Paul Weitz and Frankfurter Zeitung in Constantinople 1896-1918

Mavi Boncuk |

Paul Weitz and Frankfurter Zeitung in Constantinople

Paul Weitz, originally Paul Weiß, 

(b. May 29, 1862 in Ratibor, Upper Silesia, d.1939 in Berlin) was a German journalist.

Before 1918, Weitz was a correspondent for the liberal Frankfurter Zeitung in Constantinople and a member of the daily newspaper “Ottoman Lloyd”. During a trip to the eastern parts of Turkey, he witnessed the genocide of the Armenians in Anatolia in the summer of 1918 and reported internally to the responsible German authorities.

Weitz was of Jewish origin and initially worked as a merchant, then correspondent for the British Daily News (a left-liberal daily newspaper founded by Charles Dickens in 1846 and existing until 1930) and the Vossische Zeitung in Belgrade. From 1887 he worked primarily for the Frankfurter Zeitung in Belgrade. In 1892, Weitz was expelled from Belgrade due to harsh criticism of the Serbian government and the refusal to provide spies. From 1896 until the end of the First World War in 1918, Weitz headed the office of the "Frankfurter Zeitung" in Constantinople, which was created especially for him.

Especially in the years of the so-called "second Turkish constitutional period", Weitz was very well networked in Istanbul society, similar to his friend and colleague Dr. Friedrich Schrader, an important source of information for the official German representatives from the military and diplomacy on the Bosphorus and was thus in sharp competition with Hans Humann. 

The industrialist Hugo Stinnes[*] met Paul Weitz during his trip to the Orient in 1914. Stinnes and Weitz spent four and a half hours discussing Oriental politics and the Orient and then remarked "The connections and activities of this strange person are amazing". Weitz was often referred to by contemporaries as "Holstein of German oriental politics" (alluding to the legendary diplomats of the Bismarck period Friedrich August von Holstein).

[*] Hugo Dieter Stinnes (12 February 1870 – 10 April 1924) was a German industrialist and politician.

Gradually, from working in the coal industry, he purchased his own shipyard. He also began to purchase seagoing vessels as well as river steamers and barges. The latter, especially on the Rhine, on a constantly increasing scale. He next organized an extensive international business in coal, and had 13 steamers trading to and from North Sea, Baltic, Mediterranean and Black Sea ports. They carried coal, wood, grain and iron ore. By the age of 23, Stinnes was heavily invested in the steel industry. He also imported great quantities of English coal and had an agency at Newcastle as well as an interest in some English mines. This led to his establishing branches of his business at Hamburg and at Rotterdam.

From 1913 to 1917 "the baptized Jew" (original sound Lichtheim) Paul Weitz was an important contact for Richard Lichtheim, who represented the interests of the Zionist world organization in Constantinople during these years. However, Lichtheim claims in his memoirs that Weitz denounced him to the German authorities in 1917 as an informant to the Americans, which led to his expulsion from Turkey. [3] Lichtheim mentions that Weitz temporarily lived in the Imperial German Embassy in Constantinople (at the time of Ambassador Adolf Marschall von Bieberstein) and probably had the most extensive network within Ottoman society, which he maintained with the help of a detailed file.

Like his colleague Schrader, Weitz was initially unemployed after his expulsion from Constantinople by the Allies at the end of 1918, but then worked from September 1921 to 1931 as a consultant in the Federal Foreign Office. [4] A legacy can be found in the Political Archive of the Federal Foreign Office.

Weitz worked closely with the deputy editor-in-chief and founder of Ottoman Lloyd, Dr. Friedrich Schrader, who had been living in Constantinople since 1891, was a social democrat, as well as friends of the Swiss journalist who was active in Istanbul from 1910 and then correspondent of the New Zurich newspaper Max Rudolf Kaufmann. [5] All three reported for the Frankfurter Zeitung from what was then the Ottoman capital, Schrader was known for his feature and literary criticism of the then new Turkish literature and, like Kaufmann, also worked as a translator in this area.

