Wilhelm Gries

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Wilhelm Gries (born May 4, 1894 in Koblenz , † September 22, 1971 in Saarbrücken ) was a German journalist.

From 1946 he was editor-in-chief of the Neue Zeit , a non- Marxist daily newspaper of the Eastern CDU before it was brought into line, and in 1947 he fled the Soviet zone of occupation .

Before World War II

Gries began his journalistic career after studying law as an editor for the Düsseldorfer Tageblatt . In the years 1928 to 1933 he was deputy editor and chief editor of the central organ of the Center Party Germania in Berlin and was after the seizure of power released by the National Socialists. As editor-in-chief of the Saarbrücker Landeszeitung , he was able to continue his journalistic activities in 1934 until he left for political reasons four years later. Along with Georg Dertinger Gries was during the Nazi dictatorship in the service of Germany operates.

In the Soviet Zone

After founding the CDU daily Neue Zeit in 1945 , Gries was initially deputy to the first editor-in-chief Emil Dovifat . From January 1946 he was his successor as editor-in-chief.

During his press work, Gries personally felt the censor activity of the responsible Soviet press officer. Wilhelm Gries reported how the censor of the occupation authorities reacted to the headline “Revolution in women's fashion”: “Read Karl Marx, then you will know what revolution is.” It was not uncommon for news or comments to be mutilated or mutilated under previous Soviet censorship have been completely deleted. When in mid-November 1946 the SED party executive published a draft constitution for a German Democratic Republic , which still had an all-German republic in mind, but negated the position of the Eastern CDU on a " federally structured state with separation of powers and competencies", Wilhelm Gries took over in consultation with the party to “take a clear and critical position”. This was only possible because after the implementation of an Allied Control Council directive of October 12, 1946 by the SMAD , the preliminary censorship in Berlin and the Soviet Zone was abolished in November of the same year , but was later replaced by a subsequent evaluation of the newspaper by Soviet press officers. What appeared ostensibly as a measure serving the freedom of the press, subsequently led to "stronger conflicts between the SMA and the editorial staff" of Neue Zeit , because the editor-in-chief responsible for the content did not show any anticipatory obedience to the occupation authorities or did not introduce self-censorship .

After escaping from the Soviet Zone

After his dismissal by the Russian occupation forces (SMAD) in December 1947, Gries became editor-in-chief of the newspaper Der Tag in the western sectors of Berlin, which was newly founded with a British license . License holders were former functionaries of the Eastern CDU who were deposed by the Soviet military administration, including Jakob Kaiser , Walther Schreiber and Andreas Hermes . In the editorial office of Der Tag some journalists gathered who had left the Neue Zeit in East Berlin because of the editorial "reorganization" . B. the NZ business editor from 1945 to 1947 Hans Sonnenschein . The guideline of Der Tag was expressed through its subtitle, Independent Newspaper for Germany .

Wilhelm Gries ended his professional life as editor-in-chief of the Saarbrücker Zeitung in 1965, where he worked for eight years after leaving Der Tag .

Honors

In 1961 he received the Great Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany .

literature

source

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Andreas Herbst :  Gries, Wilhelm . In: Who was who in the GDR? 5th edition. Volume 1. Ch. Links, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86153-561-4 .
  2. ^ A b c d e Johann Baptist Gradl : The CDU 1945-1948 in the Soviet zone of occupation in Germany, Verlag Wissenschaft und Politik 1981, ISBN 3-8046-8584-6
  3. ^ Martin Broszat, Gerhard Braas, Hermann Weber: SBZ manual. 1993, ISBN 3-486-55262-7 , p. 542
  4. ↑ Quoted from Johann Baptist Gradl, co-founder of the CDU in Berlin in 1945, who already knew Gries from his joint editorial work at the central organ of the "Germania" center.
  5. ↑ Peter Strunk: Censorship and censors - media control and propaganda politics under Soviet occupation in Germany , 1996, ISBN 3-05-002850-5 , p. 136
personal data
SURNAME Gries, Wilhelm
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German journalist and editor-in-chief
DATE OF BIRTH May 4, 1894
PLACE OF BIRTH Koblenz
DATE OF DEATH 22nd September 1971
Place of death Saarbrücken