It was a sensation in the history of the press: only in Garmisch-Partenkirchen did a German newspaper appear in Germany after the war. Despite the ban. On June 4, 1945, the Allies discontinued the daily newspaper. Four months later, the "Highland Messenger" appeared as the successor.
Americans at work: They helped Adam publishers publish the newspaper.
© Archive Peter Adam / Repro Thomas Sehr
Garmisch-Partenkirchen - The tires of the jeep are said to have squeaked when they came to a standstill on Druckergasse in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. The US officers were certainly in a hurry. They had just learned that a newspaper is still appearing in occupied Germany. More precisely, a newspaper that Germans published. It had been banned for a month. Prohibited by the Supreme Allied commanders. The military immediately left their headquarters in Frankfurt am Main and went to Garmisch-Partenkirchen. In the forgotten newspaper place.
So there they are in front of publisher Alois Adam. Set the day sheet immediately - your command is clear. But the edition is ready for the next day. The Allies agree to the compromise. Number 125 may still appear. The newspaper wonder of post-war history ended on June 4, 1945. However, its importance was only realized decades later. "The fact that we were a sensation in the press as the only newspaper that appeared throughout - that was not realized at the time," says Peter Adam (74). After the war worries prevailed.
Verlag Adam is taken over by the military government in 1945
Alois Adam was the second generation to run the publishing house. From 1945 to 1950, he was excluded from business.
© Archive Peter Adam / Repro Thomas Sehr
The grandson of Alois Adam dealt intensively with the history of the printing house. It fills seven Leitz folders. "With a little pride" he looks at the family business, which he managed from 1979 until the closure in 2009. And for which his grandfather was fighting. Because with the visit from Frankfurt he had nothing more to say in his publishing house. His operation was taken over by the military government, he was excluded from all business.
He had done a good job in the 26 issues that appeared after the Allied invasion on April 29, 1945. In any case, he is convinced of this, as can be seen from his notes. Only the first editions were subject to censorship, "then I was given a free hand, trusted me". The censorship also seems to have been relaxed. At lunchtime, apprentice Helmut Pfanzelt cycled the articles to the town hall. Major Snapp glanced at it, gave his okay. Done. It was this governor of the Allies who made the press miracle of Garmisch-Partenkirchen possible. He visited Adam in the print shop, looked around, leafed through newspaper editions. He liked what he saw. "The newspaper was good," he is said to have said. "The newspaper was good." Adam was allowed to continue on May 2, 1945, almost seamlessly. A successful model. In May, the circulation rose from 8,000 to 20,000 copies.
"In ignorance" of the ban, the Tagblatt continued to appear
Did Adam and the U.S. major really not know about the nationwide ban? At least that is what the newspaper makers tell the reader on June 4, 1945. "In ignorance" of the ban, the Tagblatt was published. That was the end of it. But only for a few months.
The Adam family operated a printing company on Druckergasse for 126 years.
© Archive Peter Adam / Repro Thomas Sehr
The overture to the opera "The Caliph of Baghdad" can be heard in the Garmisch-Partenkirchner town hall. It is about 11 a.m. A big ceremony is coming up. On October 8, 1945, the "Hochland-Bote", the new home newspaper for the Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Weilheim, Schongau and Bad Tölz districts, received the license two days after the Süddeutsche Zeitung in Munich. The reader learns from the report that the new publisher Anton Lutz is “deeply serious”. "This moment is one of the most memorable in my life," he says during the celebration. The newspaper, which he will publish two or three times a week in the future, is not just a nice read. "It is your mouthpiece and your eyes." With these words Major Charles H. Heyl of the US military government addressed the population of Garmisch-Partenkirchen in the first issue of Hochland-Boten on October 8, 1945. Only if the newspaper does not become an "organ of corruption and false propaganda" will your strength continue to grow. District Administrator Hans Ritter describes the sheet in his lines under the title "Greetings to the Highland Messenger" as a "building block" on the way to true democracy.
New publisher Lutz distinguished himself as a Nazi critic
Lutz, a trained book printer and owner of a stationery shop in Partenkirchen, appeared to the Americans as a suitable publisher. On May 4, under Adam's predecessor, he had settled with the regime in the Tagblatt editorial “Towards the End of Nazi Tyranny”. In addition, the Nazis put him twice in Dachau concentration camp because of political violations. So politically beyond any doubt, less economically. Says Peter Adam. Under Lutz "the highland messenger was driven into the ditch". At least the machines obviously suffered massively. In a letter in October 1948, his grandfather complained of the "exploitation of resources". They were not designed for the production of 65,000 pieces - the circulation had increased massively.
It takes Alois Adam to decide for himself again. His fight for his publisher is even on the courts. In February 1950, he finally signed a contract with Munich's Merkur - and brought the home newspaper back to its roots: From October 23, 1950, the "Hochland-Merkur" - as the messenger is now called - appeared again under its old name: Garmisch-Partenkirchner Tagblatt.