- Spiegel scandal
The "Spiegel" scandal of 1962 ( _de. Spiegel-Affäre) was one of the major political scandals in
Germany in the era followingWorld War II .Essentially, the scandal boiled down to a conflict between
Franz Josef Strauß , then Federal Minister of Defense, andRudolf Augstein , owner and editor-in-chief of "Der Spiegel " magazine,Germany 's leading weekly politicalmagazine . 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
bribery in favor of the FIBAG construction company, 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 aNATO manoeuver called "Fallex 62". The piece uncovered the sorry state of the "Bundeswehr " (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
treason . At 9 p.m. onOctober 26 ,1962 , the magazine's offices inHamburg 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 inSpain , was seized in his hotel during the night. Augstein would be jailed for 103 days."Bundeskanzler" (Federal Chancellor)
Konrad Adenauer was informed of Strauß's 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 "Bundestag ": 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
Madrid and urged him to arrest Ahlers. This was clearly illegal — as Minister of the InteriorHermann Höcherl famously paraphrased, "etwas außerhalb der Legalität" ("somewhat outside of legality"). Since Strauß had lied to the parliament, onNovember 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 untilFebruary 7 ,1963 . In December 1962, Adenauer formed a new cabinet without Strauß.On
May 13 ,1965 , the "Bundesgerichtshof " (highest Germancourt of appeals ) 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 theFederal Constitutional Court of Germany , which issued a groundbreaking ruling that laid down the basics of thefreedom of the press for decades to come.The scandal temporarily halted Strauß's political career and was remembered by many when Strauß ran for "Bundeskanzler" in 1980, clearly losing against his SPD opponent (and incumbent)
Helmut Schmidt . 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.References
*Schoenbaum, David "The Spiegel Affair", Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1968
ee also
*
Fibag scandal
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