National newspaper (Munich)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article or the following section is not adequately provided with supporting documents ( e.g. individual evidence ). Information without sufficient evidence could be removed soon. Please help Wikipedia by researching the information and including good evidence.
National newspaper

description German right-wing extremist newspaper
publishing company DSZ publishing house
Headquarters Munich
First edition 1950/1951
attitude 20th December 2019
Frequency of publication weekly
Web link www.national-zeitung.de/
ISSN (print) 0340-1421
Gerhard Frey , owner and owner who died in 2013, with a copy of the National-Zeitung (2009)

The National-Zeitung (NZ) was a right - wing, supraregional German weekly newspaper based in Munich . It appeared in the Druckschriften- und Zeitungsverlags GmbH (DSZ-Verlag) . Until 1999, the Deutsche Wochen-Zeitung (DWZ), which was largely identical in content, was also published. The last issue 52/2019 of the National-Zeitung appeared on December 20, 2019.

organization

The National-Zeitung was published by DSZ-Verlag (until his death in 2013 by its owner Gerhard Frey , the long-time chairman of the German People's Union ). The newspaper distributed by Presse-Grosso achieved an estimated total weekly circulation of 38,000 copies per issue in 2006. Since then, no more numbers have been published on the circulation, but it has probably fallen significantly. For comparison: in 1976 it had an average weekly circulation of 106,000 copies on the much smaller West German newspaper market.

In addition to the DSZ-Verlag there was the "Freiheitliche Buch- und Zeitschriftenverlags GmbH" (FZ-Verlag) with a book and travel service, the managing director of which was Frey's wife Regine (who has been managing the DSZ-Verlag since her husband's death). Frey thus had the largest political right-wing CSU media conglomerate in Germany. Products such as medals, the motifs of which ranged from the first Reich President Friedrich Ebert (SPD) to the Luftwaffe pilot Hans-Ulrich Rudel , books from the company's own publishing houses and antiquarian books were advertised and sold through the newspaper .

Despite its formal independence, due to Frey's dominant position and the lack of an original DVU party newspaper until his retirement from party politics, the newspaper was often viewed as the party's press organ, although it also had a great impact on the right-wing political spectrum beyond the party exercised by the Union parties . Therefore, in 2006 it was the most widespread press product of this political direction in Germany. Since the circulation of the newspaper fell sharply in the last few years after the death of the founder and the dissolution of the DVU, its importance for the right-wing party spectrum had also decreased.

history

German soldiers newspaper

The DNZ was founded in 1950/51 as the German Soldier Newspaper (DSZ). In an American internment camp in Garmisch-Partenkirchen , the former were NSDAP - district leader and district administrator of Prussian Holland Helmut Damerau , the Wehrmacht colonel and district of Stendal Heinrich Detloff of calving , the standartenführer the Waffen-SS Joachim Ruoff and General of the Waffen-SS Felix Steiner agreed in 1950 to found a publication that should advertise an "anti-Bolshevik German defense contribution". Against the background of the Korean War , the worsening Cold War and the discussion about German rearmament , the project found financial support from the CIA and private individuals. Damerau, who founded the Schild publishing house in Munich in 1950 , and the master carpenter Leo Giess raised additional parts of the initial capital. The DSZ was supposed to prepare journalistically for the West German accession to NATO through the target group of the former German soldiers .

In the spring of 1951, Dameraus Schild-Verlag acquired the newspaper Der Deutschen Soldat . As their successor, the first edition of the DSZ appeared on June 6, 1951 with a circulation of 30,000 as a weekly newspaper. Half of the edition was accepted by the Association of German Soldiers (VdS).

Peter Dudek and Hans-Gerd Jaschke attest the DSZ that it had "[with] their aggressively formulated anti-communist and anti-union contributions, with generals, officers and PK reporters as authors who glorify [the] battles and campaigns of World War II, Restoring the models of the German soldiers at the front and defaming the (low) military resistance as 'treason of the fatherland' [...] [,] found a receptive audience among the former Wehrmacht members ”. This would have "its military and nationalist world views confirmed get: right-wing Vergangenheitsbewältigung by justification biographically acquired norms and values" pattern. Denial and belittling of National Socialist terror dominated the newspaper.

