Bertelsmann has commissioned the Munich Institute for Contemporary History (IfZ) to review the time around the founding of the magazine “Stern” by Henri Nannen (1913-1996).
The Bertelsmann Executive Board initiated the research project in close cooperation with the participating subsidiaries and institutions.
These included the editor-in-chief of “Stern” and the Henri Nannen School for Journalism.
The historical analysis should look at the years from the founding of the "Stern" in 1948 until Nannen's departure in 1983.
The focus is on the question of "political, personal and content-related interdependencies and connections at the time of National Socialism," it said.
The aim is to create a factual basis for the public debate about Nannen's possible involvement in the Nazis, to supplement existing research and to expand the current state of knowledge on the history of German journalism after 1945.
The project is designed to last several years.
A scientific conference is also being considered.
The background to the step is research by the NDR magazine "Strg_F" on anti-Semitic leaflets, which Nannen was involved in distributing in World War II as a member of an SS propaganda unit.
The publisher Gruner + Jahr has Nannen's biography examined by a commission.
The previous Nannen Prize was awarded as a "star" prize this year, the deletion of the name from the imprint of the magazine and a renaming of the Henri Nannen School are on the agenda.
Nannen was the founder, long-time publisher and editor-in-chief of “Stern”.