Prussian General Newspaper

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Prussian General Newspaper

description Weekly newspaper
language German
publishing company Publishing house Landsmannschaft Ostpreußen
Headquarters Hamburg
First edition April 1, 1950
Frequency of publication weekly
Sold edition > 18,000 copies
(Publishing company)
Range 0.05 million readers
(Publishing company)
Editor-in-chief René Nehring
editor Landsmannschaft East Prussia
Web link preussische-allgemeine.de
ISSN (print) 2199-9619

The Preußische Allgemeine Zeitung (PAZ) is a national German weekly newspaper and the official press organ of the East Prussian Landsmannschaft . From 1950 to 2003 the newspaper carried the title Das Ostpreußenblatt (OPB), a forerunner was founded in 1949 under the title Wir Ostpreußen . In the 1950s and 1960s it was the largest circulation among all publications that were primarily aimed at the German expellees and their families. As early as 1960, like all other displaced newspapers, it suffered from a dwindling readership. From the late 1990s on, there was a reorientation, as a result of which the Ostpreußenblatt tried to address new target groups and renamed itself the Preussische Allgemeine Zeitung . Political science works on the newspaper from previous years judged its focus to be new law .

history

1949 We East Prussia

Lettering “We East Prussia. Bulletin of the East Prussian Landsmannschaft. "
Headline of Wir Ostpreußen , forerunner of the Ostpreußenblatt

The Ostpreußenblatt emerged from the information sheet of the Landsmannschaft Ostpreußen Wir Ostpreußen - information sheet of the Landsmannschaft Ostpreußen . The first edition of Wir Ostpreußen appeared on February 1, 1949 in Hanover . The former major of the Wehrmacht Horst Frischmuth acted as the publisher, and the Carl Ermacora company was commissioned as the printing company . Since the Landsmannschaft wanted to circumvent the Allied licensing requirements for press products, the first edition was marked “Printed as a manuscript - only for internal use”. Soon, however, there were differences between the Landsmannschaft and Frischmuth, who exercised his editorial function as a private person and without a contract. The attempt to regulate the business relationship contractually failed, according to the East Prussian Landsmannschaft because of excessive financial demands by Frischmuth. She also accused him of placing his business interests above the concerns of the Landsmannschaft and of denying her "the influence she is entitled to over the paper".

In May 1949, the East Prussian Landsmannschaft awarded the printing order for Wir Ostpreußen to the Rautenberg & Möckel printing company in Leer . At the end of June of the same year, the Landsmannschaft succeeded in prohibiting Frischmuth from being an editor for the time being. The issue of the following July 1st finally appeared in Hamburg under a new publisher and with a new editorial team. In the further course of the legal dispute, however, access to Wir Ostpreußen was partially withdrawn from the Landsmannschaft Ostpreußen , the print job was returned to Carl Ermacora. The Landsmannschaft lodged a complaint, but decided at the same time not to pursue the fight for publication any further. Instead, it published Das Ostpreußenblatt (OB) from March 1950 , initially as sample numbers, and from April in two editions per month. This step had become possible because the Landsmannschaft had meanwhile been legally established. We East Prussia continued to exist, the Landsmannschaft, which was responsible for editorial sovereignty, only provided the paper with extremely sparse contributions and at the same time pushed the development of the OB. As a result, We East Prussia experienced a rapid decline and was discontinued in August 1950.

1950 to 1968 founding phase and establishment

Lettering "Das Ostpreußenblatt"
Headline of the Ostpreußenblatt (2000)

The founding of the Ostpreußenblatt in 1950 was based not only on political interests, but also primarily on financial interests. The sale of the association publication was the main source of income for the organization. The volume initially averaged 16 pages, the zero number appeared with a circulation of 60,000 copies. Later editions had a similar edition. Between April and August 1950 the number of subscribers rose from 17,000 to 49,000, which reached the highest level of Wir Ostpreußen and the transition from the old to the new organ of the association was completed. As a result, the circulation increased sharply. In July 1953 it was already 100,000 copies. In October of the same year, the publication changed from biweekly to weekly. In December 1954, the number of subscribers reached the 100,000 mark. This trend continued until 1959, when Das Ostpreußenblatt had 127,900 copies in the first and second quarters, the highest sold circulation in the newspaper's history to date.