The DSZ ran into problems as early as 1952. Editor-in-chief Cornelius Pfeiffer had opposed the federal armed forces concept of the federal government . Damerau was therefore put under pressure by the VdS and replaced Pfeiffer with Arno Werner Uhlig . At the same time, the DSZ was divided into two editions. One was edited by Uhlig as a political newspaper, the other by the VdS press officer, Irnfried von Wechmar , as the VdS bulletin. From May 1954 the VdS converted its bulletin into the independent publication Soldat im Volke .

Under Uhlig, the circulation decreased by about two thirds. Since American payments began to decline at the end of 1953, Damerau and his publishing house got into financial difficulties. Damerau signed a "promotion contract" with the Federal Press Office , which wanted to prevent the newspaper from being closed and paid DM 11,000 per month. However, since the Federal Press Office did not succeed in influencing the content and staff of the newspaper as it had hoped, it stopped its payments at the end of 1954.

There are different statements about the connections between government agencies and the DSZ. While the parliamentary-political press service reported a friendship between Defense Minister Franz Josef Strauss and Damerau in 1957 , this was denied by the Defense Ministry . On October 20, 1958, the Federal Ministry of Defense publicly distanced itself from the DSZ for the first time, because they wanted to avoid the impression that the DSZ was the newspaper of the Bundeswehr soldiers. In the spring of 1959, the spokesman for the Ministry of Defense, Gerd Schmückle , characterized the DSZ as a "sheet for incurables and gaiter buttons". The Inspector General of the Bundeswehr , Adolf Heusinger , informed the commanders on September 8, 1959 that in future any form of cooperation at the DSZ would have to cease. The DSZ "does not serve to root the Bundeswehr in the state and the people", but tries to "weaken the resolve to defend certain population groups."

From April 1954 the DSZ appeared only fortnightly. At the beginning of 1955 the debts of the Schild publishing house were put at 90,000 DM. The DSZ only appeared monthly. The circulation sank to 9,000 by January 1958, but by the end of 1958, with 27,500 copies, the trend was rising again for the first time.

After editor-in-chief Uhlig tried to force Damerau out of the publishing house in March 1954, he was replaced by Hans-Gerd von Esebeck , who was succeeded by Erich Kernmayr in early 1955 . When the publisher's total debt had risen to 150,000 to 200,000 DM in 1958, almost the entire editorial team canceled their contracts. Damerau was forced to accept an offer from Gerhard Frey. The DSZ was detached from the Schild-Verlag and re-established with 70,000 DM share capital as the German Soldier Newspaper Verlagsgesellschaft mbH with headquarters in Munich-Lochhausen . Half of the share capital came from Frey. Dameraus Verlag retained a 24% stake, while Damerau's wife Hildegard held a further 26% as a silent partner .

Frey soon tried to force Damerau out of the DSZ-Verlag and had him recalled as managing director in March 1959. Damerau sued against this, which Frey countered with a counterclaim. Damerau withdrew his objection to his expulsion in early 1960 and finally gave up his resistance in July 1960 after paying 75,000 DM. From August 1960, Frey was the sole owner, publisher and editor-in-chief of the DSZ.

German National Newspaper

From the fall of 1960 onwards, Frey tried to increase the circulation of the DSZ from around 35,000 copies by buying up other publications from the right-wing national spectrum. So he acquired the list of subscribers to Otto Strasser's magazine Deutsche Freiheit , which had to cease publication at the end of 1960. From January 1, 1961, Frey called his newspaper Deutsche Soldier-Zeitung and National-Zeitung , allegedly “to focus on the national concerns of the German people, reunification and national renewal”. He referred to the national liberal National-Zeitung of 1848. From 1962 the newspaper appeared weekly. With the edition of December 12, 1962, the title was converted to Deutsche National-Zeitung and Soldiers-Zeitung and on January 1, 1963 shortened to Deutsche National-Zeitung . The print run was increased from 45,000 in 1961 to 70,000 in 1963 and finally 110,000, including secondary editions, in 1964. Secondary editions were the expelled papers Schlesische Rundschau and Der Sudetendeutsche , which Frey had bought in 1963, as well as Notweg der 131er and Teplitz-Schönauer Anzeiger .

The Deutsche Wochen-Zeitung had been one of the party magazines of the National Democratic Party of Germany since 1964 and was primarily devoted to historical revisionist topics. In 1986 Frey bought this from Waldemar Schütz and renamed it Deutsche Wochen-Zeitung - Deutscher Anzeiger . In terms of content and orientation, it was largely similar to the DNZ.

