Press restart after the war:How the BZ was founded

The "Braunschweiger Zeitung" is the first free news paper in northern Germany to receive a license from the British military government. The first issue appears on January 8, 1946 - with room for free speech.

by Stefanie Grossmann

It is a small sensation in the North German press landscape:After the Frankfurter Rundschau (August 1, 1945) and the Süddeutsche Zeitung (October 6, 1945) had already appeared as licensed newspapers in the American zone of occupation, the publisher Hans Eckensberger also got a license on August 5 January 1946 issued a newspaper license - by the British military government. Because against the background of a standardized media policy during the Nazi era with the abolition of freedom of the press and the introduction of the Editors' Act on January 1, 1934, the occupiers were very restrictive about the issue of such newspaper licenses. The British press officers in particular attach great importance to the careful restoration of the relationship between Germans and democracy.

Free from National Socialist ideas?

But Hans Eckensberger, who comes from a Braunschweig publishing family and already has a lot of experience as a former shareholder and editor-in-chief of the "Braunschweiger Latest News" (BNN), seems to be the right applicant. Eckensberger not only speaks good English, which helps him in negotiations with the Allies. He supports freedom of expression and is willing to use the press to initiate the democratization process after the Second World War. His newspaper should not be a party-led forum. In addition, Eckensberger is considered politically harmless - and free of ideological ideas. As a journalist, he lost his job under the National Socialists and spent a year in prison in 1934. He then consistently engaged himself against the Nazi regime.

"Brauschweiger" newspaper as a model for a free press

Just two days later - on January 7, 1946 - the official handover of the license took place, carried out by the director of the intelligence agency of the military government, Brigadier W.L. Gibson. Also present are such important officials as Group Captain Hicks, the military governor of the state of Braunschweig - who also promotes cultural life in the city -, the post-war Braunschweig prime minister Hubert Schlebusch and the city's mayor, Ernst Böhme.

The British gave Eckensberger an important message:"The 'Braunschweiger Zeitung' is the first newspaper to be approved by the British military government. It is therefore in a position to serve as a model for all newspapers that will be approved in the future," warns Brigadier Gibson.

Publisher relies on reader opinion

Hans Eckensberger knows about the important task that the press has in post-war Germany:The "Braunschweiger Zeitung" is an organ of German opinion-forming and education for democracy is the most important task that has to be fulfilled in the future, the publisher said before the publication the first edition. A major concern for the publisher is reader participation. He calls the "Letters to the Editor" column "The Free Word" because everyone should have the right to "state their opinion as their own without having to fear the henchmen of a dictatorship," said Hans Eckensberger. The journalist remained loyal to the newspaper until his death in 1966.

Journalist Fritz Sänger becomes editor-in-chief

The printing presses start up at Hutfiltern in the center of Braunschweig on the same day. Headlines such as "Switzerland as a target", "Assassination attempt in Cairo" and also the "Founding act of the Brauschweiger Zeitung" characterize the first issue, for which editor-in-chief Fritz Sänger is responsible. The journalist was already responsible for the "Braunschweiger Neue Presse", published by the Allies, and was classified as "unincriminated" by the British military government. The SPD party member, from 1946 a member of the appointed Braunschweig state parliament, had to keep his head above water as a stenographer during the Nazi regime and helped Jews and dissidents to flee. In 1947 he became head of the German Press Service (dpd), which was merged into the dpa news agency in August 1949. Finally, Fritz Sänger worked out the Godesberg program of the Social Democrats and supported Willy Brandt in the 1961 election campaign.

Paper shortage and rationing characterize the post-war period

On January 8, 1946, customers were able to hold a four-page newspaper in their hands for the first time. The focus is on news such as reports on the Nuremberg trials, but also on culture and local news. But the post-war period is characterized by rationing and a shortage of paper. And so the paper appears initially only twice a week, on Tuesdays and Fridays. There was a setback for the "Braunschweiger Zeitung" just a month after it first appeared. Extreme high water on February 9th and 10th floods the already destroyed inner city and also the editorial building with paper storage and printing rooms. Parts of the archive are destroyed, the editors have to work from Goslar for two months and print an emergency edition there. But things are looking up again:In November 1947 the newspaper appears three times a week and then every weekday from October 1949.

Press after 1945:"Blackout", transition phase, new beginning

Before the "Braunschweiger Zeitung" was published, the Allies reorganized the German press system in three stages. First comes the "blackout" - the ban on all existing newspapers. On April 10, 1945, when the US Army was conducting the first capitulation negotiations with the city, the Nazi newspaper "Braunschweiger Tageszeitung" was published for the last time as the "official organ of the NSDAP and the authorities". Two days later Braunschweig was handed over to the Allies without a fight. This is followed by a transition period of several months with the publication of Allied army group or army newspapers in German. These include the "Braunschweiger Bote", the "Neue Hannoversche Kurier" and the "Braunschweiger Neue Presse". The latter appears for the first time on October 12, 1945 with a length of four pages. Finally, in a final step, licenses are granted to publishers and publishers such as Hans Eckensberger.