The Ostpreußenblatt had a comparatively high circulation, primarily due to the large number of German citizens expelled from East Prussia : between 1952 and 1968 the newspaper was always the highest-circulation among the expellees, but after 1960, like most of these publications, suffered from dwindling readership. The Ostpreußenblatt was able to reach over 88% of the approximately 130,000 members of the East Prussian Landsmannschaft; The increasing integration of the displaced into society, however, reduced interest in relevant newspapers. After 1959 the circulation sank continuously and in 1968 it was only 92,798 pieces ( widespread circulation ). At the same time, the average number of pages rose to 20 during this period.

Editor-in-chief since 1950 was Martin Kakies , who had already held the same position at the Memel steamboat before the Second World War . In 1959, Kakies resigned from the editorial office, followed by the head of the political department, Eitel Kaper . Kaper continued to run the political department and the editorial department until his death in October 1967. The East Prussian Landsmannschaft hired Hugo Wellems as his successor.

1968 to 1995 Wellems era

Hugo Wellems gained journalistic experience in the Propaganda Ministry and as a book author during the Nazi dictatorship . Later he was editor-in-chief for the DP party magazine Deutsches Wort and OstWestKurier . In 1962 he founded the State and Economic Political Society and later remained connected to the right-wing spectrum. Under his leadership, the newspaper followed a strongly revanchist line in terms of content. In the first half of the 1990s, the topics of " German Eastern Areas " and immigration dominated. The former was discussed above all with revisionist considerations and from the point of view of “ regermanization ”. Ulla Jelpke and Helmut Schröder accused the Ostpreußenblatt in 1996 in the Handbook of German Right-Wing Extremism of having "since the beginning of its existence propagated an aggressive revanchist policy and glossed over or completely denied the crimes of Hitler's fascism." operated in the Federal Republic.

During Wellems' tenure, the circulation of the Ostpreußenblatt continued to decline: in the 1980s it fell below 50,000 copies, and in 1990 it was only 32,000 copies. In addition to a lack of interest from the target group, the main reason was the age-related decline in long-term subscribers. Wilhelm von Gottberg , editor of the Ostpreußenblatt since 1992 and then deputy spokesman for the East Prussian Landsmannschaft, described the paper in retrospect as in need of reform and accused Wellems of preventing necessary innovations. The sold circulation of the newspaper rose again at the beginning of the 1990s, which is why the country team refrained from recalling Wellems. Nevertheless, von Gottberg agreed with Wellems in 1994 that the latter would retire from active service at the end of the year and continue to receive his salary until the end of March 1995. Wellems died before he was officially adopted in March 1995.

From 1995 realignment and modernization

Wellems' successor as editor-in-chief was Horst Stein , who had previously headed the Hamburg editorial team for Die Welt . Stein moved away from both the revisionist line of his predecessor and the newspaper concept. Instead, he placed reviews of literature on experiences and memories in the focus of the editorial work. At the same time, Stein made up for the technical upgrading of the editorial team that Wellems had missed. The desired success did not materialize, however, and in 1996 the circulation of the Ostpreußenblatt fell again.

In 1997 Elimar Schubbe was appointed editor-in-chief of the Ostpreußenblatt . He largely reversed Stein's substantive directional decisions and tried to open up new target groups against the background of the dwindling readership. A first step in this direction was the creation of a website of its own in 1997 to attract readers outside of the associations of expellees. At the same time, the Landsmannschaft Ostpreußen and the Ostpreußenblatt initiated a Prussian media service for the distribution of books and videos on historical, cultural and political topics that go beyond the purely expellee issues. The support of this service was taken over by the right-wing extremist publishing house Siegfrid Bublies in Koblenz . In addition, the Ostpreußenblatt shifted more to content outside of the issue of displacement and included a feature section with supraregional claims in the paper. Although the home section of the newspaper remained largely unchanged, it also increasingly developed into a medium for ultra-conservative authors and readers with new rights . With the Preussische Zeitung supplement , the foundation stone was laid for a further, step-by-step detachment from the displaced newspaper towards a national weekly newspaper.

