"75 years of Munich Merkur": That's how it all started back then

Created: 05/24/2022, 11:42 am

By: Stefan Sessler

Handwork: This is how the Merkur was produced in the past.

© mm

Munich – At the very, very beginning of the Merkur story, our reporters asked people in the region what they expected from a new newspaper.

The answers were printed in the very first issue.

A noble lady said: "Hopefully the MM will also bring something for superficial people like me."

Racing driver Hans Stuck said: "Dear MM, couldn't you convince the police that a car can't go below 50 km/h with the best will in the world?"

The actor Axel von Ambesser said: "I think it's a disaster that another newspaper is published in Munich.

I'm a maniacal newspaper reader and devour every line.

I see it as the final collapse of my personal life.”

A flower mother from the Viktualienmarkt said: "I wish for a good pair of glasses, for strong coffee and something for your heart."

The answers are heritage and mission at the same time.

Not lying, not boring and something for the Bavarian heart.

The claim and self-image of the Münchner Merkur, which was initially called the Münchner Mittag, cannot be summed up much more concisely.

In the freezing cold of 1947, long queues formed when our newspaper appeared.

Paper was precious, the military government had strictly limited the size and circulation.

By no means everyone who wanted an issue, priced at 20 pfennigs, got one.

The Münchner Mittag was the second daily newspaper in post-war Munich to be licensed by the American military government.

The "Süddeutsche Zeitung" was always published on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, the Münchner Mittag came out on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

I wish for good glasses, strong coffee and something for your heart.

A flower seller from the Viktualienmarkt reported 75 years ago what she hoped for from our newspaper.

To a certain extent, Merkur was a successor to a newspaper that had been discontinued during World War II: the Münchner Zeitung.

It was stopped by the National Socialists on March 31, 1943.

Even today, the cover of every issue of Merkur is reminiscent of its predecessor: the “Münchner Zeitung” is still at the top of the newspaper.

As early as the summer of 1948, there were local editorial offices in Dachau, Ebersberg, Erding, Freising, Fürstenfeldbruck, Wolfratshausen and Starnberg.

Two pages of the sheet were always dedicated to the respective local area.

By 1950 there were contracts with ten owners of former homeland newspapers.

More local editions were added later, today the Merkur has 23 editions.

The special feature: All local newspapers kept their titles, the Münchner Merkur is called Isar-Loisachbote in Wolfratshausen and Schongauer Nachrichten in Schongau.

At the time of the takeover, most of the home editorial offices had already shaped local journalism for many years.

Mercury as a whole is therefore not just 75 years old, but much, much older.

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Merkur Managing Director Daniel Schöningh.

© Marcus sleep

In February 1982, former publisher and editor-in-chief Dr.

Felix Buttersack sold his Merkur stake to today's publisher and editor Dr.

Dirk Ippen.

Publisher Wolfgang Huck passed on his shares to Alfons Döser, today's co-editor of the Münchner Merkur and publisher of the Oberbayerisches Volksblatt, which adopts content from the cover section of the Merkur.

Since 2010 Daniel Schöningh, nephew of Dr.

Dirk Ippen, the publishing house as managing director.

He says: “I am proud and grateful that we can celebrate the 75th anniversary of Merkur.

Our hearts have always beaten for Upper Bavaria and for our readers.” The traditional press building on Bayerstrasse in Munich is home to Merkur, tz and the two radio stations Charivari and Arabella.

"There is no comparable media house in Munich like ours," says Managing Director Schöningh.

It has long been possible to read news from the region and from all over the world on the Internet.

"Merkur.de is an unparalleled success story," says Daniel Schöningh.

"Ippen Digital has revolutionized online journalism - with a central editorial office that supplies more than fifty regional portals with news around the clock."

A lot is changing very quickly.

But it's the news and the stories behind the news that move our readers.

Always.

Or in the words of a Munich street sweeper who said 75 years ago what he expects from our newspaper: “Yes, my truth.

It will be said so vui glong that the truth is the most important thing that we wish for.” There is nothing to add to this, even three-quarters of a century later.

STEFAN SESSLER

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other articles from the special supplement "Upper Bavaria - a region on the move" on the anniversary "75 years of the Munich Merkur":

Greeting from publisher Dirk Ippen: The Merkur – the most Bavarian of all newspapers

Interview with Prime Minister Markus Söder: "Mother and son-in-law": Söder remembers Merkel's SMS in difficult times - "with wisdom

When the editor-in-chief grabs the pitchfork: A working visit to the farm of the future