As of: February 10, 2024, 4:45 a.m
By: Johannes Welte
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Alexandra Föderl-Schmid was missing and wanted in the Inn.
Police found her hypothermic under a bridge.
© Daniel Scharinger
There was a big sigh of relief after the search for the missing journalist Alexandra Föderl-Schmid in the Inn near Braunau.
The 53-year-old was found alive at the new Inn bridge on Friday (February 9th).
Braunau/Munich - Over 100 emergency services searched for the missing journalist Alexandra Föderl-Schmid, deputy editor-in-chief of the Süddeutsche Zeitung, on Thursday after the Bavarian police assumed that the Austrian may have committed suicide.
The search continued overnight.
Alexandra Föderl-Schmid © Friedrich Bungert
On Friday morning (February 9th) came the redeeming news: a police officer found the missing person under the new Inn bridge near Braunau at around 11 a.m.
The person found was severely hypothermic, a spokesman for the Upper Austrian state police told
IppenMedia
.
She was admitted to a clinic.
There was no further information from the police.
According to Spiegel, SZ editor-in-chief Wolfgang Krach tearfully announced the good news at the editorial conference.
This is the “most beautiful day in the last 20 years of the Süddeutsche Zeitung”.
Föderl-Schmid came under pressure after allegations of plagiarism and withdrew from day-to-day business.
The Salzburg plagiarism hunter Stefan Weber spoke of “hair-raising results” after checking her doctoral thesis.
Weber was commissioned by the right-wing populist portal Nius and complained about insufficient sources.
Missing SZ deputy head found alive - expert refutes plagiarism allegations
Barbara Tóth, a doctor of historians and assessor of master's theses at the Vienna University of Applied Sciences, who also examined the dissertation, comes to a different conclusion.
Tóth writes in the Austrian magazine Falter: “All sources can be found in the extensive bibliography.” And she asks the question: “Do you have to cite everything in the introductory text, even if you refer to later chapters where they are mentioned in detail become?"
That could certainly be discussed.
But the scientist comes to the conclusion: "It is not 'plagiarism' in the sense of intentional, abusive, intellectual appropriation." In one case, Föderl-Schmid quoted a report from the German Federal Government without citing the source and did not mention it in the list of sources.
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Tóth: “In my opinion that is actually a mistake, although not a serious one.” Another time she gave a source with the wrong date.
Tóth's conclusion is: “What does this say about the quality of the dissertation?
Nothing."
In general, we do not report on suicides so that such cases do not encourage possible imitators. Reporting only takes place if the circumstances receive particular public attention. If you or someone you know is suffering from an existential life crisis or depression, please contact the telephone counseling service on 0800-1110111. The Psychiatry Crisis Service for Munich and Upper Bavaria also offers help on 0180-6553000. Further information can be found on the website www.kritikendienst-psychiatrie.de.