The group of three correspondents led by Weitz of the Frankfurter Zeitung in Constantinople was closely networked with the liberal wing of the Young Turk party, which shaped the first "Young Ottoman phase" of the second constitutional period, which also included various important personalities of the non-Muslim minorities of the empire (the Armenian Turk Diran Kelekian and the Lebanese Maronit Sulaiman al-Bustani) aimed at goals such as the modernization and secularization of Turkish society, the emancipation of Turkish women (Halide Edip as a symbol of Turkish women's liberation) and the introduction of the Latin alphabet, and an important contact for German agencies and authorities in Turkey on these groups. The politics of ethnic nationalism (Panturanism) and ethnic cleansing from 1912, above all by the then naval attaché of the Embassy Constantinople Hans Humann, a Pangermanian nationalist and dover friend Enver Paschas born in Turkey as the son of the famous Pergamon excavator Carl Humann, but also u. a. The three correspondents of the Frankfurter Zeitung declined to be actively supported by Ernst Jäckh, Friedrich Naumann, and others. They submitted internal reports on the desolate condition of the Turkish army and the impending genocide of the Armenians to German offices, but were not allowed to report anything publicly due to the military censorship and the corresponding voluntary commitment of the German newspaper publishers to report nothing negative about the war in the Orient do these things. Kaufmann was released by the Ottoman Lloyd after the death of the German ambassador Marshal von Biebersteins in 1912, who supported the activities of the Weitz-Schrader-Kaufmann group and valued its expertise and networks, and was imprisoned and charged by the Turks in 1916 for alleged "espionage" deported to Germany. Friedrich Schrader also had problems in 1917 as part of a consular process against his editor-in-chief Max Übelhör and in 1917/18 concentrated on archaeological and monument conservation projects in Istanbul.

"" The culture of mankind has experienced a catastrophe in these countries, which is reluctant to portray itself. In the course of more than three weeks, we covered almost 600 kilometers, a death corridor that can only be found in history It is because this epitone-free path continues in the south against Bitlis and Van and in the east against Baiburt with the same barbaric devastation and bestial massacres. I refrain from formulating an accusation or defense. It is not my job A near or distant historiography will have to take on this task. An individual is not able to do this, however deeply he thinks he can gain insight and be able to see a lot beyond other circumstances. However, the viewed in a sober form without any exaggeration, on the contrary, I have a duty to describe. " (From the report by Dr. Paul Weitz to the Federal Foreign Office about his trip to Eastern Anatolia, summer 1918) [6] “

"As soon as the early reports (on the deportations and massacres of the Armenians ...) reached Constantinople, it occurred to me that the most feasible way of stopping the outrages would be for the diplomatic representatives of all countries to make a joint appeal to the Ottoman Government. I approached Wangenheim on this subject in the latter part of March. His antipathy to the Armenians became immediately apparent. He started denouncing them in unmeasured terms; like Talaat and Enver, he affected to regard the Van episode as an unprovoked rebellion, and, in his eyes, as in theirs, the Armenians were simply traitorous vermin. "I will help the Zionists," he said, thinking that this remark would be personally pleasing to me, "but I shall do nothing whatever for the Armenians." [...] There were certain influential Germans in Constantinople who did not accept Wangenheim's point of view. I have already referred to Paul Weitz, for thirty years the correspondent of the Frankfurter Zeitung, who probably knew more about affairs in the Near East than any other German. Although Wangenheim constantly looked to Weitz for information, he did not always take his advice. Weitz did not accept the orthodox imperial attitude toward Armenia, for he believed that Germany's refusal effectively to intervene was doing his fatherland everlasting injury. Weitz was constantly presenting this view to Wangenheim, but he made little progress. Weitz told me about this himself, in January, 1916, a few weeks before I left Turkey. I quote his own words on this subject: "I remember that you told me at the beginning," said Weitz, "what a mistake Germany was making in the Armenian matters. I agreed with you perfectly. But when I urged this view upon Wangenheim , he threw me twice out of the room! " (US Ambassador Henry Morgenthau senior about Paul Weitz) [7] “

1. Über den Antagonismus der Netzwerke von Hans Humann und Paul Weitz an der Deutschen Botschaft: siehe Gust, S. 105 (Wolfgang Gust, ed., The Armenian Genocide: Evidence from the German Foreign Office Archives: Berghahn Books, New York, 2014, ISBN 978-1-78238-143-3)

2. Gerald C. Feldman: Hugo Stinnes, C.H. Beck, München 1998, ISBN 978-3-406-43582-9, S. 363.

3. Richard Lichtheim: Rückkehr - Lebenserinnerungen aus der Frühzeit des deutschen Zionismus: DVA, Stuttgart, 1970

4. Biographisches Handbuch des Deutschen Auswärtigen Dienstes 1871–1945, Bd. 5, Schöningh, Paderborn 2014, ISBN 978-3-506-71844-0

5. Max Rudolf Kaufmann: Erlebnisse in der Türkei vor 50 Jahren. In: Zeitschrift für Kulturaustausch, Bd. 12 (1962), Heft 2/3, Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen, S. 237–241, Zitat: "Als gelegentlicher Mitarbeiter der "Frankfurter Zeitung" fand ich freundliche Aufnahme bei ihrem Konstantinopler Vertreter Paul Weitz, einem hervorragenden Journalisten, der in türkischen Ministerien ein- und ausging und als Informator des deutschen Botschafters Marschall von Bieberstein bekannt war, mit dem ich selbst sehr bald in engere Beziehungen kam […]."

