Page 53 - The Making of the German Post-war Economy

26 THE MAKING OF THE GERMAN POST-WAR ECONOMY

as papers were not only read in private but also in public where they were,
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for instance, available in libraries or waiting rooms.
Aside from non-party papers, radio constituted the main source of
information for the general public in Germany between 1945 and 1949.
Although only two out of seven major broadcasting studios in occupied
West Germany, namely the radio stations in Berlin and Hamburg,
remained unscathed after the war, radio production increased considerably
between 1946 (c. 130,000) and 1949 (c. 1,200,000). While these radio
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transmissions were indeed received by an audience that went far beyond
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the registered radio-receivers (totalling 6,032,331 in 1947) as an average
of three people listened to each set at work, with family or friends, they
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mainly constituted of an educational Schulfunk, the Suchdienst in order to
facilitate the finding of missing people and the broadcasting of the
Nuremberg Trials. Furthermore, both the (re)emerging broadcasting
corporations and their programmes were almost entirely administered by
the Allied authorities: while in the American zone, the ICD controlled the
radio stations in Berlin (DIAS = Drahtfunk im amerikanischen Sektor which
became RIAS = Radiosender im amerikanischen Sektor later on), in Bremen
(Radio Bremen; RB), in Frankfurt (Radio Frankfurt which became the
Hessischer Rundfunk; HR), in Munich (Bayerischer Rundfunk; BR), and in
Stuttgart (Süddeutscher Rundfunk; SDR), in the British occupation zone,
Radio Hamburg (renamed Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk; NWDR), was
organised as a central public corporation according to the BBC and in the
French sovereign territory, Radio Koblenz, the SWF (Südwestfunk), and the
Sender Freiburg were severely monitored. Thus, the radio proved to be less
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useful than the press in assessing the communication of political content
and its public reception.
Other media, such as books, movies or the weekly bizonal news show
Welt im Film, equally liable to licensing regulations, were not included in
this research. This instance is simply due to the fact that they are not
considered information media as serving another purpose. In addition to
the 148 newspapers, which were eventually licensed in occupied West
Germany (60 in the American zone, 58 in the British sovereign territory,
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and 30 in the French zone) , some multi-national newspapers in
neighbouring countries, primarily the Swiss liberal-conservative Neue
Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ), promised to be a fertile ground by which to
influence public opinion in Germany. Despite the low circulation of
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3,000 of so-called ‘Fernausgaben’, i.e. special issues for the northern
neighbour, the foreign daily appearing seven times per week since 1947
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was one of the most demanded and respected newspapers in West
Germany. In particular the ruling classes from industry and politics
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appreciated the quality paper from Zurich. Indeed, Konrad Adenauer,