Junge Freiheit
Encyclopedia
The Junge Freiheit is a German
weekly newspaper for politics and culture, that describes itself as liberal-conservative. The JF has been described as the central publication of the Neue Rechte
(New Right).
, near Berlin
, and to Hohenzollerndamm in Berlin in 1995. In 1994, a printing site for the JF in Weimar
was fire-bombed by far-left terrorists with damage totalling 2.5 million marks
. The paper moved to Berlin a few years later, where it continues to be published today.
, one for culture
and for foreign affairs
, with lesser attention to economics. There are a substantial number of opinions and commentaries including weekly opinion columns. Every week the paper also conducts an interview with a prominent politician, author, scientist or artist. Due to the selection of its guest authors and the style of its editorials, as well as its consistent opposition to the Islamization
of Europe, it has been widely claimed that the paper serves as the intellectual organ of the German right-wing. In this connection, the State Offices for the Protection of the Constitution (German domestic intelligence service) in North Rhine Westphalia and Baden-Württemberg
mentioned Junge Freiheit from mid-1995 until 2005 in their yearly reports of anti-constitutional activities for suspicion of far-right affiliations. However, the newspaper sued the North Rhine Westphalia authorities, and the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany
annulled such classification in 2005 (so-called Junge Freiheit ruling). Since then, neither North Rhine Westphalia nor Baden-Württemberg constitution protection reports mention the newspaper. The critics of the paper include Anton Maegerle
and Stephan Braun (an SPD politician). Helmut Markwort
(editor in chief of Focus
), Ephraim Kishon
and Erwin Scheuch deny any far-right trends in the newspaper.
.
Its prominent contributors include Holger Zastrow
(FDP politician), Wolf Jobst Siedler
(publisher and writer), Frederick Forsyth
(author), Alain de Benoist
(author and thinker associated with the French New Right), Paul Gottfried
(Jewish-American philosopher and author), Rolf Hochhuth
(author), Ralph Raico
(American historian), Derek Turner
(journalist), Klaus Rainer Röhl
(journalist and founder of konkret
), and Fritz Schenk
. Among its prominent public supporters are also Alexander von Stahl
, the former Attorney General of Germany
and a FDP politician, who is also the JF's lawyer, and Peter Scholl-Latour
(writer).
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
weekly newspaper for politics and culture, that describes itself as liberal-conservative. The JF has been described as the central publication of the Neue Rechte
Neue Rechte
The Neue Rechte is a German political movement, founded in opposition to the "New Left" generation of the 1960s. Ideologically, they are linked to the ideologues of the Weimar Conservative Revolution, which included such people as Carl Schmitt, Ernst Jünger, Oswald Spengler and Ernst von Salomon...
(New Right).
History
It was founded by students in Freiburg im Breisgau in 1986 as a reaction to as what they saw as the dominance of the leftist '68 generation among university teachers. In 1993 it moved its headquarters to PotsdamPotsdam
Potsdam is the capital city of the German federal state of Brandenburg and part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. It is situated on the River Havel, southwest of Berlin city centre....
, near Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, and to Hohenzollerndamm in Berlin in 1995. In 1994, a printing site for the JF in Weimar
Weimar
Weimar is a city in Germany famous for its cultural heritage. It is located in the federal state of Thuringia , north of the Thüringer Wald, east of Erfurt, and southwest of Halle and Leipzig. Its current population is approximately 65,000. The oldest record of the city dates from the year 899...
was fire-bombed by far-left terrorists with damage totalling 2.5 million marks
German mark
The Deutsche Mark |mark]], abbreviated "DM") was the official currency of West Germany and Germany until the adoption of the euro in 2002. It is commonly called the "Deutschmark" in English but not in German. Germans often say "Mark" or "D-Mark"...
. The paper moved to Berlin a few years later, where it continues to be published today.
Issues and style
The JF has one section for politicsPolitics
Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...
, one for culture
Culture
Culture is a term that has many different inter-related meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...
and for foreign affairs
Foreign Affairs
Foreign Affairs is an American magazine and website on international relations and U.S. foreign policy published since 1922 by the Council on Foreign Relations six times annually...
, with lesser attention to economics. There are a substantial number of opinions and commentaries including weekly opinion columns. Every week the paper also conducts an interview with a prominent politician, author, scientist or artist. Due to the selection of its guest authors and the style of its editorials, as well as its consistent opposition to the Islamization
Islamization
Islamization or Islamification has been used to describe the process of a society's conversion to the religion of Islam...
of Europe, it has been widely claimed that the paper serves as the intellectual organ of the German right-wing. In this connection, the State Offices for the Protection of the Constitution (German domestic intelligence service) in North Rhine Westphalia and Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg is one of the 16 states of Germany. Baden-Württemberg is in the southwestern part of the country to the east of the Upper Rhine, and is the third largest in both area and population of Germany's sixteen states, with an area of and 10.7 million inhabitants...
mentioned Junge Freiheit from mid-1995 until 2005 in their yearly reports of anti-constitutional activities for suspicion of far-right affiliations. However, the newspaper sued the North Rhine Westphalia authorities, and the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany
Federal Constitutional Court of Germany
The Federal Constitutional Court is a special court established by the Grundgesetz, the German basic law...
annulled such classification in 2005 (so-called Junge Freiheit ruling). Since then, neither North Rhine Westphalia nor Baden-Württemberg constitution protection reports mention the newspaper. The critics of the paper include Anton Maegerle
Anton Maegerle
Anton Maegerle is the nom de plume of a left-wing German journalist and author books on far-right politics and the Neue Rechte.-Personal life:...
and Stephan Braun (an SPD politician). Helmut Markwort
Helmut Markwort
Helmut Markwort is a German journalist and since 1993 Editor-in-Chief of the weekly newsmagazine Focus. He is a member of the liberal Free Democratic Party of Germany....