Schubbe's successors Hans Heckel and Peter Fischer continued on his course, as did Hans-Jürgen Mahlitz , editor -in- chief from 2000 to 2005 . At Easter 2003, the paper was renamed the Preußische Allgemeine Zeitung , which upgraded the former supplement to the actual newspaper, while the internal section that was distributed more and more became a supplement itself. This was done, as the chairman of the East Prussian Landsmannschaft Wilhelm von Gottberg emphasized, in order to win new readers for the paper, the paying readership of which "has declined dramatically in the last three years". According to this, 90% of the readers have passed the age of 65 and 30% of the readers are older than 80 years.

Mahlitz was followed in August 2005 by Clemens Range , whose successor on June 1, 2006 was Klaus D. Voss . Voss was followed in September 2008 by Konrad Badenheuer , who had previously been an editor at Bayernkurier , and on July 1, 2011 by Jan Heitmann . Since December 1, 2019, the editorial team has been in the hands of René Nehring , who was responsible for Rotary magazine up to that point .

The Preussische Allgemeine Zeitung has undergone a number of changes since September 2008, which in total amount to a relaunch of the paper: Since then, the newspaper has also been consistently colored on the inside. A little later, a comment and a business page were introduced, and in November 2008 the newspaper's website was completely redesigned. The newspaper has been using the new spelling since July 2009 . A little later, the subscription to membership in the East Prussian Landsmannschaft was lifted. According to the legal notice of the PAZ, the recipients become members of the Landsmannschaft at the beginning of the subscription in the case "if they do not express any other will". At the same time, the newspaper began an online advertising campaign that ran on several politically related sites.

From October 2009 the head of the newspaper was temporarily modified so that the subtitle Mit Ostpreußenblatt instead of the previous Das Ostpreußenblatt read. The traditional name of the newspaper thus only referred to its inner part. The newspaper now appears again with its old subtitle. In mid-December 2009, the newspaper reported an increase in circulation for the first time in a long time .

Since January 29, 2010, the newspaper has been available at kiosks almost all over Germany, after previously only being available by subscription. In 2010 the East Prussian Landsmannschaft viewed the relatively expensive kiosk sales as a temporary solution to attract new readers; a permanent offer in the press trade is not considered.

Since December 2019, the newspaper has only been headlining Prussian General . In addition, the layout has been revised, the previous six-column layout has been reduced to five columns.

Authors

The main authors include the journalists Vera Lengsfeld , Jürgen Liminski , Jean-Paul Picaper , Wolf Oschlies and Klaus Rainer Röhl , the science politician George Turner , the journalist Hans-Jürgen Mahlitz , the historian Manfred Kittel and the former Brandenburg Interior Minister Jörg Schönbohm . Furthermore, there are personal overlaps with the new right-wing weekly newspaper Junge Freiheit , for example with Götz Eberbach , Lothar Groppe , Thorsten Hinz , Klaus Hornung , Karl Lincke (alias Carlos Izquierda), Alfred Schickel , Carl Gustaf Ströhm and Stefan Winckler . Authors who approached the right-wing extremist scene after their publication in the Ostpreußenblatt were then removed from the list of authors, such as Rigolf Hennig , Horst Mahler and Hans-Helmuth Knütter .

Structure, appearance and distribution

The newspaper usually has 24 or 28 pages. For special occasions, such as Christmas, it appears up to 36 pages long. In terms of its structure, the PAZ corresponds to other daily or weekly newspapers, with an eight-page inner section with reports on East Prussia in the past and present taking the place of a local section. The PAZ appears on Fridays and has a circulation of more than 18,000 copies; according to its own information, it reaches around 50,000 readers.

reception

The historians Wolfram Wette and Peter Oliver Loew as well as the political scientists Alexander Geisler and Wolfgang Gessenharter see the New Right as the publication organs of the Preussische Allgemeine Zeitung and its predecessor titles. The political scientist Fabian Virchow characterizes the newspaper as "right-wing conservative", the historian Matthias Stickler as conservative.

According to the journalist Anton Maegerle , the paper fulfills a “hinge function” between “ right-wing conservatism ” and right-wing extremism . Among other things, holocaust-relativizing contributions, the demand for a “line under the German coming to terms with the past” and the large personal overlap with new right publications and organizations testified to this . Haug von Kuenheim certified the newspaper that it was following a “strict right course”.

