Status: 01.08.2023 5:00 p.m
“Stern” was first available on newsstands on August 1, 1948. In the meantime, it was the magazine with the highest circulation in Europe. Founder and boss was Henri Nannen. But he was not only a publicist, he also made a name for himself as an art patron, for example with the Kunsthalle in Emden.
There are celebrities whose name is inextricably linked with their profession – with a profession. This does not apply to Henri Nannen. He was outstanding in at least two areas: as the founder, editor-in-chief and publisher of the magazine “Stern” as well as an art collector and patron. Both professions have interested and fascinated him since his youth.
Childhood in East Friesland, studies in Munich
After an unusually successful career as a journalist, Henri Nannen dedicated his retirement to art.
Henri Nannen was born on December 25, 1913 in Emden in East Frisia. His father Klaas is a trained locksmith, later he works as a police officer. Nannen attended the humanistic high school and then completed an apprenticeship as a bookseller. At the age of 20 he went to Munich to study art history. His journalistic career also began there at the Reichssender in Munich. When proceedings were opened against Nannen for alleged “resistance to state authority” in 1937, he had to leave the university and was initially no longer allowed to work as a journalist. Apparently, the Emden NSDAP had reported to Munich that Nannen had a Jewish girlfriend in his homeland.
AUDIO: October 13, 1996: anniversary of the death of “Stern” founder Henri Nannen (15 min)
Entry into the Wehrmacht in 1939
But the publisher Hugo Bruckmann stands up for him. As a result, the proceedings fizzled out and the penalties were lifted. Nannen gets a job with Bruckmann and writes for his magazine “Die Kunst”. A short time later his short career ended again: with the review of a book by a Jewish author about Rembrandt, he met with little understanding from the National Socialists. In 1939 Nannen was drafted into the Wehrmacht, worked among other things as a war correspondent and rose to the rank of lieutenant in the reserve.
New start in Hanover – the “Stern” is born
After the end of the Second World War, Nannen began a career as a journalist in Hanover in 1946: first as editor of the “Hannoversche Latest News”, then the FDP newspaper “Abendpost”. At the same time, he designed a new magazine, the “Stern”, based on the youth magazine “Zickzack”. On August 1, 1948 – Nannen is now 35 years old – the paper hits newsstands for the first time – 16 pages for 40 pfennigs. The cover photo shows a portrait of Hildegard Knef with her eyes closed. The mixture of entertainment and politics resonates with the readers. In a short space of time, “Stern” developed into the magazine with the highest circulation in Europe.
In the editor-in-chief’s chair
Nannen aspires to work as an editor and sells his shares in the young newspaper. In 1951, the publisher Gerd Bucerius acquired the majority in “Stern”, which he now owned together with his partners John Jahr and Richard Gruner. The magazine’s profits offset the millions in losses that Bucerius made with its weekly newspaper “Die Zeit”. Henri Nannen remains the outstanding head at the magazine – as editor-in-chief. He doesn’t shy away from tackling hot issues, even though he provokes that his paper is repeatedly confiscated or banned by the occupying powers.
Eye-Catching Stories
Accusation of sexism: In 1978 women’s rights activists sued “Stern” because of revealing photos of female models.
For more than two decades, Nannen, who likes to be called “Sir Henri” internally, has successfully steered “Stern” through the rapidly changing press landscape. With spectacular cover stories such as the campaign “We have an abortion” from 1971, when almost 400 women publicly committed themselves to this step, the newspaper moved the nation several times. Nannen keeps the “Stern” politically on a left-liberal course. At the same time, he captures the prevailing zeitgeist of the 1970s and early 1980s with often scantily clad or bare-breasted models on the front page. However, there is also resistance to sexism. In 1978 women, including Alice Schwarzer, took the magazine to court.
At the end of 1980, Nannen resigned as editor-in-chief and was given a new, tailor-made position as publisher.
Hitler Diaries: Mega breakdown just before the farewell
On his 70th birthday at the end of 1983, Nannen wants to leave the “Stern” for good. This means that he is not spared one of the biggest media scandals in the Federal Republic: the million-dollar scandal surrounding the forged “Hitler Diaries” in the spring of 1983. Although an internal investigation by the publishing house does not attribute any responsibility for the publication to Nannen, he admits that he is partly to blame journalistic mega glitch. The scandal surrounding the “Hitler Diaries” plunges the “Stern” into a deep crisis.
