The ''Spiegel'' affair of 1962 () was a

political scandal In politics, a political scandal is an action or event regarded as morally or legally wrong and causing general public outrage. Politicians, government officials, Political party, party officials and Lobbying, lobbyists can be accused of various ...

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

. It stemmed from the publication of an article in ''

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 ...

,'' West Germany's weekly political magazine, about the nation's defense forces.. Several ''Spiegel'' staffers were detained on charges of

treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state (polity), state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to Coup d'état, overthrow its government, spy ...

, but were ultimately released without trial. The scandal stemmed from a conflict between Franz Josef Strauss, federal minister of defense, and Rudolf Augstein, owner and editor-in-chief of ''Der Spiegel''. The affair cost Strauss his office and, according to some commentators, put the post-war West German democracy to its first successful test of press freedom.

Cause

Strauss and Augstein had clashed in 1961, when ''Der Spiegel'' raised accusations of

bribery Bribery is the corrupt solicitation, payment, or Offer and acceptance, acceptance of a private favor (a bribe) in exchange for official action. The purpose of a bribe is to influence the actions of the recipient, a person in charge of an official ...

in favor of the FIBAG construction company, which had received a contract for building military facilities. A parliamentary enquiry, however, found no evidence against Strauss. The quarrel escalated when the 10 October 1962 issue of ''Der Spiegel'' presented an article by Conrad Ahlers, ''"Bedingt abwehrbereit"'' ("Conditionally Ready to Defend"), about a

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

exercise called "Fallex 62". The piece "included details about the performance of West Germany’s defense forces" and "a NATO commander’s assessment that found the West German forces to be only partially ready to defend the country." The magazine was accused of

(''Landesverrat'') "by publishing details that a hastily compiled Defense Ministry document claimed were state secrets". At 9 p.m. on 26 October, its offices in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

, as well as the homes of several journalists, were raided and searched by 36 policemen, who confiscated thousands of documents. Augstein and editors-in-chief Claus Jacobi and Johannes Engel were arrested. The author of the article, Ahlers, who was vacationing in Spain, was arrested in his hotel during the night. Augstein was in custody for 103 days. The offices remained under police occupation for four weeks, while the magazine continued to appear each week, produced not without some difficulty, elsewhere. Federal Chancellor

Konrad Adenauer Konrad Hermann Joseph Adenauer (5 January 1876 – 19 April 1967) was a German statesman and politician who served as the first Chancellor of Germany, chancellor of West Germany from 1949 to 1963. From 1946 to 1966, he was the first leader of th ...

was informed of Strauss' actions. However, Wolfgang Stammberger, the Minister of Justice, belonging to the smaller coalition partner FDP, was deliberately left out of all decisions. News of the arrests caused riots and protests throughout West Germany. Strauss initially denied all involvement, even before the ''

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet (assembly), Diet") is the lower house of the Germany, German Federalism in Germany, federal parliament. It is the only constitutional body of the federation directly elected by the German people. The Bundestag wa ...

''; Adenauer, in another speech, complained about an "abyss of treason" ''("Abgrund von Landesverrat")''. Strauss was finally forced to admit that he had phoned the military attaché of the West German embassy to Spain in Madrid and urged the attaché to have Ahlers arrested. This was clearly illegal – as Minister of the Interior Hermann Höcherl paraphrased, ''"etwas außerhalb der Legalität"'' ("somewhat outside of legality"). Since Strauss had lied to the parliament, on 19 November the five FDP ministers of the cabinet resigned, demanding that Strauss 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.

Conclusion

On 26 November, the police ended their occupation of the ''Der Spiegel'' offices, while Augstein, Ahlers and three others remained under arrest – Augstein until 7 February 1963. In December 1962, Adenauer formed a new coalition with the Free Democratic Party but Strauss and Stammberger were left out of power. On 13 May 1965, the '' Bundesgerichtshof'' (highest German court of appeals) refused to commence trial proceedings against Augstein and Ahlers, ruling that during the affair Strauss had exceeded his competencies 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 Germany The Federal Constitutional Court ( ; abbreviated: ) is the supreme court, supreme constitutional court for the Germany, Federal Republic of Germany, established by the constitution or Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, Basic Law ...

, which issued a groundbreaking ruling in August 1966 that laid down the basics of the

freedom of the press Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the fundamental principle that communication and expression through various media, including printed and electronic Media (communication), media, especially publication, published materials, shoul ...

for decades to come.

Aftermath

The scandal temporarily halted Strauss' political career and was remembered by many when Strauss ran for Chancellor in 1980, clearly losing against his SPD opponent (and incumbent)

Helmut Schmidt Helmut Heinrich Waldemar Schmidt (; 23 December 1918 – 10 November 2015) was a German politician and member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), who served as the chancellor of West Germany from 1974 to 1982. He was the longest ...

. However, it is mostly remembered for altering the political culture of post-war West Germany and – with the first mass demonstrations and public protests – being a turning point from the old ''Obrigkeitsstaat'' (authoritarian state) to a modern democracy. The British historian Frederick Taylor argued that the Federal Republic under Adenauer retained many of the characteristics of the authoritarian "

deep state Deep state is a term used for (real or imagined) potential, unauthorized and often secret networks of power operating independently of a State (polity), state's political leadership in pursuit of their own agendas and goals. Although the term ori ...

" that existed under the

Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic, officially known as the German Reich, was the German Reich, German state from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional republic for the first time in history; hence it is also referred to, and unofficially proclai ...

, and that the ''Spiegel'' affair marked an important turning point in German values as ordinary people rejected the old authoritarian outlook in favour of the more democratic values that came to be seen as the bedrock of the Federal Republic. Augstein became one of International Press Institute's 50 ''Hero of World Press Freedom'' laureates in 2000 for his role in the Spiegel scandal.. The scandal was the closure of a reactionary period and the parochial culture in West Germany.

Movie adaptation

The ''Spiegel'' affair was adapted into a German

television film A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie, telefilm, telemovie or TV film/movie, is a film with a running time similar to a feature film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a Terrestr ...

, ', which was broadcast in May 2014 on

Arte Arte (, , ; ' ('), sometimes stylised in lowercase or uppercase in its logo) is a European Union, European public service Television channel, channel dedicated to culture. It is made up of three separate companies: the Strasbourg-based Europea ...

and ARD. The film was criticized by Rudolf Augstein's daughter, for containing many historical inaccuracies, in particular for inappropriately focusing on personal conflicts between Strauss and Augstein to the detriment of covering the actual political and judicial conflict in the society..

References

External links

* . Translation of the West German supreme court's (Bundesverfassungsgericht) legal decision. {{Authority control German military scandals 1962 in West Germany Freedom of expression Der Spiegel Journalism controversies Political scandals in Germany Franz Josef Strauss