Wochenpost

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File:Wochenpostschriftzug.jpg

The Wochenpost ({{Langx|en|Weekly Post}}) was an East German weekly.{{Cite book

|last=Augustine|first=Dolores L.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pfpSDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA214|title=Taking on Technocracy: Nuclear Power in Germany, 1945 to the Present|year=2018|publisher=Berghahn Books|isbn=978-1-78533-904-2|location=New York; Ocford}}{{Cite book|last=Darnton|first=Robert|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gSPNTM_c8pwC&pg=PA146|title=Berlin Journal, 1989-1990|date=1993|publisher=W. W. Norton & Company|isbn=978-0-393-31018-4}} It was founded in 1953, and circulation peaked at over one million copies per issue from 1971 to the German reunification. The academic Deirdre Byrnes writes that the paper was "one of the most influential" publications in East Germany.{{Cite book|last=Byrnes|first=Deirdre|publisher=Peter Lang|isbn=978-3-03911-422-1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KBJWy1Q91LQC&pg=PA18|title=Rereading Monika Maron: Text, Counter-text and Context|year=2011|pages=18–19|location=Oxford}} Its highest circulation was around 1.2 million copies,{{Cite book|last=Sutton|first=Douglas|title=New Weeklies Battle for Share Of the Print Media's Market|url=http://archive.org/details/InternationalHeraldTribune1993FranceEnglish

|publisher=International Herald Tribune|date=21 April 1993|location=Paris}} making the paper the most popular weekly in East Germany.{{Cite news|last=Marshall|first=Matt|date=11 January 1995|title=Walls of Resentment Between East, West Run Through German Newsrooms|language=en-US|newspaper=Washington Post

|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1995/01/11/walls-of-resentment-between-east-west-run-through-german-newsrooms/f7e4c0ed-58a0-4841-ac52-c15b6e937db6/|access-date=9 July 2020|issn=0190-8286}} Wochenpost considered a paper for intellectuals.{{Cite book|last=Thompson|first=Wayne C.

|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ayb-CQAAQBAJ&pg=PA279|title=Nordic, Central, and Southeastern Europe 2015-2016|year=2015|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=978-1-4758-1883-3|location=Lanham, MD}} The paper continued to be published after German reunification until it ceased publication in late December 1996.

History

The paper published its first issue on 22 or 23 December 1953, around Christmas.{{Cite book

|last=Polkehn|first=Klaus|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cm1uyKkkve4C|title=Das war die Wochenpost: Geschichte und Geschichten einer Zeitung|date=1997|publisher=Ch. Links Verlag|isbn=978-3-86153-141-8|pages=9|language=de}}{{Cite web|date=2018-12-22|title=Stichtag - 22. Dezember 1953: Lizenz für DDR-Zeitung "Wochenpost" ausgestellt|url=https://www1.wdr.de/stichtag/stichtag-wochenpost-ddr-wochenzeitung-100.html|access-date=2021-01-18|website=www1.wdr.de|language=de}}{{Cite web|last=Knipping|first=Franz|title=Heißbegehrt und ausverkauft (neues deutschland)|url=https://www.neues-deutschland.de/artikel/687574.heissbegehrt-und-ausverkauft.html|access-date=18 January 2021|website=www.neues-deutschland.de|language=de}}{{Cite book|last=Applebaum|first=Anne|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z4AdQy3VCmgC&q=wochenpost&pg=PP540

|title=Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe, 1944-1956|year=2012|publisher=McClelland & Stewart|isbn=978-0-7710-0765-1|language=en}} The cover of the first issue was a depiction of a child blowing a candle out with the words "to all who are of goodwill." It was co-founded by Margot Pfannstiel,{{cite web|title=Margot Pfannstiel|url=http://www.dumjahn.de/pdf-org/0009280_klappe_2.pdf|access-date=19 October 2016|work=Source includes photo-portrait|publisher=Horst-Werner Dumjahn, Mainz}} who also worked as chief reporter,{{cite book|author=Klaus Polkehn|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cm1uyKkkve4C&pg=PT27|title=Das war die Wochenpost: Geschichte und Geschichten einer Zeitung|publisher=Ch. Links Verlag|year=1997|isbn=978-3-86153-141-8|page=27}} Heinz Knobloch, who took responsibility for "puzzles, mental recreation and humour" ("Rätsel, Denksport und Humor"),{{cite web|title=Heinz Knobloch: Biografie|url=http://www.heinz-knobloch.de/biograf.htm|access-date=21 December 2014

|publisher=Freundeskreises Heinz Knobloch}} and Hilde Eisler.{{cite book

|author=Karin Hartewig|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YdY5dNPZ42UC&pg=PA242|title=Zurückgekehrt: die Geschichte der jüdischen Kommunisten in der DDR|work=see also footnote 175 at the bottom of the same page

