The German weekly newspaper "Junge Freiheit" recently celebrated its 40th anniversary and can look back on an eventful history.
It was founded in 1986 by Dieter Stein, then an 18-year-old high school student, near Freiburg.
The first edition, titled "Make Way for Freedom!," was only 8 pages long, and the founder
personally delivered all 400 copies by bicycle.
Without major sponsors, he fought his way through the difficult early days alongside other idealistic colleagues.
In 1993, they moved to Berlin.
Starting in 1994, the JF began publishing weekly for the first time and saw a steady increase in its
subscription circulation through the early 2020s.
The newspaper is now backed by a publishing company with 60 employees, and in addition to its print circulation—which
has also grown significantly in size—it has a rapidly expanding online presence with 869,000 followers on social media.
From the very beginning, *Junge Freiheit* has had a liberal-conservative profile and has covered topics such as mass
migration, the protection of life, Germany’s demographic decline, the destruction of the family, criticism of the EU and the euro,
the restoration of a healthy sense of national consciousness, a positive national identity, and a
sensible approach to the country’s own history.
Since JF consistently found interesting interview subjects in its early days, its popularity grew rapidly.
With its editorial stance, the newspaper positioned itself against the prevailing zeitgeist, thereby making enemies who took
increasingly aggressive and violent action against the paper.
In the early 1990s, for example, 160 Antifa groups across Germany used threatening letters to pressure newsstand
owners into removing the newspaper from their selection.
Where threats failed to have an effect, newsstands were stormed and copies of the JF and other newspapers on display
were torn up, or the locks on the newsstands were clogged with clay so that their owners could not open them.
In October 1994, subscribers' addresses were stolen from the printing plant at gunpoint.
These were subsequently published in radical left-wing publications, and this led
to a crackdown on the newspaper's readers.
But that wasn't the end of it!
Two months later, left-wing terrorists—who called themselves "revolutionary lesbian women's groups"—carried
out an arson attack on the printing plant in Weimar.
Most of the machinery was destroyed, resulting in property damage amounting to millions.
The printing company subsequently terminated its contract with JF without notice.
However, there was no outcry in the German media.
If at all, the vast majority of media outlets reported on the attack with only a few lines.
After that, the terror continued unabated.
In early 1995, the office's phone line was cut, smoke grenades were thrown into the office, and the car
belonging to the newspaper's founder and editor-in-chief, Dieter Stein, was set on fire.
Dieter Stein and his team deserve great credit for not backing down in the face of these threats to their lives and
safety, but instead saying to themselves, “Now more than ever!”
After failing to succeed through brute force, the JF's enemies changed their strategy.
In 1995, the North Rhine-Westphalia Office for the Protection of the Constitution began
monitoring the JF and included it in its report.
This posed major challenges for the newspaper, as it not only deterred readers but also made advertisers wary of placing ads in
the JF for fear of suffering negative consequences themselves.
Advertisements that the JF had intended to place in other media to attract new subscribers were also rejected on the
grounds that the organization was under surveillance by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution.
As a result, the JF had to defend itself in court and, after a ten-year legal battle, won its case against
the Office for the Protection of the Constitution before the Federal Constitutional Court.
This ruling was a major milestone for freedom of the press in Germany.
In an interview, Dieter Stein analyzed the attack by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution as follows:
"From the authorities’ perspective, it was seen as problematic that *Junge Freiheit* reported extensively on the Republicans .
At the same time, we interviewed not only representatives of the Republican Party but also politicians from the Union.
In the eyes of the constitutional protection authorities, we broke a quarantine that had also
been declared by the Republicans in the media.
An attempt that was later made by the AfD as well, but failed due to the evolution of social media.
Under the circumstances at the time, things were different.
The Internet has not yet played a role.
Coverage was provided exclusively by public media and traditional print media.
Back then, it was also possible to control—through unspoken agreements—who would be the focus of
coverage: who would be featured and who would not.
"Junge Freiheit was practically a blockade-breaker."
This example shows just how crucial the pioneering work of *Junge Freiheit* was, especially at a time when many
independent educators did not yet have access to the internet for their educational efforts.
*Junge Freiheit* has maintained its status as a maverick, has remained a thorn in the side of the establishment, has repeatedly
exposed abuses, and has learned to defend itself against attacks.
Take 2006, for example, when she was denied permission to participate in the Frankfurt Book Fair for political reasons.
After more than 1,500 citizens and prominent representatives from the media, politics, academia, and civil society joined forces in
an “Appeal for Freedom of the Press,” the trade show organizers were forced to back down and allow their participation.
In 2022, the JF launched an offensive against mandatory broadcasting fees and initiated a petition
calling for the abolition of broadcasting fees and a fundamental reform of public broadcasting.
It was signed by 200,000 citizens.
The following year, Editor-in-Chief Dieter Stein appeared as an expert witness on the State
Broadcasting Treaty before five state legislatures.
Investigative journalism also continued to make its mark time and again.
The JF uncovered links between politicians and the far-left scene, for example, in 2007 with Franziska
Drohsel, then chairwoman of the Juso, and in 2022 with Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser.
In 2024, the JF reported on a draft proposal by the Berlin Senate that called for the
establishment of "sex rooms" for children aged three to six.
Following the media coverage, the plans were withdrawn.
In 2026, the JF revealed that far-left NGO employees had shown homosexual pornographic material at a school in Saxony.
The media coverage sparked a storm of controversy, prompting the principal to halt the program and forcing both the
Saxon state parliament and the Bundestag to address the issue.
All of this has been possible because *Junge Freiheit* has maintained its independence and is supported not by
major sponsors, but primarily by its readers and supporters.
Kla.TV also offers its congratulations on 40 years of successfully fighting for freedom of speech and freedom of the press.
They have shown what is possible when you have a vision and pursue it with total dedication and passion.
We wish *Junge Freiheit* all the best for the future, that it may continue to speak out boldly, independently, and
fearlessly against the injustices in Germany, and that every attack will only make it stronger.
To conclude the program, here are some excerpts from the messages of congratulations that *Junge
Freiheit* published in its special anniversary supplement.
Helmut Markwort : A Heroic Deed
I am impressed by *Junge Freiheit* both for its independent stance and for the story of its founding.
The fact that 18-year-old high school student Dieter Stein built up a full-fledged weekly newspaper with all the
traditional sections over the course of these forty years is one of the great achievements of German journalism.
It has not only broadened the diversity of opinions, but above all, the diversity of information
Heinrich Sickl : Persistent and steadfast
*Junge Freiheit* has established itself in the German-speaking world as an indispensable civic and conservative
voice—uncompromising, persistent, and steadfast in the face of pressure from a mainstream that often
prefers to avoid genuine debates rather than allow them.
Jan Fleischhauer : Held out bravely
If you look around the German media landscape, *Junge Freiheit* is clearly one of the endangered minorities.
The others really went to great lengths to sweep the JF off the field.
No trick was left out—not even a dirty one.
But the editorial staff held out bravely for 40 years.
That alone is worth a big congratulations!
Peter Hahne : With the Slingshot Forty Years and Still Going Strong!
A sheet that's horizontal without being queer.
At odds with the mainstream of the tax-subsidized, uniform media—the darlings of those (still) in power.
JF stands for "Leuchtfeuer." JF stands for reliable quality
The highest honor is a loyal readership.
Roger Köppel : A significant contribution to diversity of opinion
When you started out, conservatism was at an all-time low.
Today, we are witnessing a return to the tried-and-true and the reliable.
They were ahead of their time.
I look forward to future issues of your publication, which I read with pleasure and find very informative.
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