National-Zeitung

According to the Bavarian Office for the Protection of the Constitution, the (Druckschriften- und Zeitungs-Verlag), publisher of the National-Zeitung, was, for a long time, the most important publisher of far right propaganda in Germany. The Bavarian Office for the Protection of the Constitution classifies the National Zeitung as propagating a xenophobic, nationalist and revisionist world view. ==Content==

The newspaper was critical of the scale of immigration to Germany, was critical of German rapprochement with Poland and of Israel, accusing the German government of subservience to the latter. It frequently used inflammatory language and tried to deflect from the German crimes during World War II by instead reporting on real or alleged German victims of the war. Despite the stereotypical far-right content, the newspaper frequently reiterated its commitment to the German constitution. The newspaper also contained a large amount of advertising for Frey's former businesses, like Deutsche Reisen, a travel service, and the Deutsche Buchdienst, which sold books, medals and flags. ==History==

An earlier, unrelated, National Zeitung had existed in Germany from 1848 onward, as a liberal newspaper, published in Berlin. A Deutsche National-Zeitung was also published in German language in the United States from 1838 to 1840, in Philadelphia. The National-Zeitung was first published as the Deutsche Soldaten-Zeitung (English: German Soldiers Newspaper) in 1951. The idea for a newspaper as an advocate for the rights of German soldiers originated in a prisoner of war camp in Garmisch-Partenkirchen and came from Nazi Kreisleiter Helmut Damerau and the Wehrmacht Colonel Heinrich Detloff von Kalben. It was supported by Waffen-SS General Felix Steiner and financed by Leo Giess, a carpenter, as well as German Americans. The Deutsche Soldaten-Zeitung was an advocate of German rearmament but found itself in financial trouble by 1953, when financial support from the US dried up. Damerau approached the West German government for financial support and the newspaper received a monthly subsidy of DM 11,000 from 1953 onward. In 1963, the newspaper was renamed Deutsche National-Zeitung. In 1987, Gerhard Frey founded the German far right party Deutsche Volksunion. Frey's aim had been to make the National-Zeitung the central national organ of all far right parties in Germany. In 1971 Frey published a second paper, the Deutscher Anzeiger. In 1986, he purchased the revisionist Deutsche Wochen-Zeitung, which had originally been published by members of the far-right National Democratic Party of Germany. In 1991, Frey merged the two newspapers into one, becoming the Deutsche Wochen-Zeitung – Deutscher Anzeiger. Content of this paper was almost identical to the Deutsche National-Zeitung and, in 1999, the two were merged into one, becoming the National-Zeitung. Despite all this and the fact that Germany grew in size and population after the German reunion, the circulation of the newspaper had dropped to 38,000 by 2007. The paper was shut down in December 2019. == Influence and significance ==

The Deutsche National Zeitung was the most important press organ of the old Nazis and revanchaunists in post-war Germany. Along with the Junge Freiheit, it represented one of the most important links between right-wing extremists and right-wing conservatives. On April 11, 1968, the convicted right-wing extremist Josef Bachmann from Munich carried out an attack on student leader Rudi Dutschke. He carried clippings from the "Deutsche National-Zeitung" newspaper, which had a headline demanding: "Stop Red Rudi Now." ==In popular culture==

The newspaper was featured in the West German movie Roses for the Prosecutor, in which one of the main characters, the state prosecutor Dr. Wilhelm Schramm, a man with a secret Nazi past, purchases the Deutsche Soldaten-Zeitung. The newspaper subsequently used this exposure for advertisement. ==References==