The start? Simple, manageable, a little improvised. But the first action already had a lot of influence that would later establish the idea, allow it to grow into an aid organization and shape its character – for many decades.
The history of the aid organization South German newspaper begins in 1948. It was a year in which a lot happened.
The Constitutional Convention met on the island of Herrenchiemsee in the summer and developed the basis for the future Basic Law of the Federal Republic of Germany in record time. Previously, in June, the currency reform had come into force in the western occupied zones, the German mark was put into circulation and stimulated the upswing. But it was also the year in which the Soviet Union sealed off the roads and sea routes to the western part of Berlin and, in order to ensure supplies, the Western Allies built the elaborate airlift – for more than a year.
Hopeful and worrying events alternated; it was a turbulent time, a time with still many uncertainties. This ambivalence could be observed particularly well in Munich, where the Süddeutsche Zeitung had been published since October 1945.
There were clear signs of recovery. In some cafés, for example at Stachus or Odeonsplatz, magnificent cakes were served again. But these were often served in front of a backdrop of rubble: the traces of the Second World War – they were still clearly visible. There were 200,000 bomb victims, 50,000 disabled people, war disabled people and war orphans and about the same number of refugees; plus a good 25,000 registered unemployed people. In short: there was great need.
Munich 1948: It’s being served again – but against a war backdrop.
(Photo: Süddeutsche Zeitung Photo)
One of the leading figures in the SZ at the time was Werner Friedmann. The son of a Jewish pediatrician had already worked as a reporter for the South German Sunday Post worked.
Immediately after the National Socialists came to power in 1933, he was temporarily arrested. After the end of the war he returned to journalism. He became head of the Bavaria section of the Süddeutsche Zeitung, and in 1946 he also became co-licensee and co-owner of the newspaper. Later he should Evening News founded the foundation, laid the foundation for the German School of Journalism and led the SZ as editor-in-chief from 1951 to 1960.
Initiator Werner Friedmann.
(Photo: Sueddeutsche Zeitung Photo)
During a visit to the USA, Friedmann got to know a fundraiser run by the New York Times. It was called “Neediest Cases” and went like this: The newspaper reported on New Yorkers in need, whom readers then helped immediately. Friedmann transferred this idea to Munich.
At Christmas 1948 he initiated a “Christmas Child Trip to the Forgotten”. Prominent Munich residents brought donated gifts to those in need – accompanied by SZ reporters. Mayor Thomas Wimmer (SPD) was there, as were the police chief, the wife of the prime minister and representatives of the military government. This campaign was reported in the Christmas edition.
Seven-year-old Maxl, whose father was “killed in a bomb attack,” as it was said, was happy about “a pair of skis, the daring checkered ski cap, just like he always wanted, a metal construction set and a big sausage.” A “deaf old woman” was brought warm laundry, bottles of wine and – to her particular delight – coffee beans.
Heavily gridded: The newspaper picture shows Mayor Thomas Wimmer (SPD) handing over the first gifts in 1948 to the children of a displaced family.
(Photo: Poehlmann)
Mayor Wimmer visited a meadow on the outskirts of the city where a displaced family with five children lived in a shack that the father had made out of waste wood and building rubble. In the luggage, among other things: an airplane, a tin trumpet, a jumping jack.
But it wasn’t just giving. Wimmer also took something away: impressions of how serious the housing shortage actually was in many places. He promised to look into the issue. This is also what the aid organization has been concerned with from the start: not only to alleviate social injustices, but also to create publicity so that their elimination can be addressed sustainably by politicians.
The report on the Christmas trip was accompanied by a comment from Werner Friedmann. In this he wrote: “Never has the need been so blatant as today. The ignorance of those favored by fate about the misery of the disinherited has never been greater than in these days, because people simply do not want to know what is going on for reasons of convenience in the neighborhoods of poverty.”
His goal: to make needs visible. His wish: a “mosaic of good deeds” should be created from many small stones. The first stone was thus laid.
The following year, “Christmas sponsors” were sought, and in 1950 the appeal was: “Donate coats for those who are cold!” So many people came together that the local newsroom was overflowing; A separate clothing store had to be organized quickly.
Great willingness to donate: In the first few years, donations in kind were mainly arranged – this meant a special effort.
(Photo: Fritz Neuwirth)
In 1951, the local boss at the time, Bernhard Pollak, coined the name, which would long become a synonym for the aid organization. On December 1st, he announced in the local section: “From today on, we will daily provide an example of the special need within the walls of Munich. Perhaps it will become an Advent calendar, the windows of which will be illuminated by good deeds.”
The claim is established. It also found its way into the name of the non-profit association that was founded in 1981 to organize the aid organization: “Advent calendar for good works of the South German newspaper eV” and which has long been active in the districts around Munich. Now, for its 75th birthday, the association is giving itself a slimming diet: the name is becoming shorter – in the future it will operate under the name “SZ Gute Werke eV”.
The SZ readers’ aid organization has reformed again and again. From 1972 onwards, only cash donations were accepted because help was easier to organize than by passing on gifts directly.
The circle of those concerned expanded more and more over the years: in 1960 a home was supported for the first time, in 1967 homeless people became the focus of fundraising, in 1969 the suffering of the mentally ill was addressed, and in 1971 there was a special account for the suffering of children who were affected by the income were damaged by the sedative Contergan during pregnancy.
The reporting has also changed over the years. The explicit depiction of the distress gave way; its causes and possible ways out have long been the focus. The aid organization has never seen itself as a replacement for state social policy, always as a supplement and generally as an advocate for more togetherness.
The amount raised by tens of thousands of donors is enormous. Werner Friedmann died in April 1969. By then, the idea he initiated had raised hundreds of thousands of marks. The sum has now grown to more than 200 million euros. The mosaic of good deeds that he had in mind: It has become a truly impressive one.