''Stern'' (, German for "Star") is an illustrated, broadly left-liberal, weekly
current affairs magazine published in Hamburg, Germany, by
Gruner + Jahr Gruner may refer to:
People
* Dov Gruner (1912–1947), Jewish Zionist leader
* Eduard Gruner, Swiss engineer
* Elioth Gruner (1882–1939), Australian painter
* Gottlieb Sigmund Gruner (1717–1778), Swiss cartographer and geologist
* Klaus ...
, a subsidiary of
Bertelsmann
Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA () is a German private multinational conglomerate corporation based in Gütersloh, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is one of the world's largest media conglomerates, and is also active in the service sector and ...
. Under the editorship (1948–1980) of its founder
Henri Nannen
Henri Nannen (25 December 1913 in Emden – 13 October 1996 in Hanover) was a German journalist and art collector. He became one of the most prominent journalists and magazine publishers in Germany.
His father was a police officer in Emden wh ...
, it attained a circulation of between 1.5 and 1.8 million, the largest in Europe's for a magazine of its kind.
Unusually for a popular magazine in post-war
West Germany
West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...
, and most notably in the contributions to 1975 of
Sebastian Haffner
Raimund Pretzel (27 December 1907 – 2 January 1999), better known by his pseudonym Sebastian Haffner, was a German journalist and historian. As an émigré in Britain during World War II, Haffner argued that accommodation was impossible not onl ...
, ''Stern'' investigated the origin and nature of the preceding tragedies of German history. In 1983, however, its credibility was seriously damaged by its purchase and syndication of the forged
Hitler Diaries
The Hitler Diaries (german: Hitler-Tagebücher) were a series of sixty volumes of journals purportedly written by Adolf Hitler, but forged by Konrad Kujau between 1981 and 1983. The diaries were purchased in 1983 for 9.3 million Deutsche ...
. A sharp drop in sales anticipated the general fall in newsprint readership in the new century. By 2019, circulation had fallen under half a million.
History and profile
Journalistic style
Henri Nannen
Henri Nannen (25 December 1913 in Emden – 13 October 1996 in Hanover) was a German journalist and art collector. He became one of the most prominent journalists and magazine publishers in Germany.
His father was a police officer in Emden wh ...
produced the first 16-page issue (with the actress
Hildegard Knef
Hildegard Frieda Albertine Knef (; 28 December 19251 February 2002) was a German actress, voice actress, singer, and writer. She was billed in some English-language films as Hildegard Neff or Hildegarde Neff.
Early years
Hildegard Knef was born ...
[Interview mit Henri Nannen-Meine Stern Stunde](_blank)
on the cover) on 1 August 1948.
He had been able to obtain the licence from the
British military government in Hannover despite his wartime service in , a military propaganda unit in Italy. He moved the magazine to Hamburg where, in 1965, he founded , now one of the largest publishing houses in Europe.
Under Nannen's direction, sought to present itself as an exemplar of what in Germany is called ('useful journalism'). The emphasis is on providing sufficient background on topic to allow readers opportunity to arrive at their own judgements rather than have these decided for them editorially or (as was commonly the case in the tabloid output of rival publisher ) in the headlines. As a result articles tended to be longer and more investigative, while distinguished from those of the similarly directed by the wider range of social and life-style issues covered, and by a greater reliance of illustration and graphic design.
Breaks with the Adenauer consensus
Stern was open to the questioning, from a liberal and left perspective, of the post-war political and social order in
West Germany
West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...
identified with the long Chancellorship (1949–1963) of
Konrad Adenauer
Konrad Hermann Joseph Adenauer (; 5 January 1876 – 19 April 1967) was a Germany, German statesman who served as the first Chancellor of Germany, chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1949 to 1963. From 1946 to 1966, he was the fir ...
.
In the 1962
affair, Stern denounced as violations of constitutional norms and press freedom, the effective closure by the government of the magazine's publishing rival. In a contest seen a key turning point in the culture of the Federal Republic away from the deference demanded by the old ('authoritarian state'), Stern (together with Springer Press and ) offered presses, teletypes and office space so it could continue publishing while being investigated for national security disclosures.
found nothing to extenuate in the later violence of the
Red Army Faction
The Red Army Faction (RAF, ; , ),See the section "Name" also known as the Baader–Meinhof Group or Baader–Meinhof Gang (, , active 1970–1998), was a West German far-left Marxist-Leninist urban guerrilla group founded in 1970.
