Simone Wendler (* 1955 in

Cottbus Cottbus (; Lower Sorbian: ''Chóśebuz'' ; Polish: Chociebuż) is a university city and the second-largest city in Brandenburg, Germany. Situated around southeast of Berlin, on the River Spree, Cottbus is also a major railway junction with exten ...

) is a chemist and journalist. Until her retirement, she was chief reporter of Lusatian Rundschau Newspaper.

Life

Wendler studied chemistry, graduated with a diploma and worked until 1990 in this profession, over many years in the GDR meat combine. 1984 Wendler changed to the laboratory of the hospital. In 1989 she took over the press work of SDP that later joined the

SPD The Social Democratic Party of Germany (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, ; SPD, ) is a centre-left social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been the ...

. After the

Peaceful Revolution The Peaceful Revolution (german: Friedliche Revolution), as a part of the Revolutions of 1989, was the process of sociopolitical change that led to the opening of East Germany's borders with the West, the end of the ruling of the Socialist Unity ...

1989–1990 as a journalist she reported from southern Brandenburg for the Berlin

Tagesspiegel ''Der Tagesspiegel'' (meaning ''The Daily Mirror'') is a German daily newspaper. It has regional correspondent offices in Washington D.C. and Potsdam. It is the only major newspaper in the capital to have increased its circulation, now 148,000, s ...

newspaper. From 1997 to 2000 she worked as a freelance journalist, for daily newspapers and public broadcast. With October 2000, she became chief reporter of ''Lausitzer Rundschau'' Newspaper in Cottbus. In the

GDR East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

she was spied on under the name of the object name "''Poet"'' because it was believed that it could become the "tool of the class enemy".

Investigation of a corruption affair

In November 2000, Wendler received a package without a sender. On 29. November 2000, based on the papers it contained, she published the article "graft and corruption in Cottbus?" According to this, leading employees of the urban building economy GWC for years had preferred certain companies when placing orders, real estate had been sold without

public announcement A public address system (or PA system) is an electronic system comprising microphones, amplifiers, loudspeakers, and related equipment. It increases the apparent volume (loudness) of a human voice, musical instrument, or other acoustic sound sou ...

and politicians had benefited or looked away. According to Wendler, this also was in connection with criminal former

Stasi The Ministry for State Security, commonly known as the (),An abbreviation of . was the Intelligence agency, state security service of the East Germany from 1950 to 1990. The Stasi's function was similar to the KGB, serving as a means of maint ...

cliques. Wendler was threatened, also a stone should have been thrown through the living room window. The police had started investigations. It broke a ''Cottbus Newspaper war'', from a slander campaign and it was spoken of a ''Lusatia interrogations''. In a report ''

Der Spiegel ''Der Spiegel'' (, lit. ''"The Mirror"'') is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. With a weekly circulation of 695,100 copies, it was the largest such publication in Europe in 2011. It was founded in 1947 by John Seymour Chaloner ...

'' magazine left the open question: Who is ruining the reputation of a city? Those who serve themselves, act corrupt or even criminal or the others who report on these machinations? The Cottbus Mayor und Wendlers chief editor supported Wendler. Criminal activities were not proven. The public prosecutor, looked at the investigation as ''"the tunnels end is not in view”''. For her attempt to convey the value of press freedom, she was honored with two journalist awards. A GWC employee was convicted for the misappropriation of files. The crafts chamber admitted mistakes. At the GWC leading employees were laid off.

Awards

* 2002: Prize for Freedom and Future of Media * 2002: Guardian Award of the German daily press for investigation of a corruption affair in a company of the city of Cottbus * 2013: ''The long breath'' of the JVBB for their persistent research on right-wing extremism in her region

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wendler, Simone 1955 births Living people People from Cottbus People from Bezirk Cottbus German newspaper journalists 20th-century German chemists