London, Saturday, May 16, 2004 Conrad
Black accused of turning the Telegraph into an
American and Israel propaganda sheet Will Telegraph
staff have to sign Israel pledge? By Chris
Tryhorn TELEGRAPH journalists could have
to adhere to a string of publishing principles --
including registering support for the state of
Israel -- if German publishing giant Axel Springer
takes over the newspaper.  David
Irving comments: AT LAST last a main
line London newspaper acknow- ledges what
I first revealed on this website years ago
-- that all journalists working for the
megalithic Axel Springer newspaper group
in Germany are required to sign a shameful
secret undertaking, on being hired. It
used to contain six points, but may now
contain more.
One point was an
undertaking to write only the truth;
another was to write only positive items
about the State of Israel. As I have often
commented, these two undertakings must
seem mutually irreconcilable.
My books were originally
published by Ullstein's offshoot,
Propyläen Verlag; both were owned by
Axel Springer. I could not understand why
passages from my books mysteriously
vanished, and were even altered -- until I
was told about The Undertaking.  Where I had written
in Hitler's
War that on Nov 30, 1941 Hitler had
ordered that there was to be "keine
Liquidierung" (no liquidation) of a
trainload of Jews from Berlin, heading for
Riga, -- a not insignificant discovery in
history, one might think; -- I found that
Ullstein had subtly changed the wording in
the published book Hitler und seine
Feldherren to read, "Hitler had
ordered that the word Liquidierung
was not to be used" in connection with the
killing of the Jews in the east.
Since at that time
(1975) twelve years' research had gone
into the book, I was aggrieved and I
ordered by telegram that production and
sales of the book -- then only two days
old -- were to cease at once, and Ullstein
had no alternative but to comply. The book
never reappeared in Germany. |
Springer -- whose executives visited London
yesterday to quiz Telegraph managers about
the paper and its stablemates, the Sunday
Telegraph and the Spectator -- includes
the Israel pledge on its website under "publishing
principles".The group says it is determined "to promote
reconciliation of Jews and Germans and support the
vital rights of the State of Israel".  A biography of the company's eponymous founder
notes that he made his first visit to Israel in
July 1966, a year before Israel seized the
Jordan-controlled West Bank territory. Journalists on one of
Springer's titles today confirmed there was a
statement in staff contracts referring to
Israel. Springer is making its bid for the Telegraph's
parent company, Hollinger International, in
conjunction with the Israeli billionaire Haim
Saban, who is believed to have his eye on
another of the company's assets, the Jerusalem
Post.  The
Telegraph became notably pro-Israel under
the chairmanship of outgoing proprietor Conrad
Black, whose Jewish wife, Barbara Amiel,
left, has written trenchantly in support of
the Israeli cause.
But its present editorial stance on Europe may
be affected if Springer is successful in taking
over the group for a reputed £700m. The Berlin-based company's website says the firm
vows "to uphold liberty and law in Germany, a
country belonging to the Western family of nations,
and to further the unification of Europe". In common with much of the rightwing press, the
Telegraph has been persistently Eurosceptic,
with the Sunday Telegraph including a weekly
column by Christopher Booker devoted to
vilifying EU policy. Such explicit political goals are unheard of
among newspaper proprietors in the UK, although
many have strong political editorial agendas. The company's website also states it is
committed to the "transatlantic alliance", adding a
pro-American clause to its list of principles the
day after the terrorist attacks on the US on
September 11 2001. The following year the company even endowed a
"George H W Bush Fellowship", enabling US political
experts to engage in research at the American
Academy in Berlin.  Under
Lord Black -- who filled his board with
American neo-conservative hawks such as former
secretary of state Henry Kissinger and
Richard Perle, the former chairman of the
defence policy board -- the Telegraph has been
pro-American in outlook.
When Lord Black stepped down as Hollinger's
chief executive in November, the former Sunday
Telegraph editor Sir Peregrine
Worsthorne complained he had cut the
Telegraph adrift from traditional English
conservatism. "He's turned the Telegraph into an
American-propaganda and Israel-propaganda sheet,
which I don't agree with," Sir Peregrine said. "I think his doctrinaire, almost blind support
for America in the Iraq war has given the
Telegraph a narrowness of vision that makes
it a less impressive newspaper than it should
be." Whatever its politics, the ambitions of the
Springer group -- which owns Die Welt and
the mass-market tabloid Bild -- are not in
doubt. "In the sixth decade of its existence, Axel
Springer Verlag is transforming itself from a
German print publisher to an international media
company," the company's website says. The group already publishes more than a hundred
newspapers and magazines and various special issues
outside Germany. It has interests in France, Switzerland, Spain
and Portugal and has expanded eastwards -- to
Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and even
Bulgaria. Springer even has a subsidiary in Russia, while
in Romania it has a stake in the country's second
largest magazine publisher. Behind this huge empire is the figure of
Friede Springer, the 61-year-old widow of
the founder, who controls 55.4% of the company's
voting rights. She met Axel Springer while serving as an au
pair for the Springer household and went on to join
the company's board in 1984, a year before her
husband's death. Her say will be crucial in deciding the strategy
adopted by the chief executive, Mathias
Döpfner, as he attempts his most spectacular
move yet, one that would see Springer make its
first leap outside continental Europe.  [Website note: Axel Springer is no
relation to US television pornster Jerry
Springer.] 
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