The guests make the difference between a serious TV discussion and a mere talk show. For many years, the proliferating rounds of public service broadcasting have really only been about the self-portrayal of politicians and activists. On the other hand, the very first program of this kind, the “International Brunch” weekly on Sunday mornings, was seriously oriented towards the issue. On August 30, 1953, this discussion program was broadcast for the first time since 1952, moderated by Werner Höfer. Here, six well-known journalists from five countries spoke to each other about the political topic of the week. Vain pseudo-experts, party or state representatives had no place.
However, this broadcast was by no means unproblematic. And that was mainly due to the person of the moderator. Werner Höfer, born in 1913, joined the NSDAP in 1933 at the age of 20 – most of the so-called “March fallen”, i.e. the party members admitted after Hitler took power on January 30th until the admission freeze on May 1st, 1933, did so out of opportunism.
Höfer, himself from a lower middle-class background, studied humanities in Cologne and at the age of 25 became a feuilleton editor in 1938, first on the Rhine and later in Berlin. Released from military service, from 1941 he continued to write free texts for the “12 o’clock sheet” as a press officer for various Nazi authorities and the armaments ministry.
One of these texts ended his career as the longest-serving TV presenter in Germany. Because on September 20, 1943, an article he drew appeared on the subject: “Artists – Example and Role Model”. In it, Höfer first described a worker who fulfilled his obligations during the war from dawn to dusk. In contrast, the feuilletonist presented an unnamed “artist life 1943”.
According to the text, no artist is expected to make “popular speeches”, but “wherever he draws attention to himself through words or deeds and, because of his reputation, has to do so twice as conspicuously, he does so with political success: through words who bring about a growth in uprightness in his ‘listeners’ – even if they are only a few lighting technicians in the studio – through actions which awaken in his ‘spectators’ – even if only the neighbors of his bombed house – a gain in undaunted hope “. If you stick to it, you have nothing to fear.
Then the article continued: “However, how harshly an artist is dealt with who inspires doubt instead of faith, slander instead of confidence, and despair instead of attitude, emerged from a report in the last few days, which reported on the severe punishment of an artist who had forgotten his honor.”
Although no name was mentioned, it was clear who was meant. Because there had only been one such report “in the last few days”, namely on September 14; It read: “On September 7, 1943, the 27-year-old pianist Karlrobert Kreit from Düsseldorf, who was sentenced to death by the People’s Court for favoring the enemy and undermining the military force, was executed. With the worst hate speech, slander and exaggerations, Kreit tried to influence a fellow countrywoman in her loyal and confident attitude.”
Höfer’s article continued: “Today no one would understand if an artist who was missing would be forgiven more than the last fellow countryman who stumbled. Rather, the people demand that the artist, with his refined sensibility and his far-reaching authority, do his duty as honestly and bravely as any of his obscure comrades in other fields of work. Because celebrities in particular oblige!” This could only be understood as an acknowledgment of the death sentence against Kreit.
This article first became known in 1962. However, because the chief propagandist of the SED, Albert Norden, attacked the prominent WDR journalist, nobody took it seriously. Indeed, Norden ruthlessly lied to promote communist ideology. The fact that he was at least largely correct, as in the case of Höfer, was the exception.
So it was only a quarter of a century later that the scandal broke out. Höfer, now retired except for the weekly moderation, claimed, as in 1962, that the bad sentences had been “edited into” him. However, when numerous slogans supporting the Nazi dictatorship were documented in eight columns by Höfer from October to December 1943 alone, the 74-year-old gave up in 1987; the “International Brunch” was discontinued after 1874 broadcasts and replaced by the similarly designed “Press Club”.
Did TV legend Werner Höfer have to fall? In a criminal sense, he was not accused of anything. But his behavior in connection with the column proved that he had learned too little from the criticism. The absurd attempt at justification showed how much he lacked the ability to judge in his own case.
Incidentally, public broadcasting did not let the well-provided pensioner Höfer down: from 1992 he was allowed to present the “Bühler encounters” talk format a few more times. He died in 1997 at the age of 84.
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