Prominent Nazis Staffed German Magazine After War

by Ariel M. Nahal, JDL-Europe Coordinator

Berlin -- During the 1950s, former SS officers and other high-ranking Nazi war criminals had influential staff positions at the German magazine Der Spiegel. Such revelations were just released by prominent media-scientist Lutz Hachmeister in the Berlin newspaperTAZ .

*SS officer Horst Mahnke was chief of International/Panorama affairs from 1952 until 1959. Mahnke is known for his participation in mass executions of German Jews and military operations against Great Britain and the former Soviet Union.

*SS officer Georg Wolff was chief editor of foreign affairs. Wolff was the security force (Sicherheits Dienst - SD) officer in Norway and responsible for all communications with Berlin.

*Wilfred von Oven, the right hand man of propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels, was the magazine's correspondent for South America.

*Nazi press chief Karl Friedrich Grosse was correspondent for Der Spiegel in Berlin.

This bunch of Nazi criminals represented Der Spiegel during the '50s but their influence is still suspected.

Lutz Hachmeister finds today's image of the magazine in striking contrast with its past. Der Spiegel celebrates its 50th anniversary next week. Don't buy it. . . .

(Source: ANP Dutch Press Agency: 12-27-96)