The New Newspaper

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The Neue Zeitung (NZ) was a newspaper published in the American zone of occupation after World War II . It was comparable to the daily newspaper Die Welt in the British occupation zone and was considered the most important newspaper in post-war Germany .

history

The Neue Zeitung was published for the first time on October 17, 1945 in Munich and appeared twice a week until January 30, 1955, and later six times. The Information Control Division of the American occupation authorities acted as the publisher . She let German editors and journalists write, but never gave up the rights to the newspaper. This became clear in the title line:

"The new newspaper - an American newspaper for the German population".

The Neue Zeitung was intended by its American editors as a means to the end of political re-education and, in particular, the denazification of the Germans. It was a high quality paper, but it could not hold up under the conditions of the rapidly growing variety of newspapers again after 1949. The writer and former newspaper employee Walter Kolbenhoff describes the first years in Munich under editor-in-chief Hans Wallenberg in his memoirs at Schellingstrasse 48 in 1984 . At that time the Neue Zeitung had a circulation of 2.5 million and around 600 letters to the editor per day had shown the great interest with which the newspaper was read. With the onset of the Cold War , Kolbenhoff writes, the “open-minded, tolerant paper” no longer suited the new policy, which led to the resignation of Hans Wallenberg and, some time later, of seven other editors.

Since the beginning of 1947 there was a separate edition of the NZ in the American sector of Berlin . This Berlin edition seemed sensible because the Allied Control Council had great influence in the former capital and the interests of the Soviet Union and the USA already differed greatly (keyword: “Frontstadt Berlin”). The aim was to prevent the Sovietization of the Germans. That is why the NZ worked independently in Berlin with its own editor-in-chief named Fodor. The features section worked under the direction of Friedrich Luft , who has long been known for his theater reviews in the RIAS . Also in the feature worked Hans Schwab Felisch (after 1955 at the FAZ , later editor of the Mercury ). Freelance collaborators for culture included Will Grohmann (visual arts) and Hans Heinz Stuckenschmidt (music).

From June 1949 on there was also an edition in Frankfurt am Main . In 1951 the Munich and Frankfurt editions were merged in Frankfurt. From September 1953 on, Die Neue Zeitung only appeared in Berlin. In March 1955 it was completely discontinued.

Authors

The following authors wrote in the Neue Zeitung :

The writer Erich Kästner was the chief editor of the feature pages , the journalist and later television presenter Robert Lembke headed the domestic affairs department.

Other important authors were:

As a cartoonist was Paul Flora operates.

literature

  • Jessica CE Gienow-Hecht: Art is democracy and democracy is art: Culture, propaganda, and the Neue Zeitung in Germany. In: Diplomatic History (1999) 23 # 1, pp. 21-43.
  • Jessica CE Gienow-Hecht. American Journalism as Cultural Diplomacy in Postwar Germany, 1945–1955. Louisiana State University Press, Baton Rouge 1999.
  • Wilfried F. Schoeller (Ed.): This strange time. Life after zero hour. A text book from the "Neue Zeitung". Book Guild Gutenberg, Frankfurt am Main 2005, ISBN 3-7632-5555-9 .
  • Irmtraud Ubbens: American life as experience and experience. Moritz Goldstein wrote for the “Neue Zeitung” from 1950–1954. In: Yearbook for Communication History . Volume 14. Franz Steiner, Stuttgart 2012, ISSN  1438-4485 , pp. 152-185.
  • Jürgen Wilke (ed.): Media history of the Federal Republic of Germany. Federal Agency for Civic Education Series, Volume 361, Bonn 1999.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Kurt Koszyk: Press under Allied occupation. In: Wilke: media history. P. 38. Reprint of the title page of the first edition.
  2. ^ Kurt Koszyk: Press under Allied occupation. In: Wilke: media history. (Pp. 31-58), p. 39.
  3. ^ Walter Kolbenhoff: Schellingstrasse 48. Experiences with Germany . Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 1984, ISBN 3-596-25867-7 .
  4. ^ Walter Kolbenhoff: Schellingstrasse 48. Experiences with Germany (= Süddeutsche Zeitung Bibliothek - Munich erlesen. 7). Süddeutsche Zeitung, Munich 2008, ISBN 9783866156333 , p. 232.