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Neues Deutschland

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Neues Deutschland (nd; English: New Germany, sometimes stylized in lowercase letters) is a left-wing German daily newspaper, headquartered in Berlin.

Neues Deutschland
Schriftzug
TypeDaily newspaper
(Monday-Saturday)
FormatRhenish (between broadsheet and Berliner)
Publishernd.Genossenschaft eG
Editor-in-chiefWolfgang Hübner
Founded23 April 1946
Political alignmentDemocratic socialism
1946–1990:
Communism
Marxism–Leninism
LanguageGerman
HeadquartersBerlin, Germany
Circulation16,028 (Q2, 2022)[1]
Websiteneues-deutschland.de

For 43 years it was the official party newspaper of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED), which governed East Germany (officially known as the German Democratic Republic), and as such served as one of the party's most important organs.[2] The Neues Deutschland that existed in East Germany had a circulation of 1.1 million as of 1989 and was the communist party's main way to show citizens its stances and opinions about politics, economics, etc. It was regarded by foreign countries as the communist regime's diplomatic voice.

Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Neues Deutschland has lost 99 percent of its readership and has a circulation of 16,028 as of 2022. Between 2019 and 2020 the number of sold copies and subscriptions declined 14.8 percent.[3] Since 1990 the newspaper has changed its political outlook and now has a democratic socialist political stance. The newspaper was both politically and financially tied to one of its former owners, The Left (Die Linke), which owned the publishing house and printing presses until the end of 2021. Since 2022, the newspaper is published by a cooperative of staff and subscribers and officially named nd.[4]

East Germany

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Front page of Neues Deutschland in March 1953 on the death of "the greatest human being of our era, comrade J.W. Stalin"

ND was formed in 1946[5] as a "licensed newspaper" (lizenzzeitung [de]) after the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) were forcibly merged to form the SED in the Soviet occupation zone of Germany. The first edition of ND was published on 23 April 1946 in conjunction with the founding of the SED. ND replaced the SPD organ Das Volk and the KPD organ Deutsche Volkszeitung. Karl Maron was the first chief editor of the daily and served in the post until 1950.[5]

While Neues Deutschland was the SED's Zentralorgan, its journalists were recruited from the party's broad membership.[6]

Before the reunification of Germany in October 1990, ND had a circulation of a million and was second only to the youth newspaper junge Welt in readership. During this period the editor-in-chief of ND was Wolfgang Spickermann.[7] However, it has been claimed that Neues Deutschland failed to reach much of the East German population.[8]

After reunification

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Current Editor's office building in Berlin

After reunification, ND's readership diminished greatly. In 2020, ND had a circulation of 18,595. While most large newspapers in Germany have a problem with declining circulation, ND is particularly vulnerable in that the majority of its readers are over 60 years old. ND produces both a national edition and regional editions for Berlin and Brandenburg.

Jürgen Reents, who had political roots in both the Party of Democratic Socialism and the Green Party, became the editor in chief of ND in 1999. One of his major goals was to transform ND's image from a propaganda leaflet to a more respected newspaper. In October 2005 the editors moved from Elsenbrücke to Franz-Mehring Platz in Berlin. Three months later, Olaf Koppe took over management of the newspaper.

Each issue of the daily between 1945 and 1990 was digitalized by the Berlin State Library in June 2013.[2]

Profile

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ND is now oriented towards a democratic socialist viewpoint and was owned partially by the political party The Left, a direct descendant of the SED. The twin goals of the newspaper are to give those in eastern Germany a voice and to represent the democratic socialist viewpoint without being the organ of The Left or any other political party. While eastern German themes dominate the features and the community pages, the political section looks at leftist politics throughout Germany. Authors and politicians from diverse political backgrounds have also been represented on the pages of the newspaper. For example, Friedrich Schorlemmer, a known critic of The Left and the political left in general, has been a guest writer.

Other traditional sections of a newspaper are also included, such as an advice page, a television guide, notifications and classifieds, opinion columns, and theme sections dealing with health, environment, and other issues. The letters to the editor are often cited as examples of viewpoints of the Left party from other media sources. As with most daily German newspapers, ND is published daily Monday through Friday, with a weekend edition published on Saturdays.

In November 2006, the newspaper also started a youth insert called Sacco and Vanzetti.[citation needed] Beginning in March 2007, ND started publishing online.

From 1 January 2022, the newspaper is published by a cooperative, thereby becoming independent from The Left. It also officially took on the name "nd".[9]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Titelanzeige | Informationsgemeinschaft zur Feststellung der Verbreitung von Werbeträgern e.V".
  2. ^ a b Wilder, Charly (27 June 2013). "Digitizing the GDR: East German Papers Offer Glimpse of History". Der Spiegel. Retrieved 4 October 2013.
  3. ^ "IVW-Blitz-Analyse Tages- und Wochenzeitungen: Zeit gewinnt erneut Auflage, Welt bricht völlig ein | MEEDIA". 22 April 2020.
  4. ^ "Zeitung "Neues Deutschland" wird zu "nd" – Genossenschaft startet". Deutschlandfunk Kultur. 1 January 2022. Retrieved 15 March 2023.
  5. ^ a b Schaumann, Caroline (27 August 2008). Memory Matters: Generational Responses to Germany's Nazi Past in Recent Women's Literature. Walter de Gruyter. p. 255. ISBN 978-3-11-020659-3. Retrieved 28 April 2013.
  6. ^ "German paper that ignored fall of Berlin Wall still stands up for Socialism". Financial Times. London. November 2019.
  7. ^ Willnat, Lars (December 1991). "The East German press during the political transformation of East Germany". International Communication Gazette. 48 (3): 193–208. doi:10.1177/001654929104800304. Retrieved 8 April 2015.
  8. ^ Allinson, Mark (23 March 2000). Politics and Popular Opinion in East Germany, 1945-1968. Manchester University Press. p. 71. ISBN 978-0719055546.
  9. ^ "Genossenschaft startet – Zeitung "Neues Deutschland" wird zu "nd"". Deutschlandfunk (in German). 31 December 2021. Retrieved 31 December 2021.

Further reading

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  • Tillack-Graf, Anne-Kathleen (2012). Erinnerungspolitik der DDR. Dargestellt an der Berichterstattung der Tageszeitung "Neues Deutschland" über die Nationalen Mahn- und Gedenkstätten Buchenwald, Ravensbrück und Sachsenhausen [Remembrance policy of the GDR. Depicted in the Reporting of the Daily Newspaper "Neues Deutschland" about the National Memorials in Buchenwald, Ravensbrück and Sachsenhausen] (in German). Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang. ISBN 978-3-631-63678-7.
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