The ...
(the " Gang"), but in the 1960s it had not been completely hostile to the student protest movement from which the "urban guerillas" first emerged. In June 1967, it permitted
Sebastian Haffner
Raimund Pretzel (27 December 1907 – 2 January 1999), better known by his pseudonym Sebastian Haffner, was a German journalist and historian. As an émigré in Britain during World War II, Haffner argued that accommodation was impossible not onl ...
to denounce the police response to a demonstration in West Berlin in which student protester
Benno Ohnesorg
Benno Ohnesorg (; 15 October 1940 – 2 June 1967)Böttcher, Dirk (2002). "Ohnesorg, Benno" (in German), in: Hannoversches biographisches Lexikon: von den Anfängen bis in die Gegenwart'. Hannover: Schlütersche. p. 275. was a West German ...
was killed, as "a systematic, cold-blooded, planned pogrom". In contrast the Springer's responded: “Students threaten: We shoot back”.
Like the student left, was willing to break the relative post-war silence on the recent
National-Socialist
The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported t ...
past. In serialisations Haffner developed his thesis that Hitler's war was a tragedy foretold in the circumstances of German unification in the nineteenth century. It was a position consistent with editorial support for the of the new
Social-Democratic
Social democracy is a Political philosophy, political, Social philosophy, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocati ...
Chancellor
Willi Brandt. As interpreted by many conservatives this amounted to an acceptance of Germany's postwar division, and territorial losses in the east, as permanent.
(No. 50, 1970) published Sven Simon's (Axel Springer Jr.) iconic picture of
Brandt kneeling before the memorial to the
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising; pl, powstanie w getcie warszawskim; german: link=no, Aufstand im Warschauer Ghetto was the 1943 act of Jewish resistance in the Warsaw Ghetto in German-occupied Poland during World War II to oppose Nazi Germany's ...
on 20 Dezember 1970 on a double spread. It was accompanied by an interview with Brandt's Polish host, premier
Józef Cyrankiewicz
Józef Adam Zygmunt Cyrankiewicz (; 23 April 1911 – 20 January 1989) was a Polish Socialist (PPS) and after 1948 Communist politician. He served as premier of the Polish People's Republic between 1947 and 1952, and again for 16 years between ...
, with whom he had that day signed the
Treaty of Warsaw. At the same time, sought to discredit the rival conservative weekly ''
Quick
Quick, as an adjective, refers to something moving with high speed.
Quick may also refer to:
In business
* Quick (restaurant), a Belgian fast-food restaurant chain
* Quick (sportswear), a Dutch manufacturer of sportswear
* Quick (automobile) ...
'', which in opposition to the Treaty had published material from its secret protocols. It accused the magazine's editor Hans van Nouhuys of having been a double agent, at one time in the employ of the East German . successfully withstood the charge of defamation.
Encounters with second-wave feminism
In a further challenge to settled post-war conventions, on June 6, 1971 appeared with the headline "
We've had abortions!
Wir haben abgetrieben! ("We've had abortions!") was the headline on the cover of the West German magazine ''Stern'' on 6 June 1971. 374 women, some, but not all, of whom had a high public profile, publicly confessed that they had had pregnancies ...
" (Issue 24/1971). In an action initiated by
Alice Schwarzer
Alice Sophie Schwarzer (born 3 December 1942) is a German journalist and prominent feminist. She is founder and publisher of the German feminist journal '' EMMA''. Beginning in France, she became a forerunner of feminist positions against anti- ...
, 374 women confessed to having had pregnancies terminated. They were protesting Paragraph 218 of West Germany's penal code, the under which abortion was illegal. The taboo-breaking publicity was viewed by many as a milestone in the
feminist revival of the 1970s.
However, , itself became the target of the new feminism when, in 1978, Schwarzer and nine other women sued , and Nannen, on the grounds that the magazine's frequent "cover girls" denied the human dignity of women by presenting them "as a mere sexual object". The immediate occasion was a picture of the model
Grace Jones
Grace Beverly Jones (born 19 May 1948) is a model, singer and actress. Born in Jamaica, she and her family moved to Syracuse, New York, when she was a teenager. Jones began her modelling career in New York state, then in Paris, working for ...
, described by Schwarzer in her monthly ''
Emma
Emma may refer to:
* Emma (given name)
Film
* Emma (1932 film), ''Emma'' (1932 film), a comedy-drama film by Clarence Brown
* Emma (1996 theatrical film), ''Emma'' (1996 theatrical film), a film starring Gwyneth Paltrow
* Emma (1996 TV film), '' ...
