American Swiss newspaper

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American Swiss newspaper
American Swiss Newspaper 1975.png
description Swiss emigrant newspaper
language German
publishing company Swiss Publishing Co., New York, later Swiss Publishing, Inc., most recently Swiss American Review, Inc. (United States of America)
Headquarters New York City
First edition August 26, 1868
(as Der Grütlianer )
attitude November 11, 1999
founder Carl Bryner, John Schläpfer, John after work
Frequency of publication weekly (last fortnightly)
Sold edition recently just over 4,000 copies

The American Swiss Newspaper (ASZ) was founded in December 1876 by John Feierabend in New York . He further dated the newspaper of the Grütlianer , founded by Conrad Bryner on August 26, 1868, among other things as an organ of the North American Grütliverein , which had been taken over by the Grütlianer editor John Schläpfer in 1870 and renamed Helvetia , but which also died before 1876. Thus the year 1868 is considered to be the founding date.

The ASZ was published as a weekly newspaper in German, later with English and French as well as occasional Italian and Rhaeto-Romanic articles, most recently almost exclusively in English. It was primarily a bridge between the old homeland and the new world in cultural, political and economic events for the Swiss Americans , but also served as a general gazette for club and family matters. In 1973 the newspaper was renamed Swiss American Review and from 1996 it was only published biweekly. In 1999 it was discontinued.

history

In 1878 John Feierabend handed over the ASZ to his father Jacob Feierabend. In November 1881 it was taken over by Alfred Ott.

In December 1884 the journalist and lawyer John Friederich (1847-1900, actually Hans Friedrich Schwab, from Büren zum Hof ) joined the ASZ as editor-in-chief . He wanted "to pay a little more attention to the current issues of the day than was possible until then." As an innovation, illustrations should appear in the future. In September 1886 he became the sole editor and owner and led the newspaper to a great reputation. It now benefited from the greatly increased immigration from Switzerland and claimed to reach 300,000 “well-off” Swiss Americans . On March 7, 1900, Friederich died of Bright's kidney disease . EA Haefelin, who has been editor of the ASZ for seven years, then led the editorial team on an interim basis . The heirs of Friederich offered Swiss Publishing Co. and ASZ to the highest bidder. It was bought by F. Saxer. He announced that he would "focus on the Swiss association system on a somewhat larger scale than has been done so far".

Title page of the first edition of the Grütlianer

Louis Siebenmann became the new editor-in-chief in 1901, and was seconded from March 1903 to November 1903 by the president of the Swiss Publishing Co., B. Teodor. As early as September 11, 1905, the management of the ASZ passed to E. Keller as editor and Fred. W. Muelchi as publisher by taking over the entire property of the Swiss Publishing Co. on a lease basis. Apparently they were not satisfied with Siebenmann, because the new owners also announced that they wanted to "pay more attention to club life in New York, as in all of the USA, than the situation has previously allowed." In addition, they would “spare no work and no expense to make the American Swiss calendar on a par with previous years”.

The next editor-in-chief, Benedikt Sigbert Meier (1868–1931, von Disentis ), became one of the most prominent directors of the ASZ . He worked as a professor at the Sarnen Monastery, moved to the USA in 1912 and, after spending several months in the West, joined the Swiss Publishing Co. in October 1912 to become the second editor of the ASZ in December 1912 . In August 1914 he became editor-in-chief, on September 1, 1916 he bought the newspaper. The ASZ soon had correspondents in all states of the United States and several talented writers such as Alfred Adrian Fischer, Gottfried Arn, Oskar Kollbrunner , John G. Probst and Anita Perino. Eduard Haussener was the editor, Fred was the printer. W. Muelchi.

However , as the number of Swiss immigrants decreased, the reach of the ASZ fell to 15,000 readers in 1914, and the circulation to only 1,500 copies in the interwar years. The newspaper went bankrupt three times.

Sigbert Meier also edited the official organ of the North-American Swiss Alliance (NASA) founded in 1865, Der Schweizer (later The Swiss American ). He led the American Swiss Calendar , which was first published in 1881 by Jacob Feierabend as a guide for Swiss immigrants, from the design of an annual calendar to a high-quality literary annual volume with original contributions. With his participation, John D. Hutter, a long-time employee of the ASZ , began to publish the Swiss Journal in San Francisco in 1918 . The far west coast was too remote for the ASZ , at that time such distances of space and time were difficult to overcome. This Swiss journal , overseen by Mario Muschi (1924-2016) until 2004, became the official organ of the United Swiss Associations of California.

On November 18, 1930, Meier had a fatal accident in New York when two cars ran over him. He died of his serious injuries on January 6, 1931. His widow, Anna D. Meier, sold the newspaper of the newly formed Swiss Publishing, Inc.

