“The ossis are either communists or fascists. In between they don’t. Disgusting,” Döpfner wrote in full according to “Zeit” research. “The ossis will never become democrats. Perhaps one should turn the former GDR into an agricultural and production zone with a standard wage,” it continues.
According to its own statements, “Zeit” has news from Springer’s closest management circle over the past few years. According to the newspaper, Döpfner was not ready for a conversation, and the publisher “did not want to comment” on a long list of questions. Springer’s major investor KKR and Friede Springer, publisher and widow of Axel Springer, did not respond either.
According to information from the German Press Agency, Springer circles responded on Thursday that the article consisted of “manipulative SMS scraps“. Döpfner is a publishing boss with strong opinions, who as a matter of principle always challenges opposing opinions and contradictions and repeatedly polemicizes in return.
The “Zeit” research solidifies an image of Döpfner that has been drawing public attention for some time. During the pandemic, the then President of the Federal Association of German Newspaper Publishers defended the then acting editor-in-chief of “Bild”, Julian Reichelt, in a private message as the “last and only journalist in Germany who is still bravely rebelling against the new GDR authoritarian state”. The news was later published by the New York Times.
Döpfner dismissed his choice of words as “deliberate exaggeration”. But the news that has now become public shows how much he is said to have mixed political, journalistic and sometimes private matters.
Apparently, Döpfner wanted to use the image to set the mood for the FDP media portal
Dopfner, 60, has a net worth of around $1.2 billion, according to Forbes. He trims Springer-Verlag for digitization and internationalization. He took over the business portal Business Insider, strengthened himself in the USA with the Politico offer and intends to no longer offer printed newspapers in this country in the medium term. After Friede Springer had bequeathed him shares and voting rights, Döpfner was considered the undisputed ruler at Springer.
And as such, he apparently also tried to influence the recent federal elections through the “Bild” newspaper. According to “Zeit”, he is said to have written verbatim at the beginning of August 2021: “Our last hope is the FDP. The green-red disaster can only be avoided if it becomes very strong – and that can happen. Can’t we do more for them? The only ones that are positioned as a consequence against the madness of the corona measures.”
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Six weeks before the election, he became even clearer: “Can you do more for the FPD? They should get at least 16 percent.” Two days before voting, Döpfner wrote to Reichelt: “Please strengthen the FDP. If they are very strong, they can be so authoritarian in traffic lights that they burst. And then Jamaica works.”
The chat messages show other facets of Döpfner’s sometimes alternative interpretation of world events and a sometimes radical perspective: At the end of March 2020, he described Covid as “flu”, which was only “dangerous for the old and sick”. The state protective measures are the “end of the market economy,” feared Döpfner. “And the beginning of 33”, which could be understood as a reference to Adolf Hitler’s seizure of power in 1933.
Criticism of Merkel’s migration policy, corona measures, Kemmerich-Schelte
He also bases his criticism of the former chancellor on the pandemic policy. He apparently thinks Angela Merkel is crazy or dangerous. Döpfner instructed two experienced investigative reporters to find out whether the chancellor had spied for the Stasi or the KGB during the GDR era. But the research on the “big thing”, as Döpfner says, ended in nothing.
According to the chats, the Springer boss also shot against Merkel when the FDP state politician Thomas Kemmerich was elected Prime Minister of Thuringia in 2020 with votes from the AfD. This was publicly described as breaking a taboo, Merkel joined the criticism – Kemmerich resigned after just one day. “M,” said Döpfner, referring to the then chancellor, had lost his mind. It is a “nail in the coffin of democracy”.
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According to the chats, Döpfner is also a staunch opponent of Merkel’s migration policy: Anyone who “opens the doors will reap racism”. Döpfner is said to have written: “free west, fuck the intolerant muslims and all that other sex”. According to the news, also on his list of enemies: renewable energies. If there’s one thing he hates, it’s wind edges, he wrote in 2017.
Like Döpfner’s news, the Bild newspaper recently appeared in a journalistic capacity: it wrote critically about Merkel and foreigners, sometimes questioned climate change, and criticized the corona measures, which were perceived as too strict.
How clear the major investors are about Döpfner’s internal behavior has not yet been handed down. KKR partner Philipp Freise described Döpfner as a “great CEO” in a podcast on Wednesday. They support his work 100 percent. It is questionable whether Freise would repeat this statement after Thursday’s “Zeit” report. KKR holds more than a third of the shares in Springer-Verlag.
New trouble with Reichelt
Döpfner and the publisher have been in the public eye since he dismissed “Bild” editor-in-chief Reichelt in October 2021 after affairs became known. Reichelt and Döpfner were considered first-name friends and should have often shared the same opinion. The publisher’s CEO had internally described the allegations against the tabloid boss as “slander”.
In the end, Döpfner is said to have written to his fired editor-in-chief: “Professionally you deceived me and caused me damage like nobody else. Personally and in terms of our shared world view, I still feel very connected to you.”
Meanwhile, it could be more than a coincidence that the news magazine “Spiegel” reported on Wednesday that Springer was considering taking legal action against Reichelt. At this point, Springer should have known about the “Zeit” research.
According to “Spiegel” information, Springer considers it possible that Reichelt took documents and internal information from his time as “Bild” boss or did not delete it and is now using it to his own advantage. Neither the Springer Group nor Reichelt wanted to comment officially on this.
Note on transparency: DvH Medien GmbH, the sole shareholder of the Handelsblatt Media Group, holds an entrepreneurial 50 percent stake in Zeit-Verlag (“The time”).
More: The entire editor-in-chief of “Bild” has to go