Press ball
A press ball is a social dance event organized by journalists' associations, the proceeds of which go to a social cause in the field of journalism. The best known in Germany is the Federal Press Ball .
history
The first German press ball took place on March 9, 1872 as a charity festival for the benefit of journalists in need of the Berlin Press Association and generated a "net profit" of 450 Reichsmarks. The Berlin association followed the example of the Vienna Writers and Journalists Ball , which was organized by the Concordia press club there , the world's oldest journalists' association. The tradition of the ball, which was first held in 1872, is continued by the Berlin Press Ball (also known as the Berlin Press Ball).
Because there was an internal dispute about an invitation to Chancellor Otto von Bismarck , the second "Ball with Festsouper" could only be held on February 1st, 1879 after lengthy debates. Critics accused the ball committee of having violated the party-political neutrality and distance obligations of journalists by inviting politicians. Bismarck never appeared, but his son Herbert was a frequent ball guest.
The first German press ball was danced in the Concerthaus on Dönhoffplatz (Leipziger Straße 45), in 1879 in the Hotel de Rome , from 1880 in the Central Hotel / Wintergarten , from 1889 in the Alte Philharmonie on Bernburger Straße (near Potsdamer Platz) 1912 in the ballroom at the zoological garden . After the Federal Press Conference 1951 Press Ball tradition first in the spa of Bad Neuenahr had revived, they changed from 1959 to the newly built Bonner Beethovenhalle . In 1990 they moved to the Hotel Maritim in Bonn . The Federal Press Ball has been taking place in Berlin since 1999, in the Hotel InterContinental Berlin , on the site of the former ballroom at the zoo. In 2014, the old terminal building at Tempelhof Airport was rented for the first time for the Federal Press Ball. The Berlin Press Ball took place first in the Palais am Funkturm , later in the newly built ICC, after reunification twice in the State Opera Unter den Linden and until 2007 in the Hotel Ritz Carlton on Potsdamer Platz. In 2008 he moved to the Maritim Hotel Berlin on Stauffenbergstrasse and in 2014, for the 115th ball event - after an interlude in the Axel Springer publishing house, moved to the Best Western Premier Hotel Moa Berlin in Moabit.
The journalists' express goal was initially to improve their social position and better contact with politics and administration. But in the first few years there were almost exclusively writers, theater directors, singers, actors and officers among the guests. The first chancellor to attend the press ball was Hohenlohe-Schillingfürst in 1895 . With Chancellor Bethmann Hollweg , the presence of top politicians became the rule from 1909. Adolf Hitler never attended the press ball. In 1933 the ball took place on Saturday / Sunday, 28/29 January, one day before his appointment as Chancellor , making it the last major social event before the National Socialists came to power . The press ball was also “brought into line”, a quote from the BZ on February 5, 1934: “The press festival was completely in tune with the new structure of great social life. It was the transition to the Sunday of the stew. ”On February 6, 1937, Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels wrote in his diary:“ I'm going to the press ball quickly. A difficult walk. Raised tasteless. We shouldn't let these press freaks do that. It has to be done by us. But good dances. "
Until 1939, the press ball was held on the last Saturday in January and on the first Saturday in February at the height of the ball season; the Federal Press Ball now takes place on a Friday in November. The appointment planning of the Federal President is decisive. The Berlin press ball is to be held every second Saturday in January.
In the early days, tickets were only given to members and friends, later sold to the public (up to 7000 guests in the zoo halls). The Federal Press Ball has been a closed event of the Federal Press Conference since 1951, whose members are allowed to invite personal guests. In addition, sponsors receive a small number of tickets. A total of around 2500 guests are on the invitation list.
In its first years the ball was more of a club celebration than a dance event. He gave longer performances of cabaret and pansies. Later, the humorous scenes from club life turned into a large-scale entertainment program up to the lavish revue , which was equipped by the UFA (1939: dance pantomime Die Bunte und die weiß Feder ). Since 1951, music stars have been invited to take part in a half-hour show program. Dance orchestras play before and after.
From the beginning, the raffle was the main feature of the press ball. The proceeds were used to take care of old and sick journalists. During the empire and the Weimar period, only high-quality art objects and books were raffled; in the Bonn years everyday items of all kinds, from coffeemakers to wristwatches, but also cars. Since 1999 only a few (8–10) high-quality main prizes have been raffled.
reception
The German press ball tradition has continued since 1879. There were interruptions during the war and crisis years from 1915 to 1919, from 1940 to 1950 and 1977 ( German autumn / RAF terrorism). In 1983 the press ball had to take place in the tent because some of the Bonn Beethoven Hall had burned down. In 2001 there were following the attacks of September 11 long discussions, but the ball has not been canceled. However, the raffle was waived in favor of the victims of the attacks.
One of the most renowned ball observers and critics from the very beginning was Ludwig Pietsch , who until 1910 wrote long articles about the event for the Vossische Zeitung every year . Even Theodor Wolff of the Berliner Tageblatt reportierte the Press Ball. During his time in Bonn, Walter Henkels regularly reported on the press ball in lengthy articles for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . The most important contemporary document for the Bonn press ball was the annual press ball almanac published by the federal press conference as the organizer , which was distributed to the invited guests. It was always full of satire , humorous advertisements by caricaturists of the major daily newspapers, self-written poems (in every issue at least one by Hans-Henning Zencke ) and also hidden background information; the contributions were made on a voluntary basis by well-known Bonn journalists. As a souvenir for the ball guests at the Berlin Press Ball, there is a ball newspaper with a guest list and many photos from the evening.
More press balls
In addition to the Reich and later the Federal Press Ball, regional state press balls have also established themselves, mostly charity festivals of the respective state journalists' association or state press conferences .
The traditional Berlin press ball is part of the ancestral line of the first press ball from 1872. It should not be confused with the federal press ball. After a financial and organizational crisis, the private investors Andreas Dorfmann (75%) and his authorized signatory Marina Schill (25%) bought the trademark rights to the Ball for 50,000 euros in March 2007. On April 24, 2012, Andreas Dorfmann became the sole shareholder of Presseball Berlin GmbH. From 2009 to 2015 Dorfmann was the chairman of the board of the Presseball Berlin Förderverein e. V., who took over the organization of the ball on April 25, 2012. Since then, the Presseball Berlin has been an event with no relation to press associations, but with charitable intentions for the benefit of journalists. The last ball of the friends' association, the 115th Berlin Press Ball, took place on December 13, 2014. The association disbanded in 2015 for financial reasons. Since 2017, the Berlin inventor of the Shape CD and founder of the Pikosso record company has revived the tradition of the Berlin press ball.
The once renowned Munich Press Ball, recently called the Bavarian Media Ball , was hit by the crisis in the media industry and had to be canceled in 2008 and 2009 due to a lack of sponsors.
In Bonn there is also an International Business and Press Ball , which has lost a lot of its (political) importance since the government moved.
In 2010 the first press ball for young journalists in Berlin was organized by the youth press in Germany .
literature
- Ludwig Pietsch: How amused the press is. In: Gustav Dahms (Ed.): The literary Berlin. Illustrated manual of the press in the Reich capital. Berlin, undated, pp. 275-282.
- Paul Schlenther: The Berlin Press Association and its Members 1862–1912. For the 50th anniversary. Berlin 1912.
Individual evidence
- ↑ spiegel.de: Died: Hans-Henning Zencke (accessed on July 9, 2015)