Völkisch Journalists in Postwar Germany: Intellectual Continuities in German Journalism, 1930–70

When the German press was reconstructed in occupied Germany, the Western Allies could rely on a number of professionals that had continued to work and to publish throughout the Nazi era, but that seemed to have had an opposing notion towards the Nazi movement, or at least an ambivalent one. Many of these journalists had started their careers in the late 1920s and had become adherents of what was could the young conservative movement. Looking at this generation of völkisch and nationalist journalists provides fascinating insights in 20^th-century German intellectual history, as the constantly published between the late 1920s and the 1970s, and they were influential opinion leaders in Weimar, Nazi and Federal Germany likewise. After 1945, the became key figures of the West German press and important intermediaries between the United States and Germany. The themes they focused on demonstrate a high degree of continuity when it comes to their view on Germany, its place in Europe, how the European continent should be ordered, and (anti)-colonialism. Discontinuities prevail when it comes to their discussions of Nazism, the American role in the world (and America’s impact on Germany), and what democracy is. In my talk, I will discuss the history of the Süddeutsche Zeitung, Salzburger Nachrichten, Christ und Welt and other newspapers regarding their staff, the themes they focused on and their journalistic strategies.