In 1966 criminal proceedings were initiated against the publisher Frey and against the NZ editor and head of the service Karl Mages (so-called headline proceedings for "use of lurid and inflammatory headlines"), which were discontinued at the end of September 1974 by the Munich Regional Court when the defense costs were shared.

In 1969, the then Federal Minister of the Interior, Ernst Benda, submitted an application to the Federal Constitutional Court under Article 18 of the Basic Law - forfeiting freedom of the press due to abuse. In 1974, however, the Federal Constitutional Court rejected the application because the paper “did not pose a serious threat to the existence of the free and democratic basic order” and did not find any “politically significant response”. In 1979 the print run was 120,000 copies.

With issue 36 of September 3, 1999, the Deutsche National-Zeitung and the Deutsche Wochen-Zeitung - Deutscher Anzeiger were merged into the National Zeitung .

Since issue no. 43/2008 the newspaper has appeared in a completely new format.

Issue No. 52/2019 was the last issue of the National-Zeitung. The publisher cited the “media change over the past 15 years and the changed user behavior” as the reason. However, "new things and good things have grown up at the same time" and one is "certain that one thing or the other has caused some thoughts to get off the ground". Most recently, the newspaper's turnover and sales figures are said to have decreased massively. Of around 7,000 copies per issue delivered to press wholesalers, only around 2,500 copies are said to have gone over the counter at a price of € 2.20. There were also subscribers, the number of whom is not known. According to the Baden-Württemberg Office for the Protection of the Constitution, the NZ could be regarded as the “traditional organ of the war generation”, “so that numerous regular readers may have died in the meantime”.

content

This article or the following section is not adequately provided with supporting documents ( e.g. individual evidence ). Information without sufficient evidence could be removed soon. Please help Wikipedia by researching the information and including good evidence.

The NZ appeared on twenty pages in newspaper format. Until it was redesigned in 2008, it was presented in the style of tabloid journalism ; the headlines were written in an emotional and populist style, the writing style in places comparable to that of the BILD newspaper . Many articles in the newspaper resulted in advertisements for relevant books from the publishers of Gerhard Frey, which are recommended as more in-depth literature on the topic discussed. Some of these were collections of earlier reports by the National-Zeitung in book form, which were marketed again in this way.

In the agitation of the National-Zeitung the topic “Foreigners in Germany” took up a large part. In addition, environmental and consumer protection issues were taken into account, such as contributions on climate change and articles critical of the group. Another focus of content were downplaying contributions from the time of National Socialism , whereby the Wehrmacht was particularly protected. According to the critics of the newspaper, resentment against Jews was stoked with stereotypical headlines and anti-Semitic articles and the democratic constitutional state and its representatives were attacked in other articles. According to the Brandenburg Office for the Protection of the Constitution , the newspaper “worked skillfully with anti-Semitic allusions without ever crossing the threshold of criminal liability”. The Central Council of Jews in Germany was often defamed for allegedly interfering constantly and being the “ fourth power ” in the state. Frey's commitment to the free constitutional state, on the other hand, was so frequent that he was accused by the far right of the extreme that he was a “typical FRG constitutional patriot”.

According to the opinion of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, which was vehemently rejected by the National-Zeitung, current political issues and events were presented in a distorted manner and exploited. The main topics included the war guilt question, historical revisionism (for example, it was titled " How 6 million Germans were murdered. The real Holocaust against our people. The hidden crimes of the victors. "), Revanchism and the glorification of German soldiery. Furthermore, National Socialism was played down and attempts were made to show individual representatives and institutions of the Nazi era in a positive light and to counter their “real” size and performance with the allegedly falsifying historiography. In 1970 the newspaper dubbed the gesture of Federal Chancellor Willy Brandt at the former Warsaw ghetto as an “undignified kneeling”. While the newspaper scourged the "crimes of National Socialism" in a demonstratively sharp form, individuals from this era were recognized as idealists and patriots. The topics that were frequently dealt with in earlier years included the Wehrmacht exhibition , the Michel Friedman case and the visa affair surrounding Joschka Fischer . Anti-Israel expressions were very often found . After the start of the “ Second Intifada ”, the newspaper complained that the “downfall of the Palestinians” left the “political class and journalists” indifferent in this country.