While the SPD politician and journalist Stephan Braun also regards the newspaper as the publication organ of the New Right, the Bavarian Prime Minister and CSU Chairman Horst Seehofer wrote a greeting in 2010 on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the newspaper in which he attested that it was “clear and edgy, in the good Prussian-conservative-Enlightenment tradition ”.

The editors describe the orientation of the newspaper as "Prussian value conservative ", their principle is "Prussian correct instead of politically correct ". The PAZ describes the assignment to the New Right as absurd.

Evidence and references

Used literature

  • Stephan Braun , Alexander Geisler, Martin Gerster: The "Young Freedom" of the "New Right". Federal and state political perspectives on “Young Freedom” and the media of the “New Right”. In: Stephan Braun, Ute Vogt (ed.): The weekly newspaper "Junge Freiheit". Critical analyzes of the program, content, authors and customers. VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden 2007, ISBN 978-3-531-15421-3 , doi : 10.1007 / 978-3-531-90559-4_1 , pp. 15-41 ( available from Google Books ).
  • Alice Brauner-Orthen : The New Right in Germany. Anti-democratic and racist tendencies. Leske + Budrich, Opladen 2001, ISBN 3-8100-3078-3 .
  • Margret Chatwin: Reaching for the sovereignty of opinion: Internet campaigns by “Junge Freiheit” using the example of Wikipedia. In: Stephan Braun, Ute Vogt (ed.): The weekly newspaper "Junge Freiheit". Critical analyzes of the program, content, authors and customers. VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden 2007, ISBN 978-3-531-15421-3 , pp. 231-267.
  • Hans-Jürgen Gaida: The official organs of the East German country teams. Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1973, ISBN 3-428-02848-1 , pp. 151-158.
  • Wolfgang Gessenhartner: The new intellectual right and its support by politics and the media. In: Stephan Braun, Daniel Hörsch (ed.): Right networks - a danger. VS Verlag, 2004, ISBN 3-8100-4153-X , pp. 17-26.
  • Wilhelm von Gottberg : 60 years of PAZ. In: Preußische Allgemeine Zeitung (ed.): 60 years of the Preußische Allgemeine Zeitung / The Ostpreußenblatt. Speeches at the celebratory event of the East Prussian Landsmannschaft on the occasion of the anniversary. Landsmannschaft Ostpreußen, Hamburg 2010, pp. 5–14.
  • Alexander Häusler : “MultiKulti” as a threat scenario for the new right. In: Christoph Butterwegge , Gudrun Hentges : Mass media, migration and integration: challenges for journalism and political education. VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden 2006, ISBN 3-531-15047-2 , pp. 109–128.
  • Ulla Jelpke, Helmut Schröder: The Ostpreußenblatt. In: Jens Mecklenburg (Ed.): Handbook of German right-wing extremism . Elefanten Press, Berlin 1996, ISBN 3-88520-585-8 , pp. 422-424.
  • Peter Oliver Loew : An image of Poland by the German right? Contents - functions - dangers. In: Dieter Bingen, Peter Oliver Loew, Kazimierz Wóycicki (eds.): The Destruction of Dialogue: for the domestic political instrumentalization of negative images of others and enemies; Poland, the Czech Republic, Germany and the Netherlands in comparison, 1900–2005 . Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, 2007, ISBN 978-3-447-05488-1 , pp. 328-344.
  • Anton Maegerle: Author network in the gray area. She leaves between conservatism and right-wing extremism. In: Stephan Braun, Daniel Hörsch (ed.): Right networks - a danger. VS Verlag, 2004, ISBN 3-8100-4153-X , pp. 35-43.
  • Anton Maegerle, Daniel Hörsch: “The battle for heads” has begun. Pioneers, strategists and pioneers of right-wing networks. In: Stephan Braun, Daniel Hörsch (ed.): Right networks - a danger. VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden 2004, ISBN 3-8100-4153-X , pp. 113–122.