'' (7/1978) as “a black woman, naked, in her hand a phallic microphone and around the shackles – heavy chains”. (It later occurred to Schwarzer that they might also have complained of the image's racism).
Nannen protested that the magazine's nudes should be seen in the same light as
Francisco Goya's "The Unclothed Maja" (1797) and that the freedom of the press was at issue. The complainants proved unable in law to indict soft-pornographic practices that were rife in the popular press, but Nannen allowed that the case had "made us think".
There was no obvious shift in the editorial culture of the magazine. The uncovered "cover-girl" tradition, sometimes in the form of celebrity shoots ("With Madonna alone at home", 10 January 1992), continued. Feminists also had occasion to object to article content. In 1990, published the title story "I am a masochist" in which author
Sina-Aline Geißler discussed her literary coming-out as a member of the
BDSM
BDSM is a variety of often erotic practices or roleplaying involving bondage, discipline, dominance and submission, sadomasochism, and other related interpersonal dynamics. Given the wide range of practices, some of which may be engaged ...
scene. This caused an intense public debate, and women later occupied the magazine's editorial offices alarmed at what they believed was a glamorisation of misogynist abuse.
Scandal of the Hitler Diaries
For very much more damaging publicity followed its serialisation, beginning in April 1983, of the so-called
Hitler Diaries
The Hitler Diaries (german: Hitler-Tagebücher) were a series of sixty volumes of journals purportedly written by Adolf Hitler, but forged by Konrad Kujau between 1981 and 1983. The diaries were purchased in 1983 for 9.3 million Deutsche ...
. Scientific examination soon proved that the "diaries", for which the magazine had paid 9.3 million , were
forgeries
Forgery is a white-collar crime that generally refers to the false making or material alteration of a legal instrument with the specific intent to defraud anyone (other than themself). Tampering with a certain legal instrument may be forbidd ...
. The resulting fiasco led to the resignation of the magazine's editors, a sit-in by staff to protest the "management's bypassing traditional editorial channels and safeguards", and a major press scandal that is still regarded as a low point in German journalism.
A publication "once known for its investigative reporting" became a byword for the folly and hazards of "sensation-seeking
check book journalism". 's credibility was severely damaged and it took the magazine many years to regain its pre-scandal status and reputation.
Trump:
In its 24 August 2017 edition demonstrated its continued ability and willingness to generate cover-page controversy (and, for the purpose, to discard the restraints of ). A photo-shopped image depicted then United States President,
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...
, draped in the American flag while giving a stiff-armed Nazi salute. “”, read the headline, or “his struggle” – a reference to
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
’s autobiographical manifesto, . The sub-headline reads: “Neo Nazis,
Ku Klux Klan
The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and ...
, racism: How Donald Trump fuelled hatred in America”.
The Los Angeles-based
Simon Wiesenthal Center
The Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC) is a Jewish human rights organization established in 1977 by Rabbi Marvin Hier. The center is known for Holocaust research and remembrance, hunting Nazi war criminals, combating anti-Semitism, tolerance educat ...
, while critical of President Trump's failure, in his remarks following the 13 May
"Unite the Right" rally in
Charlottesville, Virginia
Charlottesville, colloquially known as C'ville, is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is the county seat of Albemarle County, which surrounds the city, though the two are separate legal entities. It is named after Queen Ch ...
, to "make a distinction between Nazis and KKK protesters and those who opposed them”, described “the depiction of the president as a latter-day Hitler by a major German publication" as "untrue and beyond the pale". "Germans", they suggest, "must surely know that by misappropriating
..Nazi symbols and terms associated with Adolf Hitler, they belittle and becloud the crimes of the past.” Jewish leaders in Germany similarly argued that the depiction of Trump as the new Hitler diminished () Nazi genocide.
Stern responded: "The right-wing protesters in Charlottesville raised their arms in the Nazi salute and the American president has not distanced himself from this gesture or from the mindset of the people. On the contrary, Donald Trump had seen in some of them 'fine people.' With this attitude, he identifies with the protesters and greets them in a transcendent sense – that is exactly what the cover visualises. It is, of course, far from us to want to minimise the atrocities of the National Socialists".
