country town - a development that was due to the liberal bourgeoisie and above all to its spokesman, Johann Baptist Roder (1815–1890). Roder, who married the Adler innkeeper's daughter, made enormous fortunes as an innkeeper, postman, farmer and cattle breeder. An exclusive circle of wealthy dignitaries, all of whom can be assigned to the national liberal camp, soon gathered around him. When the dispute between the liberal state and the Catholic Church in the state of Baden ignited in the 1860s, the second richest man in the city was drawn into politics, Roder became a member of the state parliament for the first time in 1865.

In Messkirch, as elsewhere in Baden, liberalism had advanced town and country economically, at the same time the Holy See in Rome made a conservative U-turn and condemned liberalism along with communism . After the proclamation of the dogma of papal infallibility, an Old Catholic community formed in Messkirch in 1873 as a liberal reaction . Political opposites were now combined with denominational ones, which ultimately led to a split of the Messkirch population into two camps. The well-to-do and educated bourgeoisie in Messkirchen, who controlled all important functions in politics, economy and culture, stood almost entirely in the liberal camp. “Ultramontane”, ie Catholics oriented towards Rome, were often excluded from the local associations. So there were soon competing Catholic foundations, for example two choral societies, two military associations or two credit institutions.

Political camps are heard through the formation of newspapers

In 1872 the printing master Josef Steidel founded the "Upper Baden Border Messenger". The first edition of this liberal Messkirchen local newspaper appeared with the aim of liberating religious life from the pressure of Jesuitism and of declaring war on any clerical tutelage in public life. In 1883, the printer and editor Karl Willi (1849–1906), who came from Überlingen, took over the Steidelsche Druckerei am Meßkircher Grabenbach and thus took over the editing . The traditionally liberal-oriented paper, which under Steidel's leadership had struck a decidedly militant tone during the years of the Kulturkampf, took on a somewhat more balanced character under Willis' leadership, but without deviating from the liberal attitude. As a revolutionary, Roder led the liberal movement and could be sure of the support of the "Oberbadischer Grenzbote".

The Roman Catholic camp and the Center Party opposed the Baden Kulturkampf. With the founding of the "Heuberger Volksblatt" in 1898, it received its own publication organ. It was the “holy duty of every Catholic man”, as the first edition read, “not to keep any other than the Catholic newspaper, because in public life it stands up for the truth revealed by God”. Even after the “Heuberger Volksblatt” was founded, the “Oberbadische Grenzbote” remained the most widely read newspaper in Messkirch for a long time.

The "hot" phase

Front formation and escalation to the newspaper war

The newspaper war was not a Messkirch peculiarity, but it raged particularly violently in the city and that for a whole generation.

The liberal “Oberbadische Grenzbote” and the central “Heuberger Volksblatt” each served as a platform to fight the competing camp ideologically and politically. With great objectivity, journalistic correctness and sometimes with a slightly moralizing index finger, the readers were informed about all important or unimportant events in and around Messkirch, but also about news from Baden and Hohenzollern as well as about events around the world. Reporting on state politics in Karlsruhe always took a large part. The "Oberbadische Grenzbote" served not only as a news bulletin, but also as an official, advertising and entertainment bulletin. In addition to the newspaper, which comes out three to four times a week, Willis Verlag also published the magazine “Der Badische Tierzüchter” and numerous publications and specialist books on agricultural topics. The Messkirch publisher had made a name for himself nationwide in this sector.

After 1900, the ugly throws led to an open newspaper war. From then on, the two Messkirch newspapers fought an endless media battle that brought the courts and lawyers to a boom. Both newspapers had felt more committed to their worldview than to information. Many citizens would have subscribed to both newspapers in order to better follow the constant pros and cons.

On July 1, 1906, Josef Schönebeck, who came from Constance, took over the printing and publishing of the "Oberbadischer Grenzboten" and the specialist newspaper "Badischer Tierzüchter". Shortly before that, the former owner Karl Willi had died after 23 years of company ownership. Even after the transition, the “Oberbadische Grenzbote” was still published and printed in this house. He enriched the daily newspaper with his own novellas, including the “Chat Room”, a weekly gloss with the “Knight Kuno” on the Messkirch town hall gable as a symbolic figure. In 1994 the “ Südkurier ” revived this gloss, which appears on Saturdays.

