(Deutsche Übersetzung folgt)
21 years ago Germany's left-wing weekly 'stern' became the laughing stock of the world.
It will never be forgotten: 'stern' and the Hitler diaries.
"Hitler's diaries discovered"
(Picture scanned by Ray D.)
In April 1983, the popular West German magazine Stern made a shocking announcement that sparked passionate debates throughout the world and temporarily challenged historical views concerning Germany's most notorious ex-chancellor. The periodical claimed that 62 handwritten volumes of secret diaries allegedly written by the founder of the Third Reich, Adolf Hitler, had been discovered in East Germany. According to Charles Hamilton's book, The Hitler Diaries, the volumes were reported to be one of the most-significant, historical discoveries in recent history. However, time proved the manuscripts instead were one of the biggest hoaxes of the century. ...
...the fraudulent nature of the diaries was grossly overlooked and the now serial rights of 62 manuscripts were up for sale by Stern. Many newspaper and magazine publishers in Europe and America showed a great interest in the Hitler diaries, knowing that the story would likely boost their circulation, as well as their bank accounts. Some of the first to make a bid on the story included, Newsweek, ParisMatch and London's Sunday Times and Times newspapers. Unfortunately, they had no inkling that they would be swept up in one of the biggest hoaxes in history.
'stern's' journalistic reputation never recovered from the scandal.
(Picture scan by Ray D.)
Seen today in one of my local Stammcafés: the current issue of Stern, described in the previous entry; someone had drawn a Hitler moustache on Bush and drawn a Jewish kippa on his head.
Overheard at the same café: a couple of young women paging through this same Stern magazine, commenting on the articles. The article on America and the Iraq war is reached. "Die Amis sind Arschlöcher," ("Americans are assholes") says one of them and moves on to the next article.
That's where it's at in Germany, 2004.
Posted by: kid charlemagne | March 13, 2004 at 07:02 PM
I fear that the stern's reputation has at least recovered to the point that Maybritt Illner can refer to its recent edition as another proof of how America lied with Heidi Wieczorek-Zeul and Ulrich Kienzle nodding along. And it has recovered so far as to be a very forceful catalyst for anti-American sentiments.
And by what I read and see from stern, I fear this populist appeal is exactly what they want, probably because it's selling so good. It would certainly be interesting to see how many copies stern (or Spiegel for that matter) are selling with a 'normal' cover story and how many when they are presenting cowboy / liar Bush, blood for oil etc. I would bet large amounts of money that those anti-Bush issues make very good copy indeed. As much as I am in favour of capitalism, this is one of its bad features: populism sells better than information. And in these times, while the media are experiencing enormous economic problems, this is another very strong incentive for anti-American coverage, adding to the already existing sentiments of several journalists.
Posted by: Thomas | March 13, 2004 at 07:19 PM
On the other hand, Thomas, this is a very clear demonstration of what many German people really think and that is good for Americans and Germans to know. There is a question of which came first the chicken or the egg. But Stern seems to be selling to opinion that exists as opposed to leading opinion.
Posted by: Richard Heddleson | March 13, 2004 at 08:21 PM
Sorry folks, I had to temporarily close the comments section of this posting because of spamming ... stay tuned.
(Well, you can see by yourself whether comments are possible.)
Posted by: David | March 13, 2004 at 11:17 PM