The
Spiegel Affair of 1962 was one of the major political scandals in
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
in the era following
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
Essentially, the scandal boiled down to a conflict between Franz Josef Strauss, then Federal Minister of Defense, and
Rudolf AugsteinRudolf Karl Augstein was one of the most influential German journalists, founder and part-owner of Der Spiegel magazine....
, owner and editor-in-chief of
Der SpiegelDer Spiegel is a German weekly magazine, published in Hamburg. It is one of Europe's largest weekly magazines with a weekly circulation of more than one million.- Overview :...
magazine,
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
's leading weekly political
magazineMagazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles, generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
. The affair would cost Strauss his office and put the young German democracy to its first major test.
The two had clashed already a year earlier, when, in 1961,
Spiegel raised accusations of
briberyBribery, a form of pecuniary corruption, is an act implying money or gift given that alters the behavior of the recipient. Bribery constitutes a crime and is defined by Black's Law Dictionary as the offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an...
in favor of the
FIBAG construction companyThe Fibag scandal was in 1961/1962 a German political scandal around minister of defense Franz Josef Strauß, which, together with the Starfighter scandal and the Spiegel scandal, led to Strauß's demission as defense minister and halted his political career at least temporarily.In 1961, the weekly...
, which had received a contract for building military facilities.
The
Spiegel Affair of 1962 was one of the major political scandals in
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
in the era following
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
Essentially, the scandal boiled down to a conflict between Franz Josef Strauss, then Federal Minister of Defense, and
Rudolf AugsteinRudolf Karl Augstein was one of the most influential German journalists, founder and part-owner of Der Spiegel magazine....
, owner and editor-in-chief of
Der SpiegelDer Spiegel is a German weekly magazine, published in Hamburg. It is one of Europe's largest weekly magazines with a weekly circulation of more than one million.- Overview :...
magazine,
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
's leading weekly political
magazineMagazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles, generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
. The affair would cost Strauss his office and put the young German democracy to its first major test.
The two had clashed already a year earlier, when, in 1961,
Spiegel raised accusations of
briberyBribery, a form of pecuniary corruption, is an act implying money or gift given that alters the behavior of the recipient. Bribery constitutes a crime and is defined by Black's Law Dictionary as the offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an...
in favor of the
FIBAG construction companyThe Fibag scandal was in 1961/1962 a German political scandal around minister of defense Franz Josef Strauß, which, together with the Starfighter scandal and the Spiegel scandal, led to Strauß's demission as defense minister and halted his political career at least temporarily.In 1961, the weekly...
, which had received a contract for building military facilities. However, a parliamentary enquiry then found no evidence against Strauss.
The quarrel then escalated when
Der Spiegel, in its October 8, 1962, issue, published an article called
"Bedingt abwehrbereit" ("partly prepared for defense"), about a
NATOThe North Atlantic Treaty Organization ); ), also called "the Atlantic Alliance", is an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty which was signed on April 4, 1949...
manoeuver called "Fallex 62". The piece uncovered the sorry state of the
BundeswehrThe Bundeswehr comprises the unified armed forces of Germany and their civil administration and procurement authorities...
(Germany's army) facing the communist threat from the east. At that time, the army had been given the grade "prepared for defense to only a limited extent", the lowest possible NATO-grade.
The magazine was accused of
treasonIn law, treason is the crime that covers some of the more serious acts of disloyalty to one's sovereign or nation. Historically, treason also covered the murder of specific social superiors, such as the murder of a husband by his wife...
. At 9 p.m. on October 26, 1962, the magazine's offices in
HamburgHamburg is the second-largest city in Germany and the sixth-largest city in the European Union...
were seized and (together with the houses of several journalists) searched by 36 policemen, and thousands of documents were confiscated. The offices would remain shut down for weeks. Augstein and the then-editors-in-chief Claus Jacobi and Johannes Engel were arrested. The author of the article, Conrad Ahlers, who was vacationing in
SpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.
[The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though España , Estado español and Nación española are used interchangeably...]