New momentum with the participation of Martin Heidegger

The smoldering feud was given a boost by the philosopher Martin Heidegger (1889–1976), who was born in Meßkirch : After attending an election campaign meeting of the national liberal party, Heidegger, who had started studying Catholic theology at the University of Freiburg in the winter semester of 1909, took up the controversy on the scientific nature of the Jesuit philosophy; Under the pseudonym "gg" he appeared on April 7, 1911 as a opinionated representative of Catholicism in the "Heuberger Volksblatt" and was outraged by the anti-Jesuit and anti-anti-modernist idioms of a higher domain forest inspector and a liberal professor. Thereupon the “Oberbadische Grenzbote” took up the “nudging”, and over two months there was a lively exchange of righteousnesses. In 2005, Jürgen Kaube summed up the scheme at the time with the words "House you my Jesuits, I'll cut your Haeckel " , whereby the rival newspapers did not leave out any rabulistic twist.

In the following years it was not quiet about the two competing papers. The Messkirchen newspaper war continued to be fought with, in some cases, quite unfair means. The two organs not only represented different political and social camps, but also the Catholics loyal to Rome on the one hand and the Old Catholics on the other. The dispute between the Messkirch newspapers found its resonance in the courtroom. The sheets, however, only reflected the social situation.

Tragic climax in the newspaper war

Because the majority of the population was Catholic, she demanded power in the town hall. But the liberals knew how to defend this: the then mayor Johann Christian Weißhaupt, a liberal, announced his resignation. In good time before the municipal council election, because the liberal majority in the council wanted to appoint a successor from their ranks and thus secure their majority for nine years, according to the plan. The parties DDP , DVP and SPD agreed on the Protestant businessman Adolf Wendling. The “Heuberger Volksblatt” foamed with rage: The gentlemen had decided prematurely out of pure hatred of the center.

In this context, the tragic climax of the Messkirchen newspaper war also came, when the political disputes in 1930 resulted in a fatality: Mayor Weißhaupt was so upset about the political opponent during a heated election meeting in the Lammsaal that he joined in after disrespectful objections by the Volksblatt editor Albert Zimmermann collapsed after his speech and succumbed to heart failure.

The election was postponed, the center was hoping again. But despite the Catholic majority in the population, the party was clearly defeated by the Liberals with a participation of 94 percent.

In the same year the “Oberbadische Grenzbote” switched to the “Stockacher Tagblatt” publishing house. After this change, the newspaper came out on April 1, 1921 under the title "Meßkircher Zeitung". The newspaper publisher went to the "Seebote" in Überlingen in 1930.

End of the newspaper war

Prohibition and cessation

The newspaper war only came to an end with the Third Reich : The “Heuberger Volksblatt” was banned for three days by the National Socialists on February 16, 1933. When it reappeared it was more cautious than before, but that didn't help for long. Hans Pfeiffer, a teacher, and Albert Zimmermann, the editor, were overly critical, which led to both being put into " protective custody " in April 1933 and the newspaper being banned again at the end of that month. On May 1, 1933, Zimmermann published an edition with the permission of the Meßkirch District Office , his last edition. The next day there was a well-planned popular uprising in which around 100 people raged in front of the house of the “Heuberger Volksblatt”, several penetrated, searched and devastated the editorial office. To protect him from popular anger, Zimmermann was taken into "protective custody" by the police. Later the "Heuberger Volksblatt" was allowed to appear again, but no longer as a newspaper of the center, but as a "Catholic daily newspaper", which, as it was called on May 4, committed itself "in the spirit and on the basis of the national reorganization in Germany" to stand and "to support the government in empire and country positively" . However, Zimmermann was arrested again and taken to the Heuberg concentration camp . After his release he left Messkirch permanently. The "Heuberger Volksblatt", in which the Catholic Church no longer had any influence, was soon called the "Deutsche Volkszeitung".

From 1935 the “Meßkircher Zeitung” appeared only as a local edition of the Überlinger Zeitung “Seebote”, and finally the “Konstanzer Zeitung”. All of these traditional local newspapers were banned by the National Socialist rulers in the 1930s. In 1935 the "Deutsche Volkszeitung" was discontinued, as was the "Meßkircher Zeitung" that had been printed in Überlingen since then. Then only Nazi-oriented papers appeared. Only the National Socialist standard newspaper “Bodensee-Rundschau” was allowed in the region.