From April 1, 1931, Franz X. Amrein (1900–1971), who had been working for the newspaper since November 1923, was editor-in-chief of the ASZ ; he became their second longtime director, editor and publisher. He, too, always had to struggle with major financial problems. At the beginning of his term of office, several shareholders left the company and handed over their shares to Amrein as compensation for outstanding salaries. By 1943, these were still at 20,000 US dollars. For running the newspaper, Amrein relied on the financial support of his wife Anne, who had a job as a secretary and also helped him with the publication of the newspaper. After 1943 immigration increased again and the situation improved somewhat. In the 1950s it worsened again, and the circulation fell to 1,000 copies by 1969. Amrein's wife died in the mid-1960s. In 1969 the Consulate General in New York formed a committee to save the ASZ together with some Swiss business people . He managed to raise a fund of US $ 25,000 to cover the debt and finance a fresh start.

Newspaper head from 1876

On August 1, 1969, Max E. Ammann (* 1938) joined the newspaper as a foreign correspondent for several Swiss, German and Austrian newspapers, including Basler Nachrichten , Solothurner Zeitung , Thurgauer Zeitung , Schaffhauser Nachrichten and Tat , and ran it until the end of March 1973 , together with Franz X. Amrein until the end of 1969. Subsequently, Amrein drew as "Senior Editor" and Ammann as "Executive Editor" until Amrein died on April 14, 1971 as a result of a stroke . Ammann succeeded in doubling advertising income and increasing the circulation, which is now 2,000 copies, to 3,000 copies. The ASZ should, as he announced before taking office, contained about 50% reports from Switzerland, 25% reports from New York, the United States and the world, and 25% reported and for the Swiss colony. Among other things, the ASZ was supposed to have a say in sports that the American daily newspapers say too little about (such as handball and horse riding ), and summaries about sports that are too much in the American newspapers (such as baseball ). During this time, Hans Lacher , Consul General in New York from 1963 to 1968 and then Ambassador to Germany, Anton «Toni» Maier, President of the Swiss Society, and Richard Anderegg, as successor to Heiner Gautschy, correspondent for Schweizer, made outstanding contributions to the ASZ Radio DRS in New York and later editor-in-chief of the ASZ successor newspaper, Swiss American Review .

After Max E. Ammann left, who was subsequently editor-in-chief of the Luzerner Tagblatt from 1973 to 1978 , the American Calvin McMahan and his partner Kathrin Beyeler ran the newspaper. On April 4, 1973, they switched from letterpress to offset printing , changed the format to tabloid and modernized the newspaper header with a new subtitle The Weekly Voice of Switzerland in America . The two, who had married in the meantime, were dismissed after just 17 weeks, on July 25, 1973, after arguments with the newspaper's editors about reporting on the Watergate scandal . The newspaper had lost circulation in a short time and was on the verge of financial collapse.

Head of the ASZ successor newspaper (1973)

In this difficult situation, Anton Maier took over Swiss Publishing, Inc. and the newspaper, renamed it Swiss American Review (SAR) in November 1973 ( shortened the subtitle to The Voice of Switzerland in America ), cut the full-time editorial position and set up Editorial board made up of volunteer journalists, including Markus Löw (Director Corporate Art at Ciba-Geigy ), later Arturo Truninger, Bernard J. Bochatay and Rudolf Brühlmann (Europartners Securities Corporation), and correspondents from Swiss newspapers such as Joseph Mannheim ( sda / Schweizer Radio DRS ), Rudolf Hafter ( NZZ ) and Karl Kränzle ( Tages-Anzeiger ) as well as the graphic artist Hubert Graf, who made themselves available free of charge. In addition, the American journalist Frank X. Wamsley was hired as the newspaper's producer. In 1974 he was replaced by his wife and previous assistant, Betty D. Wamsley, until mid-1975, after which this position was also cut, and the editorial board took over the editing until 1991, when the Executive Committee under Anton Maier became the long-time member of the board Markus Löw Editing Manager appointed.

At the end of 1979, Joseph Mannheim, a member of the Editorial Board since 1973 , was made honorary Editor Emeritus . Mannheim died on October 3, 1984 at the age of 80.

Despite austerity measures and hard labor, the newspaper continued to have serious financial problems. In 1991 it was taken over by entrepreneur and patron Otto J. Rüesch (1940–2004) from Washington, DC , owner of Ruesch International Monetary Services, Inc., who was Contributing Editor from November 1987 to November 1989 . He also took a seat on the Executive Committee under Helmut Klee, Director of the National Swiss Tourist Office USA and successor to Anton Maier. From 1993 Rüesch was President of the SAR . In February 1993 the headline was changed with the new subtitle The Magazine for the Swiss in the United States Since 1868 (later only Established in 1868 ). The sheet should now contain more articles in English.