|publisher=Böhlau Verlag Köln Weimar|year=2000|isbn=978-3-412-02800-8|pages=241–242}} Pfannstiel left in 1958,{{cite book|author=Djurdja Bartlett|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q8Ai2wKyPKUC&pg=PA177|title=FashionEast: The Spectre that Haunted Socialism|publisher=MIT Press|year=2010|isbn=978-0-262-02650-5|pages=160, 177}} and returned in 1968.{{cite web|author=Bernd-Rainer Barth|title=Pfannstiel, Margot * 18.6.1926, † 10.10.1993 Journalistin, Chefredakteurin der "Sibylle"|url=http://bundesstiftung-aufarbeitung.de/wer-war-wer-in-der-ddr-%2363%3B-1424.html?ID=2644|access-date=19 October 2016|work=Wer war wer in der DDR?|publisher=Ch. Links Verlag, Berlin & Bundesstiftung zur Aufarbeitung der SED-Diktatur, Berlin}} Work on the Wochenpost quickly became a principal vehicle for Knobloch's professional success over more than three decades. He served as its culture editor from 1957 to 1965, and between 1968 and 1988 contributed a weekly Feuilleton-format opinion column.{{cite web|author1=Bernd-Rainer Barth|author2=Andreas Kölling|author-link=Bernd-Rainer Barth|title=Knobloch, Heinz * 3.3.1926, † 24.7.2003 Schriftsteller, journalist|url=http://www.bundesstiftung-aufarbeitung.de/wer-war-wer-in-der-ddr-%2363%3B-1424.html?ID=1775|access-date=21 December 2014|publisher=Bundesstiftung zur Aufarbeitung der SED-Diktatur: Biographische Datenbanken}} Its first editor-in-chief was Rudi Wetzel.{{cite book|author=Michael F. Scholz|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yhkm54R7j2QC&pg=PA380|title=Rudolf (Rudi) Wetzel (1909-1992)|work=Skandinavische Erfahrungen erwünscht?: Nachexil und Remigration; die ehemaligen KPD-Emigranten in Skandinavien und ihr weiteres Schicksal in der SBZ/DDR|publisher=Franz Steiner Verlag|year=2000|isbn=978-3-515-07651-7|page=380}} Circulation of the paper peaked at over one million copies per issue from 1971 to the German reunification. The academic Deirdre Byrnes writes that the paper was "one of the most influential" publications in East Germany.

The paper was characterized by providing "practical advice", such as how to decorate an apartment and how to dress fashionably.{{Cite book|last=Föllmer|first=Moritz|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vwkgAwAAQBAJ|title=Individuality and Modernity in Berlin: Self and Society from Weimar to the Wall|date=2013-01-17|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-139-62038-3|language=en}}{{Rp|232}} Wochenpost was not an opposition paper; the journalist {{Interlanguage link|Klaus Polkhen|lt=|de||WD=}}, who worked at the paper for many years, noted that it was "no more opportunistic than its readers".

After the German reunification, the paper was purchased by Gruner + Jahr and Robert Maxwell and relaunched in Berlin. From 1983 to 1991, Brigitte Zimmermann was editor in chief of the paper.{{cite web|author=Bernd-Rainer Barth|title=Zimmermann, Brigitte * 22.5.1939 Chefredakteurin der Zeitung "Wochenpost"|url=http://bundesstiftung-aufarbeitung.de/wer-war-wer-in-der-ddr-%2363%3B-1424.html?ID=3956|access-date=19 August 2016|work=Wer war wer in der DDR?|publisher=Ch. Links Verlag, Berlin & Bundesstiftung zur Aufarbeitung der SED-Diktatur, Berlin}} By 1994 it was selling around 100,000 copies per week. The Independent compared the paper to Die Zeit.{{Cite web|date=1994-01-06|title=Young magazines challenge German publishing world: A trio of new|url=http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/young-magazines-challenge-german-publishing-world-a-trio-of-new-political-weeklies-has-found-a-1405115.html|access-date=9 July 2020|website=The Independent}} The paper was struggling by 1996 and ceased publication in late December.{{Cite web|last=Zeitung|first=Berliner|title=Die "Wochenpost" war in der DDR beliebt und suchte nach der Wende eine neue Identität: Nähe zum Alltag der Leser|url=https://www.berliner-zeitung.de/die-wochenpost-war-in-der-ddr-beliebt-und-suchte-nach-der-wende-eine-neue-identitaet-naehe-zum-alltag-der-leser-li.9194|access-date=18 January 2021|website=Berliner Zeitung|language=de-DE}}{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Lesen Sie zeit.de mit Werbung oder im PUR-Abo. Sie haben die Wahl.|url=https://www.zeit.de/zustimmung?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zeit.de%2F1996%2F01%2Fwochpost.txt.19961227.xml|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=18 January 2021|website=die Ziet}}

Wochenpost

History

References

Further reading