On the death of journalist Peter Merseburger.
When the turn from committed journalism was more than just a phrase, Peter Merseburger gave it a face. Unforgettable the picture of him looking into the camera in a stocky pose, apparently ready to jump.
The ARD magazine “Panorama”, which Merseburger moderated between 1967 and 1975, was a thorn in the side of many conservatives. What is often described today as a social division with an undertone of concern was at that time a form of expression of political culture, and controversy was part of social enlightenment. “Panorama is vigilant and critical, but fair” was the central sentence of his first moderation for the show, which often reported on topics such as Ostpolitik and local RAF terror.
An emotional highlight of his time in the ARD magazine was the debate on the legalization of abortions. For many years, paragraph 218 was a code for a struggle for social modernization that went far beyond women’s right to self-determination over their bodies. When the Catholic Church, represented in Rundfunkrar, had a “Panorama” contribution on the subject removed from the program, Peter Merseburger refused to moderate the program. The texts were read by the later Tagesschau announcer Joe Brauner.
Peter Merseburger, born in Zeitz in Saxony-Anhalt in 1928, after studying German, history and sociology, first worked as a correspondent and editor for the news magazine Der Spiegel before switching to television. After his time at “Panorama”, important positions followed as an ARD correspondent in Washington, East Berlin and London.
Enlighten, arouse curiosity
Milestones in political literature, long neglected in Germany, include Peter Merseburger’s extensive biographies of Willy Brandt, Rudolf Augstein and Kurt Schumacher. Analytical clarity and the ability to bring contemporaneity into an understandable language that enlightens and arouses curiosity finally resulted in a remarkable late work. Peter Merseburger died in Berlin on Tuesday at the age of 93.
