Editing Axel Springer (section)

== German press lord ==
=== From ''Hörzu'' to ''Bild'' and ''Die Welt'' ===
[[File:Verleihung der Fritz-Schumacher-Medaille durch die F.V.S. Stiftung (Kiel 65.395).jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|Springer (left) in 1974]]
After the war, in 1946, Springer founded his own publishing company, ''Axel Springer GmbH'', in Hamburg publishing the radio (and later TV) listings magazine ''Hörzu''. Never having worn a uniform (thanks to asthma and diabetes) or been a member of the Nazi party (from which, by virtue of his marriage to Martha Meyer, he would have been excluded),<ref>Grau, Günter (2010): ''Lexikon zur Homosexuellenverfolgung 1933–1945: Institutionen – Kompetenzen – Betätigungsfelder''. Lit-Verlag, Münster/ Berlin, p. 267.</ref> Springer was able to obtain from the British occupation authorities a license to run a newspaper.<ref name="Avidan" /> His first daily was the ''[[Hamburger Abendblatt]]''. Competing in Hamburg with the five other dailies, Springer offered a paper he described as "geared to the underdog and the little man", and perfected a formula he launched on the national market in 1952 with [[Bild|''Bild Zeitung'']].<ref name="Goshko" />

Fed a tabloid mix of sensation, scandal, celebrity, sports and horoscopes, the ''Bild'' readership peaked in the mid-1960s at 4.5 million. It had the largest circulation of any newspaper in Western Europe or North America. ''Bild'' allowed Springer the luxury of his 1953 acquisition, the national broadsheet ''Die Welt'', a loss maker but a rival to the [[Newspaper of record|newspapers of record]], {{Lang|de|[[Die Zeit]]}} and the ''[[Süddeutsche Zeitung]]''.<ref>{{cite book|author=Peter Humphreys|title=Mass Media and Media Policy in Western Europe|date=1996|publisher=Manchester University Press|page=82|isbn=9780719031977|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2vlTzbOGhdIC&pg=PR6}}</ref>

In 1956, Springer secured a 26% share in Berlin's prestigious [[Ullstein Verlag|Ullstein publishing house]], which in 1952 had been restored to the Jewish family who had originally owned it. He became the majority shareholder at the end of 1959 acquiring, among other titles, the ''[[Berliner Morgenpost]]''.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kellerdorf |first=Sven Felix |date=2012 |title=100. Geburtstag: Warum Axel Springer den Ullstein-Verlag kaufte - WELT |url=https://www.welt.de/kultur/history/article106147913/Warum-Axel-Springer-den-Ullstein-Verlag-kaufte.html |access-date=2023-12-02 |website=DIE WELT |language=de |archive-date=14 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231214102241/https://www.welt.de/kultur/history/article106147913/Warum-Axel-Springer-den-Ullstein-Verlag-kaufte.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Springer celebrated Ullstein as having been, in [[Weimar Republic|the Weimar years]], the symbol of a Jewish-German liberal-democratic tradition, but at the same time his critics were to note, in line with ''Die Welt'' and ''Bild'', a decisive rightward shift in editorial policy.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hung |first=Jochen |date=2016-12-22 |title=The 'Ullstein Spirit': The Ullstein Publishing House, the End of the Weimar Republic and the Making of Cold War German Identity, 1925–77 |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0022009416669419 |journal=Journal of Contemporary History |language=en |volume=53 |issue=1 |pages=158–184 |doi=10.1177/0022009416669419 |issn=0022-0094 |s2cid=157773070 |quote=Axel Springer succeeded in integrating an overly positive version of Ullstein’s history into West German national identity. |hdl-access=free |hdl=1874/362112}}</ref>