In mid-1993 the Managing Editor Markus Löw left the newspaper. In August 1993, Karl Vonlanthen was appointed editor-in-chief. The editorial team has now been structured more strongly again. In 1994 Nadja C. Leonard, in 1995 Lotti Tobler, Burgi Zenhäusern and Cedric Berger were appointed Assistant Editors . At the end of March 1995, Karl Vonlanthen, who temporarily relocated to Burundi, left the newspaper. Richard Anderegg, previously a correspondent for the Aargauer Tagblatt , of 24 heures , Tribune de Genève and Schweizer Radio DRS and editor of Voice of America , has been appointed as his successor.

SAR newspaper head from 1973 until its discontinuation in 1999

In the end, Rüesch also no longer wanted to bear the deficits. The support from the Swiss colony was not received to the extent hoped. The financial support of Swiss companies, which are now often run by foreigners without close ties to Switzerland, was also insufficient. In addition, you have the competition with by the since 1974 by the Organization of Swiss Abroad (OSA) on behalf of federal , published six times a year in four languages Swiss Review (Swiss Review) get to feel. (The FDFA and the OSA attempted a special issue with the SAR in 1973 to test its suitability as a publication for the Swiss abroad, but then decided to publish their own newspaper.) In view of the news available at all times, low airfare and affordable telephone charges a magazine like SAR no longer generates the income that would be necessary to cover the high costs of a professional team. Rüesch published a "Final Edition" on December 25, 1996, but offered to hand over all the information to a new editor and to support him with the publication.

Peter Lüthy (* 1955), owner of Everything Phone, Inc., accepted this offer and took over the newspaper in 1997. He changed the frequency of publication to biweekly. He appointed Roman Elsener, Associated Press correspondent, as editor . The entrepreneur Roger Bahnick later also took part. The team had published 34 issues up to November 1999, now almost exclusively in English. The deficits increased even now, although the circulation could be increased from a little over 2,000 to more than 4,000 copies and despite logistical support from Swissair, now also the Swiss Review and various Swiss newspapers, including the NZZ . Lüthy finally tried to bring together a group of sponsors in order to be able to continue running the newspaper, but it did not succeed. The SAR was thus definitively discontinued on November 11, 1999.

Editors-in-chief

  • 1868–1875 John Schläpfer ( Grütlianer , Helvetia )
  • 1876–1878 John Feierabend
  • 1878–1881 Jacob after work
  • 1881–1884 Alfred Ott
  • 1884–1900 John Friederich
  • 1900-1901 EA Haefelin a. i.
  • 1902–1905 Louis Siebenmann *
  • 1905–1914 E. Keller
  • 1914–1931 Sigbert Meier
  • 1931–1970 Franz X. Amrein
  • 1969–1973 Max E. Ammann
  • 1973–1973 Calvin McMahan / Kathrin McMahan-Beyeler
  • 1973–1974 Frank X. Wamsley
  • 1974-1975 Betty D. Wamsley
  • 1975–1991 Editorial Board a. a. with Markus Löw, Arturo Truninger, Rudolf Brühlmann, Bernard J. Bochatay and Joseph Mannheim (sda / Schweizer Radio DRS), Rudolf Hafter (NZZ) and Karl Kränzle (Tages-Anzeiger)
  • 1991–1993 Markus Loew
  • 1993–1995 Karl Vonlanthen
  • 1995–1996 Richard Anderegg
  • 1997–1999 Roman Elsener

* from February 14, 1903 to November 21, 1903 together with B. Teodor

criticism

In the assessment of the Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz , the American Swiss Newspaper developed "a nationalistly tinged Swiss expression that expressed a German-Swiss identity".

language

A particular problem for a newspaper for the Swiss Abroad, which in any case only has a much smaller colony in the USA than the German, Polish or Italian, and therefore hardly has a circulation that is of interest to advertisers, was the language. At the beginning, the ASZ only contained articles in German. A French-Swiss is hardly interested in German-language articles, and a Romansh-Swiss would like to read articles in his own language (Max E. Ammann). The solution to this problem could be to publish all articles in English. However, this would drive up the cost of translations to intolerable heights and also reduce the timeliness. The ASZ therefore tried a mix of all languages, with English-language articles increasing sharply over time. Most recently, the Swiss American Review contained almost exclusively articles in English. The translation costs contributed to the deficit, which ultimately led to the newspaper's closure.

