The Norddeutsche Rundfunk is sticking to the reporting in its magazines "STRG-F" and "Zapp" about the Nazi past of the former "Stern" editor-in-chief Henri Nannen.

The broadcaster rejects the corrections that the media lawyer had requested on behalf of the Nannens family for two contributions.

He just wants to adjust a headline and seek talks with the Nannen family.

Michael Hanfeld

responsible editor for feuilleton online and "media".

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The lawyer Schertz had explained in a letter to the NDR director Joachim Knuth that to this day there is not a single piece of evidence for Nannen's participation "in the design or distribution of the anti-Semitic leaflets shown" by the NDR.

The lawyer threatened legal action.

Nannen's role as the "boss" of the unit

The broadcaster contradicts: The subject of the report, the NDR informed the FAZ, was "the question of Henri Nannen's role in the SS propaganda unit 'Südstern'".

The two films showed "for the first time on film and in a broad manner published the anti-Semitic and racist content of the leaflets published by the 'Südstern'".

It is about "the basic responsibility for the content and distribution of Henri Nannen's anti-Semitic leaflets as 'boss' of the SS propaganda unit 'Südstern'." It is undisputed that Nannen was responsible for the content and distribution of the leaflets there are numerous unchallenged sources.

Even the "Stern" wrote on June 4, 2014: "Sir Henri was the boss".

Even if Nannen "never made a secret of his misconduct as a Wehrmacht soldier", as the lawyer Schertz writes on behalf of the Nannen family, the former "Stern" editor-in-chief "never acknowledged the content of 'Südstern', which he called 'Boss' was responsible." He only "conceded a general participation".

What "exactly was produced under his responsibility has only now become known".

The reporting does not represent more. The accusation circulated by lawyer Schertz in the media that "NDR violated minimum standards of journalistic due diligence" was "resolutely rejected".

The flyer “Buy an apple” cited by Mr. Schertz as the main argument for his criticism does not show that the journalists of the NDR reported incorrectly, but that the lawyer presented the situation incompletely.

The description he quoted from Hermann Schreiber's biography of Nannen, "Three Lives", "proves undisputedly that Henri Nannen himself wrote about the reception and distribution of the leaflet with the code LwB.515/Al.514 3 44, 15 x 21 cm March 1944 “ speak.

In addition to a front, the quoted leaflet also has a back that clearly reads: "There is only one class of people profiting from any war: Wall Street and the Jews!

"

undeniably anti-Semitic.

The Nannens report also documents that, as the person responsible, he was at least aware of the content of this leaflet.

The objectionable headline of the "Zapp" report "Nannen: His role as head of an SS propaganda unit" is "permissible under press law not only with regard to postmortem personal rights, but also generally as an expression of opinion".

But they are prepared, according to the NDR, "to standardize the headlines of the reports on this matter and also to provide the Zapp report with the unobjectionable headline "Henri Nannen - SS propaganda in World War II".

This is done "in the sense of approaching each other and expressly without prejudice to the factual and legal situation".

The editors offered to "enter into a dialogue" with the Nannen family.

Henri Nannen's time in the Wehrmacht was well known.

The references to anti-Jewish leaflets were new on NDR.

"Stern" editor-in-chief Gregor Peter Schmitz had distanced himself from Nannen.

The Nannen Prize was renamed the "Stern Prize" for this year, and a commission is clarifying how the "Stern" will continue to deal with Nannen's legacy.