Rudolf Augstein (November 5, 1923 - November 7, 2002) was one of the most influential German journalists, founder and part-owner of Der Spiegel magazine.

Born in Hanover, Germany, he was a radio operator and artillery observer in Hitler's Wehrmacht during World War II.

He founded Der Spiegel in 1946/1947, which became (and still is) the most important investigative weekly magazine in Germany. During the Spiegel scandal in 1961 and 1962, he was arrested and jailed for several months, until Franz Josef Strauß was forced to resign as Minister of the Defense under continuing public protest.

While in prison for the alleged high treason, he read an anti-christian pamphlet by Albert Schweitzer which summed up all 19th-century "historical" literature on the Gospels. Having read this book Augstein changed his magazine's policy on religion. While having reported until then from a rather christian-friendly perspective, Der Spiegel evolved into an explicitly anti-christian voice (the cover story of the Christmas issue of 1996 read: "God is dead, Satan lives" (However, this was clearly a report about the reception of evil in society)). Augstein at the end of his life proudly stated to be a cynic; on his death bed he refused even to consider an afterlife with the words: "I only believe in what I know." He was tough on facts but careless with their proper interpretation.

Augstein became a member of the Bundestag in 1972, but gave back his seat already in 1973 to focus on his duties as a journalist. It has been speculated that he considered himself to exert much more influence with his magazine.

A hobby historian, Augstein published several successful books, among them Preußens Friedrich und die Deutschen (1981, ISBN 3891901062), Otto von Bismarck (1990, ISBN 3445060126), and, about his lifetime opponent, Überlebensgroß Herr Strauß. Ein Spiegelbild (1983, ISBN 3499330024).

Since Stefan Aust became editor-in-chief of Der Spiegel, Augstein retreated more and more to private life, although he continued to publish commentaries regularly in the magazine almost until his death. For his lifetime achievements for peace, civil liberties and freedom of the press he was honoured with the title "Journalist of the century" in 2000 by 101 German journalists.

Augstein married five times, the last time in 2000. He died on November 7, 2002 from pneumonia and was buried on the island of Sylt.

External links

• Portrait by Michael Jürgs (in Süddeutsche Zeitung online)
• http://www.dhm.de/lemo/html/biografien/AugsteinRudolf/ (also used as a reference)

Related articles

• Der Spiegel
• Spiegel scandal