6. Politisches Archiv des Auswärtigen Amtes 1918-06-20-DE-001 (OpenDocument)

7. Ambassador Morgenthau's Story: Doubleday, New York 1919, S. 438 ... 440Wikisource

 

See also:  

Germany, Turkey, and Zionism 1897-1918

Transaction Publishers,  - 461 pages

For the most part, studies on Zionism as an international movement have centered on Great Britain. Professor Friedman has focused on a new point of view. Using unpublished official German and Zionist records and contemporary diaries, memoirs, and other private sources, he proves conclusively that in spite of the opposition of her Turkish ally, the German government emerged as the foremost protector of the Zionist cause during World War I. Germany was the first European power to view Zionist aspirations with favor. Friedman argues that had it not been for her persistent intervention with the Turkish government, the Jewish community in Palestine would not have survived.

Apart from propaganda value, Germany discovered in Zionism an instrument for solving the Jewish problem in Eastern Europe after the war and a means for strengthening its own influence in the Middle East. Moreover, by maintaining good relations with German officials and the press, the German Zionists inadvertently created an atmosphere of competition among the European Powers, and thus indirectly accelerated the publication of Balfour's Declaration.

Friedman's revealing study is a comprehensive and definitive work on a little known aspect of German-Turkish-Zionist relations, and complements his previous book, "The Question of Palestine, "also published by Transaction. The book was hailed upon publication as "a careful and intelligent use of the many available sources" by the "Times Literary Supplement; ""a persuasive, nourishing and durable study, eminently readable" by "Middle East Journal; "and "a fascinating story in which the heroes are German Zionists who managed to win the protection of the German government" in "Choice."

The Frankfurter Zeitung was a German language newspaper that appeared from 1856 to 1943. It emerged from a market letter that was published in Frankfurt. In Nazi Germany it was considered the only mass publication not completely controlled by the Propagandaministerium under Joseph Goebbels.

In 1856, German writer and politician Leopold Sonnemann purchased a struggling market publication in Germany; the Frankfurter Geschäftsbericht (also known as Frankfurter Handelszeitung). Sonnemann changed its name to Neue Frankfurter Zeitung (later simply Frankfurter Zeitung) and assumed the duties of publisher, editor, and contributing writer. The new title incorporated political news and commentary, and by the time of the foundation of the German Empire in 1871, the Frankfurter Zeitung had become an important mouthpiece of the liberal bourgeois extra-parliamentary opposition. It advocated peace in Europe before 1914 and during World War I. In Constantinople, Paul Weitz, a strong critic of German militarism and secret collaboration with the genocidal politics of the Young Turks, was the head of the bureau. His close associates included; Max Rudolf Kaufmann, a Swiss born journalist, who was arrested and deported in 1916 for his criticism of German militarism and letters by him to Berlin which reported the deplorable state of the Turkish army in the Caucasus, and Dr. Friedrich Schrader, a journalist with (in 1914) more than two decades of experience in Constantinople who commanded all major languages of Southeastern Europe and the Middle East, and contributed much about modern Turkish culture and literature.

During the period of the Weimar Republic, the paper was treated with hostility and derision by nationalist circles, due to its pronounced favour of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919. At this time, it no longer stood in opposition to the government, and supported Gustav Stresemann's policy of reconciliation.

The Frankfurter Zeitung was one of the few democratic papers of the time. It was known in particular for its Feuilleton section, edited by Benno Reifenberg,[3] in which works of most of the great minds of the Weimar Republic were published.

Nazi era

After the 1933 assumption of power by the Nazis, several Jewish contributors had to leave the Frankfurter Zeitung, including Siegfried Kracauer and Walter Benjamin. The paper was finally sold in June 1934 to the chemical corporation IG Farben. The company's directors, particularly Carl Bosch, were well-disposed toward the paper because of its place in traditional German life, and believed it could be useful in promoting favourable publicity for the company.

During the Nazi's early time in power, the paper was initially protected by Hitler and Joseph Goebbels primarily for its convenient public relations appeal abroad, and retained more editorial independence than the rest of the press in the Third Reich. However, within a few years IG Farben gave up on the newspaper; inexorably, it had become compromised by the increasing oversight of the Nazi Ministry of Propaganda and was quickly losing its journalistic reputation abroad. The company's directors realised it no longer needed to influence domestic public opinion, "since there was effectively no public opinion left in Germany". The paper was quietly sold and subsumed by a subsidiary of the Nazi publishing organ, Eher Verlag, in 1938. Faced with declining readership throughout the Second World War, it was closed down entirely in August 1943.

Postwar era

The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung does not consider itself a successor organisation to the original Zeitung, even though many former journalists of the earlier paper helped launch it in 1949.