(editor in chief of Focus
Focus (German magazine)
Focus is a German weekly news magazine published in Munich and distributed throughout Germany. It is the third-largest weekly news magazine in Germany. It is considered conservative and leaned towards economic liberalism.- Overview :...
), Ephraim Kishon
Ephraim Kishon
' was an Israeli author, dramatist, screenwriter, and film director. He is one of the most widely-read contemporary satirists in the world.- Early life and World War II :...
and Erwin Scheuch deny any far-right trends in the newspaper.
People
The founder and editor-in-chief as well as managing director is Dieter SteinDieter Stein
Dieter Stein is a German journalist, publisher, editor-in-chief and founder of the right wing newspaper Junge Freiheit....
.
Its prominent contributors include Holger Zastrow
Holger Zastrow
Holger Zastrow is a German politician of the liberal Free Democratic Party of Germany . He is President of state party in Saxony and chairman of the FDP parliamentary group in the Saxon Parliament...
(FDP politician), Wolf Jobst Siedler
Wolf Jobst Siedler
Wolf Jobst Siedler is a German publisher and writer.He studied at the Freie Universität Berlin and worked as a journalist...
(publisher and writer), Frederick Forsyth
Frederick Forsyth
Frederick Forsyth, CBE is an English author and occasional political commentator. He is best known for thrillers such as The Day of the Jackal, The Odessa File, The Fourth Protocol, The Dogs of War, The Devil's Alternative, The Fist of God, Icon, The Veteran, Avenger, The Afghan and The Cobra.-...
(author), Alain de Benoist
Alain de Benoist
Alain de Benoist is a French academic, philosopher, a founder of the Nouvelle Droite and head of the French think tank GRECE. Benoist is a critic of liberalism, free markets and egalitarianism.-Biography:...
(author and thinker associated with the French New Right), Paul Gottfried
Paul Gottfried
Paul Edward Gottfried is Horace Raffensperger Professor of Humanities at Elizabethtown College in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania, and a Guggenheim recipient...
(Jewish-American philosopher and author), Rolf Hochhuth
Rolf Hochhuth
Rolf Hochhuth is a German author and playwright. He is best known for his 1963 drama The Deputy and remains a controversial figure for his plays and other public comments, such as his insinuation of Pope Pius XII's sympathies for Hitler's extermination of the Jews in the 1963 play The Deputy and...
(author), Ralph Raico
Ralph Raico
Ralph Raico is an American historian, libertarian, and specialist in European classical liberalism and Austrian Economics. He is currently a professor of history at Buffalo State College and a senior faculty member at the Ludwig von Mises Institute. Raico was a student of Ludwig von Mises and...
(American historian), Derek Turner
Derek Turner (journalist)
Derek Turner is a freelance journalist. In the early 1980s he served in the Irish Navy and moved to England in 1988.Derek Turner was editor of Right Now! magazine from 1995 until its demise in December 2006...
(journalist), Klaus Rainer Röhl
Klaus Rainer Röhl
Klaus Rainer Röhl is a pre-eminent German journalist and author, best known as founder, owner, publisher and editor-in-chief of konkret, the most influential magazine on the German political left from the 1960s to the early 1970s...
(journalist and founder of konkret
Konkret
konkret has been the name of two German magazines.konkret was originally the name of a magazine established by Klaus Rainer Röhl in 1957, that was an influential magazine on the German political left in the 1960s...
), and Fritz Schenk
Fritz Schenk
Fritz Schenk was a German publicist, journalist and television anchorman. He become well-known for the general public thanks to his participation in ZDF-Magazin.- Family :...
. Among its prominent public supporters are also Alexander von Stahl
Alexander von Stahl
Alexander von Stahl is a German lawyer, liberal politician and civil servant. He served as Attorney General of Germany from June 1990 until July 1993....
, the former Attorney General of Germany
Attorney General of Germany
The Attorney General of Germany is the federal prosecutor of Germany, representing the federal government at the Bundesgerichtshof, the federal court of justice. The office of the Attorney General is located in Karlsruhe. Besides its role in appellate cases, the Attorney General has primary...
and a FDP politician, who is also the JF's lawyer, and Peter Scholl-Latour
Peter Scholl-Latour
Peter Scholl-Latour is a Franco-German journalist and publicist.In 1945 and 1946 Scholl-Latour was a member the Commando Parachutiste Ponchardier, a unit of French paratroopers, with whom he fought in the First Indochina War.After taking a master's degree at Institut d’études politiques de Paris...
(writer).