A front page in history...
- 9 May 06, 08:27 PM
Newsnight's competition to select the best front page of the last 100 years kicks off tonight. You can vote on the Newsnight . While my colleagues are bickering over whether it is to be "Gotcha" or "Freddy Starr Ate My Hamster" I have been trying to come up with something to raise the tone a bit. Here it is...
In late July 1914 the world was slip-sliding towards war. The politicians of Europe were finger-pointing over who was being the most aggressive. The fate of tens of millions of people was about to be sealed. The German social-democratic party's mass-circulation daily published this . If you fancy brushing up your German prior to the World Cup, and challenging a few stereotypes, it might be worth starting with this: what it says is "We do not want war! Long live international solidarity!"
As it was the world's biggest Labour party at the time, the whole world took notice of that front page. And in layout terms it was the nearest thing the Germans had yet seen to a tabloid screamer.
But the drama was not over. A week later war was a certainty. Faced with their members boarding troop trains singing cheerful songs the party switched its position. It would now, with a heavy heart, support the war.
The last front page before the shooting started can be read . It basically says, the war's started, we've got to go to the trenches. Two days later the party's MPs voted unanimously for the war.
It must go down in history as one of the most dramatic editorial line changes ever, whatever you think of the issues at stake.
If you want to look at the whole progress of the wider German press, both in design and editorial line, from the run-up to the First World War to the rise of Hitler site, maintained by the Central and Regional Library Berlin, and full of facsimiles is very useful.
PS: You can't vote for this, as the shortlist is already selected. But let us know your thoughts on front pages past and present either on the Newsnight website, or in the comments below. And if anybody is aware of web resources like this one in other languages, let us know.
PPS. German teachers - don't say we never do you a favour - there's a whole term's worth of lesson plans in the links above!
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