''Der Morgen'' (''The Morning'') was a daily newspaper published in the

GDR East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from its formation on 7 October 1949 until its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on 3 October 1990. Until 1989, it was generally vie ...

. ''Der Morgen'' was the central organ of the

Liberal Democratic Party of Germany The Liberal Democratic Party of Germany (, LDPD) was a political party in East Germany. Like the other allied bloc parties of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) in the National Front, it had 52 representatives in the People's Chamber. ...

. It was published from 3 August 1945 on, six times a week. The premises of the first issue declared as its goal to become ‘’trumpet of the

liberal democratic Liberal democracy, also called Western-style democracy, or substantive democracy, is a form of government that combines the organization of a democracy with ideas of liberal political philosophy. Common elements within a liberal democracy are: ...

bourgeoisie The bourgeoisie ( , ) are a class of business owners, merchants and wealthy people, in general, which emerged in the Late Middle Ages, originally as a "middle class" between the peasantry and aristocracy. They are traditionally contrasted wi ...

’’. During the Wende, it was the first newspaper in the GDR to renounce the dominance of the SED and to tolerate contributions and letters from readers, which treated critically the GDR system of the time. In February 1990, ''Der Morgen'' became the first GDR newspaper which covered the

Stalinist Stalinism (, ) is the totalitarian means of governing and Marxist–Leninist policies implemented in the Soviet Union (USSR) from 1927 to 1953 by dictator Joseph Stalin and in Soviet satellite states between 1944 and 1953. Stalinism in ...

purges in Germany.Flocken, Jan von, Klonovsky, Michael, Münter, Christian: ''Die Toten vom ‚Platz der Freiheit‘: Lager Ketschendorf und Friedhof Halbe. Zwei Stätten stalinistischer Verbrechen in Deutschland''. In: ''Der Morgen''. 24–25 February 1990 In July 1990, the newspaper was taken over by Axel-springer-Verlag. From that time on, the editorial board included journalists from both East and West Germany, most of them had come from ''

Der Spiegel (, , stylized in all caps) is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. With a weekly circulation of about 724,000 copies in 2022, it is one of the largest such publications in Europe. It was founded in 1947 by John Seymour Chaloner ...

'' or ''

Tageszeitung ''Die Tageszeitung'' (, "The Daily Newspaper"), stylized as ''die tageszeitung'' and commonly referred to as ''taz'', is a German daily newspaper. It is run as a cooperative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, coöperative, co-op, ...

''. Under its new editor-in-chief, ''Der Morgen'' adjusted itself a new profile, and wrote a series of articles on the finances of PDS and the previous links of various politicians with

Stasi The Ministry for State Security (, ; abbreviated MfS), commonly known as the (, an abbreviation of ), was the Intelligence agency, state security service and secret police of East Germany from 1950 to 1990. It was one of the most repressive pol ...

. The editors Jan von Flocken, Erwin Jurtschitsch and Michael Klonovsky were awarded Wächterpreis der Tagespresse for their courageous ‘’uncovering and handling the

human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...

violations by the GDR justice’’. In Autumn 1990, ''Der Morgen'' merged with the newspaper of the NDPD (another former ‘’blockpartei’’), ''Berliner Allgemeine''. Although ''Der Morgen'' was appreciated by the critics for its style of journalism and had been given guarantees by its new owners, less than a year later the Springer syndicate closed it on 11 June 1991. This decision was urged by Springer manager Erhard van Straaten, who disapproved of the liberal stance of the editorial staff of the newspaper. ''Der Morgen'' had also become a competitor of the conservative-leaning ''

Die Welt (, ) is a German national daily newspaper, published as a broadsheet by Axel Springer SE. is the flagship newspaper of the Axel Springer publishing group and it is considered a newspaper of record in Germany. Its leading competitors are the ...

'' of the same syndicate.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Morgen, Der 1945 establishments in Germany 1991 disestablishments in Germany Defunct newspapers published in Germany Mass media in East Germany Newspapers established in 1945 Publications disestablished in 1991