In the 1980s and 1990s, the rejection of the European Community or the European Union or its eastward expansion (main topic: Turkey ) gained significantly in importance. The subject of immigration in Germany was often dealt with with a view to “crime” and “asylum fraud” and the image of an alleged “ foreign infiltration ” of Germans was conjured up. The terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 in the USA were also used as a film for anti-American statements and statements that could be interpreted as anti-Semitic, and books on the subject of conspiracy theory were also advertised several times , for example the book The CIA and September 11. International Terror and the Role of the Secret Services by Andreas von Bülow . In the first September 2017 issue, the newspaper published an extensive article on the Identitarian Movement with recommendations from books written by actors in this movement. On March 3, 2018, the newspaper reported (according to the Bavarian Constitutional Protection Report "detailed and advertising") on the " Defenders of Europe " congress , a networking meeting of right-wing populist and right-wing extremist activists.

The paper recently expressed sympathy for Rainer Wendt , the chairman of the German police union , the protests of German farmers and the former group leader of the Left Party Sahra Wagenknecht and their (according to the magazine Jungle World ) "left-wing nationalist content". The electoral success of the British Tories was also applauded and Boris Johnson was praised for his plan to force the UK to leave the EU quickly . The newspaper followed the rise of the AfD with great approval and reported benevolently on its völkisch party wing .

The Office for the Protection of the Constitution of Baden-Wuerttemberg confirmed to the newspaper in 2020 that “[recently] [...] only very isolated xenophobic and revisionist content was found”. In the 2016 report for the protection of the constitution by the state of Bavaria for 2015, however, the newspaper was certified to continue to spread “xenophobic, nationalist and revisionist argumentation models”. It was also listed in the Bavarian Constitutional Protection Reports published in 2017, 2018 and 2019 in the chapter "Right-wing extremist publishing".

Well-known authors

Most of the articles came from Gerhard Frey himself, but are often not identified by name. The authors also included:

Interview partner:

literature

  • Hans-Helmuth Knütter : The German national newspaper and soldiers newspaper 1965/1966. A documentation , German Federation of Trade Unions Federal Executive, 1966 DNB 577237934
  • Karsten Reinecke: The "German National Newspaper and Soldiers Newspaper", an organ of the "homeless right" in the Federal Republic , Erlangen-Nuremberg, Phil. F., Diss. July 24, 1970 DNB 482051590
  • Peter Dudek, Hans-Gerd Jaschke : The German National Newspaper: Contents, History, Actions , PDI 1981, ISBN 3-88206-023-9
  • Jana Reissen: The Language of the Right: Analyzes using the example of the Deutsche National-Zeitung. , Verlag Dr. Müller, Saarbrücken 2010. ISBN 978-3-639-28926-8

