Karl Henry von Wiegand

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Karl H. Von Wiegand
Karl H. Von Wiegand, 1932
Born(1874-09-11)September 11, 1874
Hesse, Germany
DiedJune 7, 1961(1961-06-07) (aged 86)
Zürich, Switzerland
NationalityUS
Occupation(s)journalist, war correspondent
Employers
Known forreporting from Germany during World War I and Interwar period; interviews with Adolf Hitler
SpouseInez Royce[1]
Children

Karl Henry von Wiegand (September 11, 1874[2] – June 7, 1961) was a German born American journalist and war correspondent. Von Wiegand became one of the longest-serving American journalists stationed in Berlin, Germany. During the First World War, he was known for reporting from Germany and conducting the first interview with Crown Prince Wilhelm.[3] Von Wiegand was also one of the first American journalists to interview Adolf Hitler in 1922. The New York newspaper The Sun printed that Karl H. Von Wiegand was the only American correspondent allowed to stay in Berlin during World War I.[4]

Early life[edit]

Von Wiegand was born in Hesse, German Empire but his family immigrated to the United States when he was just one year old. Growing up in Iowa, Von Wiegand experienced the hardships of his father's struggles to maintain their farm, which ultimately led to the loss of two family properties. By the age of fourteen, Von Wiegand witnessed his father's ongoing financial struggles, prompting him to leave home without telling his family of his plans.[5]

According to Von Wiegand's archival notes, he found employment on Buffalo Bill's ranch before venturing further westward.[6] At some point between 1888 and 1899, Von Wiegand served as an operator at the Western Union office in Phoenix.[7]

Early career in journalism[edit]

Von Wiegand started his journalistic career in the Arizona newspapers in 1899.[8] Later, Von Wiegand's association with the Randolph Hearst newspapers began when he joined the San Francisco Examiner in 1902, followed by his tenure at the Los Angeles Examiner.[9][10]

In March 1903, while working as a reporter for the San Francisco Examiner, Von Wiegand was assaulted by Albert W. Rhodes while attempting to conduct an interview for a newspaper story about the Flora Eberling poisoning case. Following the incident, the San Francisco Examiner reported that Von Wiegand became the first journalist to benefit from the so-called Heart’s Prosecution Fund, established for the protection of newspaper reporters in legitimate performance of their duties. The prosecution, conducted on behalf of the San Francisco Examiner, resulted in Albert W. Rhodes being fined twenty US dollars on March 12, 1903.[11]

From at least 1905, Von Wiegand served as the staff correspondent for the Associated Press in San Francisco. On November 14, 1908, while working as an Associated Press reporter, Von Wiegand witnessed the attempted murder of Assistant District Attorney Francis J. Heney during a brief recess of the Ruef trial.[12] Subsequently, Von Wiegand was called as a witness in the trial of Morris Hass.[13]

United Press (1911-1917)[edit]

In 1911, Von Wiegand was hired by the United Press and remained with the organization until 1917. In August 1911, he was appointed as the Berlin bureau chief for the United Press in Germany. He departed from the U.S. for his European assignment with his family aboard the St. Louis via London on August 19, 1911.[14]

As the Berlin bureau chief, Von Wiegand succeeded Herbert A. White. Prior to joining the United Press, he served as the San Francisco Manager for the Associated Press, where he remained for seven years. According to a United Press release, by 1911, Von Wiegand was described as "probably one of the best known and most popular of the younger newspaper men on the Pacific coast".[15]


World War I[edit]

From the outbreak of the First World War Wiegand worked to influence American public opinion in favour of Germany and against the Allies. In 1915 he published Current misconceptions about the war, containing an interview with the German crown prince, and several essays, and a series of letters, all presenting the German point of view.[16] Wiegand was the first United States reporter allowed to interview Crown prince Wilhelm.[17] That interview was also the first foreign interview given by a German noble since the outbreak of World War I.[17] William E. Dodd, US ambassador to Germany during the Roosevelt administration later described him as a "very strongly pro-German representative through the Great War"[18]

Karl von Wiegand was the father of journalist (also for Hearst's Newspapers) and abstract painter Charmion von Wiegand.[19]

Interwar career[edit]

Journalists being photographed before a launch of the Graf Zeppelin, left to right: Karl H. von Wiegand, Lady Drummond-Hay, Rolf Brand, and Robert Hartmann

He was one of the Hearst Press reporters on at least two of the Graf Zeppelin flights, usually accompanying fellow Hearst reporter Lady Hay Drummond-Hay.[20][21]

Hitler coverage[edit]

From left to right: American journalists Karl Henry Von Wiegand (Hearst), Hans V. Kaltenborn (CBS) and Louis P. Lochner (AP) with Hitler in Obersalzberg, August 17, 1932