Forerunners and other emigrant newspapers in the USA

The forerunners of the ASZ date back to the years after the Civil War (1861 to 1865) and the great immigration (1850–1860 there was an annual average of 6,000 to 10,000 immigrants from Switzerland, in the 1880s almost 82,000) . From 1883 to 1884 an H. Meyer in Brookfield ( Illinois ) published the bi-monthly publication Helvetia . J. H. Walser published a weekly Helvetia first in Cincinnati (1857 to 1859), then in Tell City ( Indiana , 1859 to 1865) with the subtitle Tell City Volksblatt . A third Helvetia, with the subtitle Swiss-American Weekly , was in Newark (New Jersey) from 1870 to 1878 . A combative Grütlian appeared in New York around 1900 , and from 1867 to 1907 the news from Germany and Switzerland also came out there. They were the government’s official organ for inheritance notices and undeliverable letters. The monthly Der Schweizer , which has been published in New York since 1865, switched to English in 1944 and was henceforth called The Swiss American . In 1909 a Swiss friend appeared in St. Louis , and from 1900 to 1903 a P. Schild published the New Switzerland News in Hohenwald ( Tennessee ) , first every fortnight, then weekly. In the state of Wisconsin , where, besides New York , Ohio , Illinois and Missouri, most of the Germans and Swiss had settled, three Swiss newspapers were published: in Monroe from 1924 to 1925 the weekly newspaper of Adolf Hübscher Schweizer Nachrichten and in New Glarus from 1897 to 1917 the Swiss Courier in German and the New Glarus Post in English. This swallowed the Courier in 1917 and continued to run it as a German supplement until 1920.

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Linus Spuler: 100 years of the “American Swiss Newspaper”. In: Sprachspiegel. No. 23, 1967, p. 155 f. (Also published in: Neue Zürcher Zeitung . December 19, 1967, p. B14).
  2. ^ The American Swiss newspaper for 1885. In: Swiss American Review. December 17, 1884, p. 4.
  3. ↑ Dr. John Friederich †. In: American Swiss newspaper. March 17, 1900, p. 1.
  4. ↑ F. Saxer: To our dear readers and patrons. In: American Swiss newspaper. May 26, 1900, p. 5.
  5. ↑ E. Keller, Fred. W. Muelchi: Note. In: American Swiss newspaper. September 23, 1905, p. 5.
  6. ↑ E. Keller, Fred. W. Muelchi: To our readers. In: American Swiss newspaper. September 30, 1905, p. 4.
  7. ^ Franz X. Amrein: On the death of editor Benedikt S. Meier. In: American Swiss newspaper. January 15, 1931, p. 1.
  8. ↑ Anna D. Meier: My resignation. In: American Swiss newspaper. April 2, 1931, p. 4.
  9. ↑ By the way. In: The deed . April 18, 1951, p. 3.
  10. ^ A b c Max E. Ammann: Problems of the Foreign Language Press in the United States. In: American Swiss newspaper. 3rd January 1973.
  11. ↑ Max E. Ammann on the network4events website .
  12. ↑ America's “Swiss newspaper” is converting. In: The deed. June 25, 1970, p. 3.
  13. ↑ Max E. Ammann: Our plans. In: American Swiss newspaper. May 20, 1970.
  14. ^ Editor's note. In: American Swiss newspaper. July 25, 1973, p. 1.
  15. ^ Anton Maier retires as SAR President. In: Swiss American Review. December 25, 1991, p. 1.
  16. ↑ New editorial board begins with this issue. In: American Swiss newspaper. August 1, 1973, p. 1.
  17. ↑ Dear Reader. In: Swiss American Review. December 25, 1991, p. 1.
  18. ↑ Dr. Joseph Mannheim Honored as SAR Editor Emeritus. In: Swiss American Review. December 12, 1979, p. 1.
  19. ^ Joseph Mannheim, Editor Emeritus, Dies. In: Swiss American Review. October 17, 1984, p. 1.
  20. ^ Louie Estrada: Businessman Otto Ruesch Dies; Cultural, Civic Philanthropist. In: Washington Post . October 16, 2004.
  21. ^ Change in the Editorial Board. In: Swiss American Review. August 18, 1993, p. 1.
  22. ^ SAR Names Nadja C. Leonard Assistant Editor. In: Swiss American Review. October 19, 1994, p. 3.
  23. ^ Change in the Editorial Staff. In: Swiss American Review. March 15, 1995, p. 1.
  24. ↑ Final Edition! In: Swiss American Review. December 25, 1996.
  25. ^ Gérald Arlettaz: United States of America. Emigration. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
  26. ↑ Dale Bechtel: When the Swiss helped shape America. In: Swissinfo . November 9, 2009.
  27. ^ Armin Arnold: The German press in the United States. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung. January 19, 1962, morning edition, sheet 5.