Further information
Was the fake “diaries” really just about a scoop for the “star”? Or did the perpetrators have completely different motives? A dossier. more
Nannen Prize for Outstanding Writers
In addition to his active journalistic work, Nannen also supports writing colleagues. In 1977 he donated the Egon Erwin Kisch Prize, an award for authors of outstanding reports printed in German. From 2005, the now renowned honor will be included as one of seven categories in the new Henri Nannen Prize, which “Stern” and the publishing house Gruner + Jahr are bringing to life. “Stern” editor-in-chief Thomas Osterkorn justified the naming in 2004 with “Nannen’s life’s work, to which the ‘Stern’ still feels closely connected today.” In the meantime, the publisher has received the award, which is now known as name price registered, open to journalists and reporters from all German-speaking media in several categories. The Egon Erwin Kisch Prize is still awarded as a print prize for the best text report.
Nannen also cares about young writers. In 1978 he founded the Hamburg School of Journalism together with Manfred Fischer, CEO of the Gruner + Jahr publishing house. Her name is now Henri Nannen School.
With the Emder Kunsthalle, the collector sets himself a monument
Henri and Eske Nannen are the main benefactors of the Kunsthalle Emden. A portrait of the publicist also hangs there.
In 1979 Nannen turned to his second passion, art. In Hamburg he founded the “Henri Nannen Kunsthandel” and in the following years brought together an important selection of modern works. On the occasion of his 70th birthday, he is donating his collection, which focuses on German painters of the 20th century, to his hometown of Emden. As an encore, Nannen organized the construction of a museum, the Kunsthalle Emden, with a lot of his own money, which opened on October 3, 1986. Nannen is said to have justified his commitment to the museum by saying “that it’s not enough to bite the dust at some point and not have moved anything but an enjoyable magazine”.
AUDIO: Henri Nannen and art for East Friesland (14 min)
Honorary citizenship for Henri Nannen
The city expressed its thanks in 1989 with honorary citizenship for the founder. The award is in line with the Grand Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, the Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, First Class and the Lower Saxony State Medal, which also went to Nannen.
Henri Nannen died in Hanover on October 13, 1996 at the age of 82 as a result of several cancer operations. He leaves behind his third wife, Eske Art Gallery as managing director, as well as a son from a second marriage.
Biography also includes propaganda job for the SS
Long after Nannen’s death, his activities during the Nazi era became the focus of interest again. During the Second World War, Henri Nannen is said to have been involved in leading positions in anti-Semitic propaganda. This is shown by 2022 research by Strg_F, the report format that NDR produces for the radio media offering. Accordingly, after initial activities as a soldier in the Luftwaffe in the last two years of the war, Nannen was dismissed from the SS propaganda unit “Südstern”. Nannen himself describes his work in a ZDF interview in 1989: “We made leaflets and we made a newspaper, we made radio broadcasts.” The whole thing was done under “psychological warfare”. According to research, the “Südstern” unit tried to influence the enemy on the Italian front in 1944 with anti-Semitic leaflets. During his lifetime, however, Nannen denied that he was anti-Semitic – although such leaflets exist and are now stored in the Berlin State Library.
Further information
8 Min
“Stern” founder Henri Nannen is said to have been involved in anti-Semitic propaganda during World War II. 8 mins
“Stern” reacted to STRG_F’s research and took a closer look at the biography of the magazine’s founder. In the very detailed and quite critical Article “Who was the star founder Henri Nannen?” From 2022 it is said that there is “nothing to suggest that Nannen was a convinced National Socialist. And a lot that he detested the regime. He just took part in ‘Südstern’ – which is not evident from the documents from the post-war period .” Later, Nannen always rejected anti-Semitism, “but did not clearly deny that there was something like that with ‘Südstern’,” according to “Stern”. In the long list of Nannen’s military assignments, there is no entry for SS-directed combat propaganda. “That may be formally correct, since he was still registered in a staff company of the 10th Army. So the “type of activity and area of responsibility” for the period from January 1944 to April 1945 only says ‘platoon leader service’, which does not include his duties makes particularly clear.” Nannen obviously did what he had to do in order not to jeopardize the start of the new era. The “star” hour of Nannen’s new magazine also came on August 1, 1948 in this new era.
Further information
“Stern” founder Henri Nannen donated the museum to his hometown in 1986. more
Publisher, investor, multi-millionaire: Richard Gruner co-founded the Hamburger Verlag in 1965. He was born 95 years ago. more
The pugnacious politician and publisher shaped the post-war period. The “Zeit” foundation is considered his legacy. more
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NDR Info | 01.08.2023 | 4 p.m