Von Wiegand was one of the first American journalists to interview Hitler, having first met him in 1921 while he was only a minor malcontent in post-World War I Munich. He was one of the first journalists to take Hitler seriously, and his story was published on November 12, 1922, a year before the Beer Hall Putsch.[22] As such, Von Wiegand provided the first introduction Americans had to Hitler. He referred to him as the "German Mussolini", and expressed genuine concern about his popularity, writing "The shadow of the Fascisti is arising in Germany. Whether what is yet only a shadow will clothe itself in the flesh, blood and spirit of the German Mussolini, depends on a number of things." He also emphasized his "man of the people" qualities, his charisma, and his electrifying speaking ability. He pegged him as a potentially great leader, saying "Hitler has the earmarks of a leader. Whether it be merely a band or a great movement, only the future will tell."[23][24]

World War II and afterward[edit]

A month after Germany invaded France in World War II, Wiegand secured an interview with Hitler and published his report "Europe for the Europeans: Adolf Hitler on the international situation during the war in France; An interview granted to Karl v. Wiegand, Führer's Headquarters, June 11, 1940".[25]

Later, Lady Drummond-Hay and Wiegand were interned in a Japanese camp in Manila, Philippines.[26] When they were set free in 1943,[27] she was very ill. They returned to the United States, but during their stay in New York Drummond-Hay died of coronary thrombosis in the Lexington Hotel.[26] After her cremation, Karl brought her ashes back to the United Kingdom.

He died of pneumonia in Zurich in 1961 at the age of 86.[28]

References[edit]

  1. ^ The New York Times, June 8, 1961, 'Karl Von Wiegand Dies at 86; Hearst Foreign Correspondent', p. 35.
  2. ^ Institute for Research in Biography 1948, p. 4875.
  3. ^ Knightley, P. (1976). The First Casualty. From the Crimea to Vietnam: the War Correspondent as Hero, Propagandist, and Myth Maker, p. 102.
  4. ^ The Sun, August 16, 1914, p. 1.
  5. ^ Nagorski, A. (2012). Hitlerland: American Eyewitnesses to the Nazi Rise to Power, Simon & Schuster, p. 18-19.
  6. ^ Nagorski, A. (2012). Hitlerland: American Eyewitnesses to the Nazi Rise to Power, Simon & Schuster, p. 18-19.
  7. ^ Arizona Republic, August 28, 1908, p. 6.
  8. ^ The New York Times, June 8, 1961, 'Karl Von Wiegand Dies at 86; Hearst Foreign Correspondent', p. 35.
  9. ^ The New York Times, June 8, 1961, 'Karl Von Wiegand Dies at 86; Hearst Foreign Correspondent', p. 35.
  10. ^ The Christian Science Monitor, June 8, 1961, 'Karl H. von Wiegand', p. 2.
  11. ^ The San Francisco Examiner, "Convicts Burly Ruffian of Assault on Reporter. First Conviction Under Hears Prosecution. Albert W. Rhodes Promptly Found Guilty", March 13, 1903, p. 3.
  12. ^ The Hilo Daily Tribune, “Shooting of Attorney Heney”, December 1, 1908, p. 4.
  13. ^ San Francisco Chronicle, “Burke Files a Report on Haas”, November 15, 1908, p. 24.
  14. ^ Perth Amboy Evening News, “Getting News On The World”, August 9, 1911, p. 2.
  15. ^ Perth Amboy Evening News, “Getting News On The World”, August 9, 1911, p. 2.
  16. ^ Wiegand 1915.
  17. ^ a b Elter page 74
  18. ^ "Dodd-->FDR" 3/20/35
  19. ^ "Charmion von Wiegand (1896–1983) chronology". Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, LLC. Archived from the original on 26 November 2010. Retrieved 14 December 2010.
  20. ^ Time magazine: Los Angeles to Lakehurst, 9 September 1929
  21. ^ Daniel Grossman, Lady Grace Hay-Drummond-Hay / Airships: A Zeppelin History Site, retrieved 5 April 2009
  22. ^ Rhodes 2007, p. 33.
  23. ^ Nagorski, Andrew (2012). Hitlerland: American Eyewitnesses to the Nazi Rise to Power. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-1-4391-9100-2. p. 22.
  24. ^ "What newspapers said about Hitler in 1922 (before the Beer Hall Putsch)". www.pagef30.com.
  25. ^ Katalog der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek[permanent dead link]
  26. ^ a b Time, Time magazine, 25 February 1946
  27. ^ "Register of the Karl H. Von Wiegand papers". content.cdlib.org.
  28. ^ Time magazine (16 June 1961), Larger Than Life, archived from the original on October 26, 2012, retrieved 5 April 2009. Obituary.

Sources[edit]

External links[edit]

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