=== Zehrer and the approach to Moscow ===
Springer's choice as chief editor for ''Die Welt'' was controversial. [[Hans Zehrer]] was a veteran of the [[Kapp Putsch]] of 1920, and in the last [[Weimar Republic|Weimar years]] had been the editor of the nationalist and anti-republican journal ''[[Die Tat]]''.<ref>''[[Biographical Dictionary of the Extreme Right Since 1890]]'' edited by [[Philip Rees]] (1991, {{ISBN|0-13-089301-3}}), pp.&nbsp;417–418.</ref> In 1946, he had been removed from the then British-controlled ''Die Welt'' after protests from [[Attlee ministry|Britain's Labour government]] and from the Social Democrats then governing Hamburg.<ref>Demant, Ebbo (1971) ''Hans Zehrer als politischer Publizist. Von Schleicher zu Springer'', Verlag von Hase und Köhler, Mainz 1971, {{ISBN|3-7758-0815-9}}.</ref>

At ''Die Welt'' Springer allowed Zehrer to entertain the idea of an [[Austrian State Treaty|Austrian solution]] for Germany.<ref name="Muller">{{cite book |last1=Muller |first1=Hans Dieter |title=Press power: A study of Axel Springer |date=1969 |publisher=Macdonald & Co |location=London |isbn=978-0-356-02689-3 |pages=143–148}}</ref> In 1955, Austria had regained its unity and independence through a four-power agreement guaranteeing the country's non-alignment and neutrality. In January 1958, Springer travelled with Zehrer to Moscow. Before departing he told to a reporter: "I know very well that there are people who consider me naïve. But I believe in reunification within five years." In addition to permanent German neutrality, Springer was proposing a nuclear-free Central Europe.<ref>von Sothen, Hans Becker (2005), ''Hans Zehrer als politischer Publizist nach 1945.'' In Frank-Lothar Kroll ed. ''Die kupierte Alternative. Konservatismus in Deutschland nach 1945.'' pp. 125–178. Duncker & Humblot, Berlin, {{ISBN|3-428-11781-6}}</ref><ref name="Keil">{{cite web |last1=Keil |first1=Lars-Broder |title="The world is changed by dreams" |url=https://www.axelspringer.com/en/inside/the-world-is-changed-by-dreams |publisher=Axel Springer SE |access-date=16 February 2021 |archive-date=30 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210630172337/https://www.axelspringer.com/en/inside/the-world-is-changed-by-dreams |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[Nikita Khrushchev]] kept Springer and Zehrer waiting sixteen days for an interview. It did not go well, and cannot have been helped by Springer seeking to convince the Soviet premier of the advantages not only of German neutrality but also of West Germany's [[social market economy]].<ref>The interview was printed and discussed in ''Die Welt'' (7 February 1958). A Russian transcript is held Stiftung Archiv der Parteien und Massenorganisationen der DDr im Bundesarchiv "Niederschrift der vertaulichedn Unterredung N.S. Chuschtschows mit den westdeutschedn Pressevertreten A. Springer und H. Zehrer, 29.1.1958", DY30/J IV 2/202;75</ref><ref name="Kruip" /> The Russians, like the Americans, viewed their strategic position in Germany as indispensable. Neutrality was not an option. Springer was to describe the trip as the "central political event of my life", convincing him that there was no alternative to [[Konrad Adenauer]]'s ''Westbindung'': to discount Communist overtures and to persevere with the [[NATO|North Atlantic alliance.]]<ref name="Goshko" /> On his return he forbad any criticism of the western allies, whether it was of the [[Cyprus Emergency|British in Cyprus]], the [[Algerian War|French in Algeria]], or the Americans in the [[Second Taiwan Strait Crisis|Taiwan Strait]], because "we need them in Berlin".<ref name="Poscenzsky">{{cite news |last1=von Poscenzsky |first1=Gert |title=As Befahl die Schwenkung |url=https://magazin.spiegel.de/EpubDelivery/spiegel/pdf/46196219 |access-date=20 February 2021 |work=Der Spiegel |issue=48 |date=1962 |archive-date=9 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220809064531/https://magazin.spiegel.de/EpubDelivery/spiegel/pdf/46196219 |url-status=live }}</ref>