Further development of the printing works

In the years that followed, the Schönebeck printing company specialized exclusively in the production of business and private printed matter. At first, the printing plant was very tight. The print shop, the stationery shop and the office were housed in the same building on Conradin-Kreutzer-Straße, in which today only a stationery shop is operated. After the end of the war, Heinz Schönebeck, the son of the company founder, took over the printing company. In the period that followed, the company was expanded several times. The Heuberg printing company, which formerly published the “Heuberger Volksblatt”, was acquired by Heinz Schönebeck junior, who had taken over the Schönebeck company in 1972. The previous competing company was completely integrated into the printing company over the years and finally abandoned. In 1973 the printing and stationery business was separated into two independent companies.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Renitenz and genius: Messkirch and the Baden lake district between the revolution of 1848/49 and the Kulturkampf. Conference on October 27, 2001 in Meßkirch Castle. ( Memento of August 9, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 58 kB) In: AHF-Information No. 24 of March 20, 2002 ed. by the working group of non-university historical research institutions in the Federal Republic of Germany eV, 2002
  2. ^ A b Heidegger: The young Heidegger as a defender of Catholic teaching . In: Information Philosophy
  3. ↑ Markus Vonberg gives a lecture . In: Südkurier of March 31, 2011
  4. ↑ a b Hermann-Peter Steinmüller (hps): Twelfth graders explore the media history of the city as a teaching project - exhibition in the Sparkasse. When the newspaper war raged in Messkirch . In: Südkurier of July 5, 2006
  5. ↑ a b c d e f g h Armin Heim: Weltanschauung versus information . In: Südkurier of April 2, 2011
  6. ↑ a b c d e f g Michael Hescheler (fxh): The newspaper war raged violently in Messkirch. Black and red war in Messkirch around 1900 over two newspapers . In: Schwäbische Zeitung from April 2, 2011
  7. ↑ a b c d e Alfred Th. Heim: Buchdruckerei celebrates its 100th anniversary . In: Südkurier of July 7, 2006
  8. ↑ a b c d e Heim (aha): Combative tones . In: Südkurier of February 12, 2003
  9. ↑ Jürgen Kaube : Thinking horses, think of the readers! In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , No. 182 / page 35, from August 8, 2005
  10. ↑ See Zimmermann (2005)
  11. ↑ Cf. Denker / Büchin (2005)

literature

  • Markus Vonberg: The Messkircher newspaper war: “Oberbadischer Grenzbote” and “Heuberger Volksblatt” in the liberal-ultramontane dispute . In: Edwin Ernst Weber (ed.): Renitenz and Genie: Meßkirch and the Baden Lake District between 1848/49 and the Kulturkampf . Anthology ed. on behalf of the district of Sigmaringen and the Upper Swabian Society for History and Culture. (Series: Heimatkundliche Schriftenreihe des Landkreis Sigmaringen, Volume 8 / Oberschwaben - Views and Prospects, Volume 5). UVK Verlagsgesellschaft, Konstanz 2003, ISBN 3-89669-761-7 , pp. 153-187.
  • The controversy between the "Heuberger Volksblatt" and the "Oberbadischer Grenzbote" . In: Alfred Denker, Elsbeth Büchin: Martin Heidegger and his home . Klett-Cotta Verlag, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 3-608-94092-8 , pp. 42-100.
  • The seizure of power in Meßkirch . In: Hans Dieter Zimmermann: Martin and Fritz Heidegger: Philosophy and Fastnacht . CH Beck, Munich 2005, ISBN 3-406-52881-3 , pp. 48-52.

Scientific reception

  • Renitenz and Genius - Meßkirch and the Baden Lake District between the Revolution 1848/49 and the Kulturkampf Conference on October 27, 2001 in the Knights' Hall of Meßkirch Castle . Speakers were u. a. Gert Zang and Hugo Ott . The organizers were the district of Sigmaringen and the city of Meßkirch in conjunction with the Upper Swabian Society for History and Culture, the Association for the History of Hegau and the Museum Society.
  • Media history of the city . Exhibition from July 5 to 12, 2006 in the Sparkasse Pfullendorf-Meßkirch , counter hall of the main office in Meßkirch. The exhibition was part of the seminar course "World of Media", a teaching project that 21 students of grade 12 of the Martin-Heidegger-Gymnasium Meßkirch (MHG) had been working on in cooperation with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) since the beginning of the 2005/2006 school year.
  • Messkirch newspaper war . Lecture as part of the lecture series of the 750th anniversary of the city of Meßkirch on March 31, 2011 in the seminar room of Meßkirch Castle. Speaker: Markus Vonberg.