Journalists Between Hitler And Adenauer: From Inner Emigration To The Moral Reconstruction Of West Germany

Description

The moral and political role of German journalists before, during, and after the Nazi dictatorship. Journalists between Hitler and Adenauer takes an in-depth look at German journalism from the late Weimar period through the postwar decades. Illuminating the roles played by journalists in the media metropolis of Hamburg, Volker Berghahn focuses on the lives and work of three remarkable individuals: Marion Countess Donhoff, distinguished editor of Die Zeit; Paul Sethe, “the grand old man of West German journalism”; and Hans Zehrer, editor in chief of Die Welt. All born before 1914, Donhoff, Sethe, and Zehrer witnessed the Weimar Republic's end and opposed Hitler. When the latter seized power in 1933, they were, like their fellow Germans, confronted with the difficult choice of entering exile, becoming part of the active resistance, or joining the Nazi Party. Instead, they followed a fourth path—“inner emigration”—psychologically distancing themselves from the regime, their writing falling into a gray zone between grudging collaboration and active resistance. During the war, Donhoff and Sethe had links to the 1944 conspiracy to kill Hitler, while Zehrer remained out of sight on a North Sea island. In the decades after 1945, all three became major figures in the West German media. Berghahn considers how these journalists and those who chose inner emigration interpreted Germany's horrific past and how they helped to morally and politically shape the reconstruction of the country. With fresh archival materials, Journalists between Hitler and Adenauer sheds essential light on the influential position of the German media in the mid-twentieth century and raises questions about modern journalism that remain topical today. Cover......Page 1 Title......Page 4 Copyright......Page 5 CONTENTS......Page 6 Introduction: Journalists and Freedom of Expression in the Twentieth Century......Page 12 Clarifying the “Generation of ’32”......Page 17 Defining “Inner Emigration”......Page 20 Three “Inner Emigrants”?: Ernst Jünger, Margret Boveri, and Henri Nannen......Page 22 The Structure of Journalists between Hitler and Adenauer......Page 35 Family and Academic Training......Page 37 Writing for the Ohligser Anzeiger and the Crisis of the Weimar Republic......Page 41 Sethe’s Politics and Journalism during 1932–1933......Page 42 Maneuvering in the Early Days of the Nazi Regime......Page 48 Serving as Editor at Frankfurter Zeitung......Page 56 On the Fringes of the Anti-Nazi Resistance......Page 64 Flight from Berlin and Early Postwar Search for a New Career......Page 68 Founding the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung......Page 72 Tensions over the FAZ’s Political Orientation and Freedom of Expression......Page 77 Joining Axel Springer’s Die Welt......Page 84 Sethe’s Separation from Springer and Move to Der Stern and Die Zeit......Page 88 Preface......Page 96 Family Life and Career in Times of Peace and War......Page 98 Anti-Nazi Resistance and the July 1944 Plot to Kill Hitler......Page 105 Flight to West Germany, Mourning, and Defending the Anti-Nazi Resistance......Page 108 Pondering Her Lost Heimat and the Idea of a Reunified Germany......Page 121 Marion Dönhoff’s Atlanticism and Its Networks......Page 127 Her “Prussian” Values and Critique of the Evolution of Capitalism......Page 131 The Larger Setting of Weimar Politics......Page 140 Family Background and Early Career......Page 143 Shaping Die Tat into a Major Voice of the Authoritarian Anti-Nazi Right......Page 145 The Establishment of the Hitler Regime......Page 154 Surviving the Hitler Dictatorship on the North Sea Island of Sylt......Page 160 Zehrer’s Search for a Postwar Career and Return to Die Welt......Page 166 The Springer-Zehrer Interventions in International Politics......Page 172 Zehrer’s Slow Demise within the Springer Media Empire......Page 176 Stille vor dem Sturm as the Sum Total of Zehrer’s Weltanschauung......Page 181 Newspapers and Politics in Early Postwar West Germany......Page 194 The Origins of Axel Springer’s Press Empire......Page 197 Gerd Bucerius: Family Background and Postwar Media and Political Ambitions......Page 202 The Acquisition of Der Stern and Die Zeit......Page 206 Bucerius and the Transformation of His Two Liberal Weeklies......Page 211 Rudolf Augstein’s Rise and the Role of Der Spiegel in West German Politics......Page 215 The Spiegel Affair and Its Consequences......Page 222 Conclusion: Freedom of Expression in the Twentieth and Early Twenty-First Centuries......Page 227 Acknowledgments......Page 236 Notes......Page 238 Select Bibliography......Page 278 Index......Page 280