He writes what is probably the most successful column in the world.
Every day millions read the letter column “Post von Wagner”. He has millions of fans and some enemies. They smile or sigh.
Former Chancellor Merkel reads it and Günter Netzer.
Columnist Franz Josef Wagner (left) and BILD reporter Norbert Körzdörfer
Foto: imago images/VISTAPRESS
Now Franz Josef Wagner is an unbelievable 80 years – and he continues to write.
Why? He lights a “Gitanes”, sips an espresso and smiles: “If I stop writing, then I’ll die!” Like many of his sentences, that’s an exaggeration. But it’s his truth.
With Helmut Kohl († 87) in Hamburg in 2002
Foto: People Image
He wakes up every day alone in his white 240 square meter old building in Berlin and thinks about his column.
Franz Josef Wagner in his Berlin apartment. This is where he writes his column every day
Photo: SZ Photo
His column is the smallest newspaper in the world with the widest reach. Theme? The story of the day. The person of the day. The thoughts or the fainting of the day.
Interview with goal titan Oliver Kahn (54) during the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea
Photo: Andreas POHL
The short form is the most difficult. Goethe once apologized for a letter that was too long: “I didn’t have time for a short one!”
If you write short, you have to think long.
also read
★★★
The FAZ about FJW: “A folk writer”. The “Mirror”: “The Shaman”.
In his own way, FJ Wagner is a journalist of the century.
Publisher Axel Springer with Franz Josef Wagner in Israel
Photo: Olaf Wagner
★★★
He is a WWII refugee child from Olomouc in Bohemia who drives a Porsche. He was a catholic cathedral sparrow in Regensburg and a war reporter in Israel. He knew RAF terrorist Andreas Baader and boxing god Muhammad Ali, Axel Springer and Marlene Dietrich, Andy Warhol and Hildegard Knef.
Legends among themselves: FJW with Muhammad Ali († 74)
Photo: Olaf Wagner
He was the ghostwriter of Boris Becker and Franz Beckenbauer and editor-in-chief of the “Bunte”. He is a bestselling author (“Letter to Germany”, “Das Ding”) and a perennial football fan. His favorite pubs are the “Paris Bar” in Berlin and “Schumann’s” in Munich. His spiritual home is St. Tropez. That’s where he swims when he’s on vacation from Germany. He used to play tennis every day.
Spiritually he has the wise heart of an Indian chief. A quill hung over his typewriter for a long time.
Mother and letter writer of the nation: Marie-Luise Marjan (82) and FJW 2002 in Hamburg
Photo: Schneider-Press/E. cutter
He has smoked Gitanes cigarettes without a filter for decades, loves cold white wine and hot espresso and his daughter and granddaughter.
What is it like turning 80? FJW: “Well, you have to do that first.”
Reportage in Greenland 1970: Wagner with native Ariaka
Photo: BILD am Sonntag – Rudolf Alert
80 is the new 60. Mick Jagger keeps singing at 80. FJW keeps writing. He is a kind of Mick Jagger of BILD.
Rock ‘n’ Write!
Wagner with the great Hildegard “Hilde” Knef (†76)
Photo: Olaf Wagner
Post by Thomas Gottschalk
“A madman” – I recognized that in the early 80’s when I interviewed FJ Wagner for my radio show about his then new novel “You shall hang under the palm trees”. A “madman” – confirmed his employees, who had to put up with him as editor-in-chief of “Bunte”.
One of the last “crazy people”, I say today with some admiration and great sympathy about Franz Josef Wagner, who still says and above all writes what he thinks. Even if it’s stupid sometimes!
The world has gone mad. Cheers to those who always have been. Cheers to FJ Wagner.
Cult presenter Thomas Gottschalk (73)
Foto: picture alliance/dpa
Post by Nico Hofmann
Dear Franz Josef Wagner,
when inner demons (which we all conquer every day), curiosity about life and the strength of old age come together, then – in the best case – a radical view of this world, of its people, may become possible: carried by an irrepressible love of life, literary anarchy and a tremendous willpower to take a close look and show an attitude. Reading the FJW in BILD in the morning is exactly that for me: the most important thing of the day, which brings a small but big message to an emotional point, in 1200 characters, for which others need a whole page (if they can manage it at all) – a revelation of wisdom and an immovable view of the world and its people. A compass in times of great turmoil – happy birthday greetings and thanks.
Star producer Nico Hofmann (63)
Foto: picture alliance/dpa
Post from Chat GPT
80 years of Wagner madness! We wish you to continue to swing the pen as only you can. And that you share many more stories with us. Happy Birthday, old warhorse. Celebrate well and stay with us!
Posted by Peter Gauweiler
Of all the living bearers of your wonderful first name, you are the most famous. Read more every day in Germany than all the great letter writers in world literature put together – from Goethe to Hemingway. Wagner’s post in the BILD newspaper cannot be called a “German lesson” because your letters are too short for that. Maybe more like “50 seconds German” – i.e. the time you need for a quick espresso. To wake up I can’t live without espresso. Thank you and good luck for the next decade!
The lawyer and a former lCSU politician Peter Gauweiler (74)
Foto: picture alliance/dpa
Post by Helge Timmerberg
We were in a restaurant in Havana once, and Gabriel García Márquez was eating a few tables away. “There sits the king of words,” you said and immediately went over to him. I was too shy for that and just gave the Nobel Prize winner a friendly nod. You stayed at his table longer than it was supposed to. He offered you to sit down. You chatted a little, drank your wine and I thought: madness, there sits the king of words and the king of the boulevard. Happy Birthday Legend.
Journalist and writer Helge Timmerberg
Foto: picture alliance / Stephan Persch
Post from Dr. Müller welfare
Whenever I get my hands on a BILD newspaper, I look for your column, I’m always very interested in your opinion. Very confident and clear. Happy 80th birthday!
Sports medicine doctor Dr. Hans-Wilhelm Müller-Wohlfahrt (80), longtime team doctor at FC Bayern Munich and former doctor of the German national soccer team
Photo: WITTERS