Stern

The weekly magazine was founded in Hanover in 1948 by the then 35-year-old Henri Nannen. In July 1948, he received permission from the British military administration to rename the youth magazine Zick-Zack, which he also published, as Der Stern and to turn it into a modern society magazine (in the style of the illustrated magazine Der Stern, published by Ullstein-Verlag from 1938 to 1939). Henri Nannen sold his publishing house, which had only been founded in 1948, in stages between 1949 and 1951 to the Hamburg publisher Gerd Bucerius and the print shop owner Richard Gruner. In 1965, the two Hanseatic natives, together with the publisher John Jahr senior, founded the Hamburg publishing house Gruner + Jahr, where Der Stern from Hanover found its new home and remains there to this day. The first issue of Der Stern was published in Hanover on August 1, 1948, at that time with the nickname Die illustrierte Zeitschrift für junge Menschen (as Der Stern was still called in its subtitle until issue 5). In 1950, the magazine was banned for a week by the British administration following an article on the Allies' wastefulness at the expense of the Germans. In the 1960s, Henri Nannen made the magazine more political and supported Willy Brandt's Ostpolitik with its content. In 1971, Stern was published with the then spectacular title: "We had abortions!", a campaign initiated by Alice Schwarzer. 374 women publicly admit to having an abortion. In 1978, journalists Kai Hermann and Horst Rieck interviewed the then 15-year-old Christiane Felscherinow for the Stern report "Babystrich". A short time later, these interviews resulted in the book Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo, excerpts of which were published by Stern. A political scandal was triggered in 1987 by the publication of a photo showing CDU politician Uwe Barschel, who was found dead in a bathtub by a Stern reporter in Switzerland. Stern's most controversial story was in 1983, which brought Stern international fame and the biggest credibility crisis in the history of the publishing house and magazine: the headline "Hitler's diaries discovered" appeared on Stern on April 28, 1983. In 2021, Gruner + Jahr becomes a subsidiary of RTL Deutschland and thus part of the listed RTL Group, in which Bertelsmann holds a majority stake. In 2023, the company is fully acquired by RTL. Following the merger of Gruner + Jahr and RTL, the industry portal Medieninsider reported on the increased media concentration at RTL under Gregor Peter Schmitz as editor-in-chief. For example, Stern published "a detailed report including the price scales" on the launch of the music offering at RTL+. Today, Stern covers political and social topics, offers useful journalism and classic reports, shows photo series and portrays celebrities. It is rated by journalists as one of the leading German-language media. With Stern.de, the magazine has also been represented online since 1995.