, was seized in his hotel during the night. Augstein would be jailed for 103 days.
Bundeskanzler (Federal Chancellor)
Konrad AdenauerKonrad Hermann Josef Adenauer , 5 January 1876 – 19 April 1967) was a German statesman.Although his political career spanned sixty years, beginning as early as 1906, he is most noted for his role as the first Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1949–1963 and chairman of the...
was informed of Strauss' actions. However, the Minister of Justice, belonging to the smaller coalition party FDP, was deliberately left out of all decisions. The injustice of the arrest caused riots and protest throughout Germany. Strauss initially denied all involvement, even before the
BundestagThe Bundestag is the parliament of Germany. It was established with Germany's constitution of 1949 and is the successor of the earlier Reichstag...
: Adenauer, in another speech, famously complained about an "abyss of treason"
("Abgrund von Landesverrat").
Strauss was finally forced to admit that he had phoned the German military attaché in
MadridMadrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. It is the third-most populous municipality in the European Union after Greater London and Berlin, and its metropolitan area is the third-most populous city by urban area in the European Union after Paris and London.The city is located on the river...
and urged him to arrest Ahlers. This was clearly illegal — as Minister of the Interior
Hermann HöcherlHermann Höcherl was a German politician of the Christian Social Union of Bavaria . After first being elected to the Bundestag in 1961, he was Minister of the Interior until 1965 and then Minister for Food, Agricultur and Forests until 1969....
famously paraphrased,
"etwas außerhalb der Legalität" ("somewhat outside of legality"). Since Strauss had lied to the parliament, on November 19, the five FDP ministers of the cabinet resigned, demanding that Strauss and Volkmar Hopf be fired. This put Adenauer himself at risk. He found himself publicly accused of backing the suppression of a critical press with the resources of the state.
On November 26, the police ended its occupation of the
Spiegel offices, while Augstein, Ahlers and three others remained under arrest — Augstein until February 7, 1963. In December 1962, Adenauer formed a new cabinet without Strauss.
On May 13, 1965, the
BundesgerichtshofThe Federal Court of Justice of Germany is the highest court in the system of ordinary jurisdiction in Germany. It is the supreme court in all matters of criminal and civil law...
(highest German
court of appealsCourt of Appeals may refer to:An appellate court generally.In Israel:*Military Court of Appeals In the Philippines:*Philippine Court of AppealsIn Turkey:*High Court of Appeals of TurkeyIn the United States of America:...
) refused to open trial against Augstein and Ahlers, ruling that during the affair Strauss had violated the boundaries and committed
Freiheitsberaubung (deprivation of personal freedom); however, because of his belief of acting lawfully (
Verbotsirrtum), he was exempt from punishment. The case also came before the
Federal Constitutional Court of GermanyThe Federal Constitutional Court is a special court established by the Grundgesetz, the German basic law...
, which issued a groundbreaking ruling that laid down the basics of the
freedom of the pressFreedom of the press consists ofconstitutional or statutory protections pertaining to the media and published materials.With respect to governmental information, any government distinguishes which materials are public or protected from disclosure to the public based on classification of information...
for decades to come.
The scandal temporarily halted Strauss' political career and was remembered by many when Strauß ran for
Bundeskanzler in 1980, clearly losing against his
SPDThe Social Democratic Party of Germany is Germany's oldest political party. The party governed at the federal level in a grand coalition with the Christian Democratic Union and the Christian Social Union until conceding defeat in the federal election of September 2009...
opponent (and incumbent)
Helmut SchmidtHelmut Heinrich Waldemar Schmidt is a German Social Democratic politician who served as Chancellor of West Germany from 1974 to 1982. Prior to becoming chancellor, he had served as Minister of Defence and Minister of Finance. He had also served briefly as Minister of Economics and as acting...
. However, it is mostly remembered for altering the political culture of post-war Germany and — with the first mass demonstrations and public protests — being a turning point from the old
Obrigkeitsstaat (authoritarian state) to a modern democracy.