Augstein, Rudolf Karl

▪ 2003

      German magazine publisher (b. Nov. 5, 1923, Hanover, Ger.—d. Nov. 7, 2002, Hamburg, Ger.), was the publisher, editor (until 1995), and chief editorial writer of Der Spiegel, the influential weekly newsmagazine that he founded in January 1947 and guided until the day of his death. Augstein, who imbued Der Spiegel with a strong political viewpoint, supported Ostpolitik (West German Chancellor Willy Brandt's policy of improved relations with East Germany), as well as reunification. In 1962 he was arrested and jailed for more than 100 days after Der Spiegel published an article critical of Defense Minister Franz-Josef Strauss. By the time the “Speigel affair” was over, however, Augstein had been reinstated and Strauss had been forced to resign.

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