Web links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Stephan Braun, Alexander Geisler, Martin Gerster (2009): Strategies of the extreme right: Background analysis answers. VS publishing house for social sciences
  2. ^ Wolfgang Benz W Benz, I Arndt (1989) Right-wing extremism in the Federal Republic. Frankfurt a. M., Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag
  3. ^ A Pfahl-Traughber (2006): Right-wing extremism in the Federal Republic. Munich, CH Beck.
  4. ^ A b Stefan Golunski: National newspaper discontinued. In: dnv-online.net. DNV - The New Distribution , January 10, 2020, accessed on January 20, 2020 .
  5. ↑ a b Bavarian Constitutional Protection Report 2006 ( memento of the original dated November 2, 2013 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. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.verfassungsschutz.bayern.de
  6. ^ Sachser, Friedo: West Germany . In: American Jewish Yearbook 76: 339-356, p. 341.
  7. ↑ Subject: GfW. Central Intelligence Agency , January 1953, accessed March 15, 2015 .
  8. ↑ Project Status Report: KMMANLY. Central Intelligence Agency , January 1953, accessed March 15, 2015 .
  9. ^ Matthias Schmidt: The parliamentary work of right-wing extremist parties and possible counter-strategies. A study using the example of the "German People's Union" in the Schleswig-Holstein state parliament . Agenda, Münster 1997, p. 70.
  10. ↑ Peter Dudek and Hans-Gerd Jaschke: The German National Newspaper. Content, story, actions. Democratic Initiative Press Service, Munich 1981, ISBN 3-88206-023-9 , p. 18.
  11. ↑ Johannes J. Hoffmann: Adenauer, “Caution and no indiscretions!” - On the information policy and public relations work of the Federal Government 1949-1955. Shaker, Aachen 1995, ISBN 978-3-8265-0826-4 , p. 213.
  12. ^ Günther Paschner: Wrong conscience of the nation - German national newspaper and soldiers newspaper. Hase & Koehler, Mainz 1967, p. 13. See the different information from Peter Dudek and Hans-Gerd Jaschke: The German National Newspaper - Contents, History, Actions. Press service Democratic Initiative, Munich 1981, ISBN 3-88206-023-9 , pp. 18, 20.
  13. ↑ Peter Dudek and Hans-Gerd Jaschke: The German National Newspaper. Content, story, actions. Press service Democratic Initiative, Munich 1981, ISBN 3-88206-023-9 , pp. 19-20. [Emphasis in original].
  14. ^ A b c Günther Paschner: Wrong conscience of the nation. German national newspaper and soldiers newspaper. Hase & Koehler, Mainz 1967, p. 13f.
  15. ↑ Peter Dudek and Hans-Gerd Jaschke: The German National Newspaper. Content, story, actions. Press service Democratic Initiative, Munich 1981, ISBN 3-88206-023-9 , p. 22f.
  16. ^ Günther Paschner: Wrong conscience of the nation. German national newspaper and soldiers newspaper. Hase & Koehler, Mainz 1967, p. 17f.
  17. ↑ Peter Dudek and Hans-Gerd Jaschke: The German National Newspaper. Content, story, actions. Democratic Initiative Press Service, Munich 1981, ISBN 3-88206-023-9 , pp. 20f.
  18. ^ A b Peter Dudek and Hans-Gerd Jaschke: The German National Newspaper. Content, story, actions. Democratic Initiative Press Service, Munich 1981, ISBN 3-88206-023-9 , p. 24.
  19. ^ Günther Paschner: Wrong conscience of the nation. German national newspaper and soldiers newspaper. Hase & Koehler, Mainz 1967, p. 18.
  20. ^ Günther Paschner: Wrong conscience of the nation. German national newspaper and soldiers newspaper. Hase & Koehler, Mainz 1967, p. 14f.
  21. ^ Günther Paschner: Wrong conscience of the nation. German national newspaper and soldiers newspaper. Hase & Koehler, Mainz 1967, p. 15f.
  22. ^ Günther Paschner: Wrong conscience of the nation. German national newspaper and soldiers newspaper. Hase & Koehler, Mainz 1967, pp. 20f.
  23. ^ Deutsche National-Zeitung: mouthpiece of the people. In: Der Spiegel . March 13, 1963, accessed on December 29, 2019 : "Germany has a" Deutsche National-Zeitung "again. At the beginning of this year the previous "German Soldier Newspaper and National Newspaper" was renamed under this name. ( See also images above in the PDF of the printed article ) "
  24. ↑ a b Axel Buchholz: By Gauleiter's grace. The Saarbrücken Reich Broadcasting Director Karl Mages. www.sr.de, May 22, 2020
  25. ↑ BVerfG, decision of July 2, 1974, Az. 2 BvA 1/69, BVerfGE 38, 23 , full text.
  26. ↑ a b “National Zeitung” is discontinued in its 56th year. In: pressenews-in-deutschland.de. Press news in Germany, C.Lee & N. Lézé GbR, January 6, 2020, accessed on January 20, 2020 .
  27. ↑ a b c “National-Zeitung” discontinued after 69 years www.verfassungsschutz-bw.de
  28. ↑ Look who's talking here verassungsschutz.brandenburg.de
  29. ↑ a b Kevin Culina: Bye, Drecksblatt jungle.world, January 16, 2020
  30. ↑ Joachim Wolf: The National Newspaper and the World View of the DVU (2007) ( Memento from April 29, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  31. ^ Alfred Schobert: German neo-Nazis and Islamists: With Odin and Allah jungle.world, January 10, 2001
  32. ↑ Protection of the Constitution of North Rhine-Westphalia: National-Zeitung / Deutsche Wochen-Zeitung ( Memento of the original from September 28, 2015 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. , last accessed on September 26, 2015 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.mik.nrw.de
  33. ↑ Spiegel of October 18, 1993: "I'm not just angry."