The "Braunschweiger Zeitung" is tantamount to a symbol for the rebuilding of the newspaper landscape in northern Germany. Some newspapers such as the "Weser-Kurier" appear a little earlier among the US military. Other press organs in the north will follow, for example:

19. September 1945:"Weser-Kurier"

In September 1945, US General Robert A. McClure presented resistance fighter Hans Hackmack with License No. 11 from the American military government. Just one day later, the "Weser-Kurier" appears on September 19 with a circulation of 150,000 copies on just four pages for 20 pfennigs. It is available in the city of Bremen, Bremerhaven and in the districts of Wesermünde, Osterholz and Wesermarsch. Initially there will be two issues per week, on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

15. January 1946:"Lüneburger Landeszeitung"

On January 14, 1946 at 2:30 p.m., the "Lüneburger Landeszeitung" was born. In the grape hall of the town hall on the market, General Bishop hands over the newspaper license in the British occupation zone to the Wiesemann and Bergmann families and the publisher Erich von Stern. The first "LZ" appears just one day later.

21. February 1946:"Die Zeit"

Hamburg lawyer Gerd Bucerius applied for a newspaper license with Richard Tüngel, Lowis H. Lorenz and Ewald Schmidt. In mid-February 1946, the British military government gave permission, and just one week later - on February 21, 1946 - the first issue of the weekly newspaper "Die Zeit" was published.

2. April 1946:"The World"

"Die Welt" was founded by the British military government. The first edition of the national and non-partisan daily newspaper was published on April 2, 1946. Six pages cost 20 pfennigs. In 1953, Axel Springer bought the paper for two million Deutschmarks.

3. April 1946:"Kieler Nachrichten" and "Lübecker Nachrichten"

At the beginning of April both "Kieler Nachrichten" and "Lübecker Nachrichten" appear for the first time. The British military government approved Claus Wessel, a Lübeck publisher and passionate printer, together with Leonhard Ehrlich, Heinz Eckhold and Johannes Möller to publish the Lübecker Blatt. On April 3, 1946, the newspaper appears with a circulation of 71,000, then twice a week with four pages each.

6. April 1946:"Flensburger Tageblatt"

The British military commander Lt. Col. Lindsay-Young presents the license certificate on April 4, 1946. The "Flensburger Tageblatt" was published two days later. The military government had previously published the "Flensburger Nachrichten-Blatt" from May 11, 1945 to March 28, 1946.

17. September 1946:"Osnabrücker Tageblatt"

In 1949, the publishing house Meinders &Elstermann received a license to publish a daily newspaper. And so the "Osnabrücker Tageblatt" was published for the first time on November 1, 1949 as the successor to the "Neues Tageblatt". In 1967 the "Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung" appeared for the first time - it was a fusion of the daily newspaper and the "Neue Tagespost".

4. January 1947:"Der Spiegel"

Rudolf Augstein acquires the publishing license together with the photographer Roman Stempka and the editor Gerhard R. Barsch in Hanover. Augstein becomes editor-in-chief and publisher and publishes the first edition of the news magazine on January 4, 1947 under the new title "Der Spiegel" - at that time still in the publishing house of the Anzeiger-Hochhaus in Hanover. In 1952 the editorial office moves to Hamburg.

14. October 1948:"Hamburger Abendblatt"

On July 12, 1948, Axel Springer received the license to found a newspaper from the Hamburg Senate. On October 14, 1948, the first issue of the "Hamburger Abendblatt" was published with a circulation of 60,000 copies.

Upswing in "BZ" comes in the 1950s

At the beginning of the 1950s, the independent and non-partisan "Braunschweiger Zeitung" experienced a major boom. The publishing house grows, also in terms of staff, and so a larger printing house is built in the city center in the mid-1950s. The newspaper resided in the press building at Hutfiltern 8 until June 1981. Then it was time for all departments to move - to the new premises at Hamburger Strasse 277 in the north of Braunschweig. However, the "Braunschweiger Zeitung" was not spared from the concentration in the press and from acquisitions by larger media companies in the following years. At the end of January 2007, the WAZ Group took over the publishing house. Today it operates under the Funke Media Group.

In February 2013, the new print shop on Hansestrasse in the north of Braunschweig went into operation. In 2014 there will be the next move, back to the center of the city. The Braunschweiger Zeitungsverlag now functions as the BZV Medienhaus at the address Hinter den Brüder 23.

"Braunschweiger Zeitung" faces challenges in the digital age

Since December 2012, the digital expansion has taken place almost in step with the renaming as a media company. First, the newspaper offers a metered paywall:20 articles are freely accessible - then a payment barrier takes effect. Since July 2014, all items have only been available against payment. An essential step, because like many other newspapers, Braunschweig's only local newspaper is losing readers. Since 1998, circulation has fallen by almost 44 percent. According to current media analysis, the sold circulation is just over 105,000 copies, with half a million readers every day. The rate of subscribers is a good 90 percent.

And so the oldest North German post-war newspaper and second largest newspaper in Lower Saxony after the "Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung" always has to keep up with the times in the tension between falling sales figures and growing digital possibilities. However, the claim from the Wilhelminian period remains - the "Braunschweiger Zeitung" still sees itself as a "citizen's newspaper" that values ​​the participation and involvement of its readership.