  • Samuel Salzborn : Home without borders. History, present and future of the displaced persons' associations. Elefanten Press, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-88520-770-2 .
  • Horst Seehofer: Greeting. In: Preußische Allgemeine Zeitung (ed.): 60 years of the Preußische Allgemeine Zeitung / The Ostpreußenblatt. Speeches at the celebratory event of the East Prussian Landsmannschaft on the occasion of the anniversary. Landsmannschaft Ostpreußen, Hamburg 2010, pp. 3–4.
  • Matthias Stickler: East German means all German. Organization, self-image and political objectives of the German expellee associations 1949–1972. Droste, Düsseldorf 2004, ISBN 3-7700-1896-6 .
  • Wolfram Wette (Ed.): Filbinger, a German career. To Klampen, 2006, ISBN 3-934920-74-8 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Gaida 1973 , p. 151.
  2. ↑ Gaida 1973 , pp. 152-153.
  3. ↑ a b Gaida 1973 , pp. 153-154.
  4. ↑ Gaida 1973 , p. 154.
  5. ↑ Maegerle & Hörsch 2004 , p. 116.
  6. ↑ a b Salzborn 2000 , p. 119.
  7. ↑ Brauner-Orthen 2001 , p. 156.
  8. ↑ Jelpke & Schröder 1996 , p. 423.
  9. ↑ Paul Middelhoff, "The genocide of European Jewry is still used as an effective instrument for criminalizing the Germans (...)" , DIE ZEIT of March 16, 2017, available online
  10. ↑ von Gottberg 2010 , pp. 8–9.
  11. ↑ von Gottberg 2010 , p. 10.
  12. ↑ Salzborn 2000 , p. 117.
  13. ↑ Maegerle 2004 , pp. 37-38.
  14. ↑ Mahlitz leaves, Range comes . In: Preussische Allgemeine Zeitung , August 13, 2005.
  15. ↑ Master media newsletter of August 2, 2006 ( memento of the original of February 16, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF file) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.stamm.de
  16. ^ Preussische Allgemeine Zeitung of September 6, 2008
  17. ^ Preussische Allgemeine Zeitung of August 2, 2008
  18. ↑ a b René Nehring: The PAZ in a new guise. In: preussische-allgemeine.de. Accessed January 1, 2020 .
  19. ^ Johann Michael Möller: All the best, René Nehring! Farewell after 15 years. In: rotary.de. December 1, 2019, accessed January 1, 2020 .
  20. ↑ von Gottberg 2010 , p. 11.
  21. ↑ a b Maegerle 2004 , p. 37.
  22. ↑ "We are simply Prussian!" , Interview with Konrad Badenheuer, in: Junge Freiheit , January 29, 2010
  23. ^ Preussische Allgemeine Zeitung - the readers. Retrieved July 17, 2017 .
  24. ↑ Bet 2006 , p. 143.
  25. ↑ Loew 2007 , p. 330.
  26. ↑ a b Braun u. a. 2007 , p. 28.
  27. ↑ Gessenhartner 2004 , p. 24.
  28. ↑ Fabian Virchow: Against civilism: international relations and the military in the political conceptions of the extreme right. VS-Verlag, Wiesbaden 2006, ISBN 3-531-15007-3 , p. 315.
  29. ↑ Stickler 2004 , p. 408.
  30. ^ Haug von Kuenheim: multiculturalism between the Vistula and Memel . In: The time . No. 42 , 2005 ( zeit.de ).
  31. ↑ Seehofer 2010 , pp. 3–4.
  32. ↑ Who we are. Accessed January 1, 2020 . on preussische-allgemeine.de
  33. ↑ Press release: The Preußische Allgemeine Zeitung does not belong to the “new right” of January 26, 2012 on preussische-allgemeine.de, accessed on June 30, 2013

further reading

  • Hans-Jürgen Gaida: We East Prussia - The East Prussian Gazette. In: the same: The official organs of the East German Landsmannschaften. Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1973. ISBN 3-428-02848-1 . Pp. 151-158.
  • Anton Maegerle: Author network in the gray area. She leaves between conservatism and right-wing extremism. In: Stephan Braun, Daniel Hörsch (ed.): Right networks - a danger. VS Verlag, Wiesbaden 2004. ISBN 3-8100-4153-X , pp. 35-43.
  • Matthias Stickler: East German means all German. Organization, self-image and political objectives of the German expellee associations 1949–1972. Droste, Düsseldorf 2004. ISBN 3-7700-1896-6 .