Trump made several other covers. For the 19 January 2017 edition he was seated on the
Lincoln Memorial
The Lincoln Memorial is a U.S. national memorial built to honor the 16th president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. It is on the western end of the National Mall in Washington, D.C., across from the Washington Monument, and is in the ...
throne: "The Emperor, how Donald Trump is changing the world and why he is so dangerous for us". For the 10 September 2020 edition he was in close up: "American Psycho, how Donald Trump is systematically destroying democracy".
Diminishing sales and circulation
Thanks in part, perhaps, to the 1992 closure of ''
Quick
Quick, as an adjective, refers to something moving with high speed.
Quick may also refer to:
In business
* Quick (restaurant), a Belgian fast-food restaurant chain
* Quick (sportswear), a Dutch manufacturer of sportswear
* Quick (automobile) ...
'', at the turn of the century was still selling well over one million copies. Its print circulation fell to 896,000 copies in 2010 and to 390,000 in 2020, 50,000 above the illustrated weekly , but falling for the first time below that of .
The magazine has had an on-line presence since 1995. The e-paper circulation of has almost tripled since 2015: from almost 8,500 copies in the second quarter of 2015 to around 26,800 in the fourth quarter of 2020. The significant decrease in the total circulation remains.
Actual readership, however, is several times higher than copies sold or subscribed to online.
The fall in advertising sales has been commensurate with the fall in circulation: an advertising revenue of 218 million euros in 2003 had fallen to 107.3 million euros by 2020. It is a measure of the general decline of newsprint that in 2020 still took first place in the ranking of the popular magazines with the highest advertising sales.
It is notable that a 2013 reformatting of the printed edition mimics on-line features and conventions. There is a greater use of sidebars and infographics. The language is less formal, and there is even greater emphasis on arresting large-print photography.
Editors-in-chief
*1948–1980:
Henri Nannen
Henri Nannen (25 December 1913 in Emden – 13 October 1996 in Hanover) was a German journalist and art collector. He became one of the most prominent journalists and magazine publishers in Germany.
His father was a police officer in Emden wh ...
*1980–1983:
Rolf Gillhausen,
Peter Koch and
Felix Schmidt
*1983–1984:
Rolf Gillhausen with
Peter Scholl-Latour
Peter Roman Scholl-Latour (9 March 1924 – 16 August 2014) was a French-German journalist, author and legendary reporter.
Biography
Peter Scholl-Latour, who was born in the Province of Westphalia and grew up in Lorraine, was the son of dermat ...
*1984–1986:
Rolf Winter
*1986–1989:
Heiner Bremer,
Michael Jürgs and
Klaus Liedtke
*1989–1990:
Michael Jürgs with
Herbert Riehl-Heyse
*1990–1994:
Rolf Schmidt-Holtz
*1994–1998:
Werner Funk Werner may refer to:
People
* Werner (name), origin of the name and people with this name as surname and given name
Fictional characters
* Werner (comics), a German comic book character
* Werner Von Croy, a fictional character in the ''Tomb Rai ...
*1999–1999:
Michael Maier
Michael Maier ( la, Michael Maierus; 1568–1622) was a German physician and counsellor to Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor, Rudolf II Habsburg. He was a learned Alchemy, alchemist, epigramist, and amateur composer.
Early life
Maier was born in ...
*1999–2013:
Thomas Osterkorn and
Andreas Petzold
Andreas ( el, Ἀνδρέας) is a name usually given to males in Austria, Greece, Cyprus, Denmark, Armenia, Estonia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Finland, Flanders, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Romania, the Netherlands, and Indonesia. The name ...
*2013–2014:
Dominik Wichmann
*2014–2018:
Christian Krug
*2019–present:
Florian Gless
Florian may refer to:
People
* Florian (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or surname
* Florian, Roman emperor in 276 AD
* Saint Florian (250 – c. 304 AD), patron saint of Poland and Upper Austria, al ...
and
Anna-Beeke Gretemeier
See also
*
List of magazines in Germany
The following is an incomplete list of current and defunct magazines published in Germany. Their language may be German or other languages.
0-9
*'' 11 Freunde''
*'' 1000°''
*'' 5vor12''
A
*''ABC-Zeitung''
*'' Abenteuer Archäologie''
*'' AB ...
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stern
1948 establishments in Germany
Centrist newspapers
German-language magazines
News magazines published in Germany
German news websites
Liberal media in Germany
Weekly magazines published in Germany
Magazines established in 1948
Magazines published in Hamburg
Weekly news magazines