Poland’s path to freedom on SPIEGEL covers 1980 to 1990

The so-called “Round Table” consisting of the political opposition and the communist government, which began on 6 February 1989 and which ultimately led to a breakthrough giving rise to successive changes to the political system, was not enough to pique the interest of the picture editors at the SPIEGEL. The Western public and the Western media were obviously just as surprised by the establishment and development of Solidarność as they had largely predicted and also expected the process of the decline of the communist system in the Central and Eastern European states. Since 1987, the interest in the changes, which were happening not just in Poland but across the whole Eastern Bloc, has again become a clear priority of the Hamburg magazine. The democratic transformation in Central and Eastern Europe has progressed in many places and spread out widely. In this context, the last cover, which has only a general connection to a Polish theme, can be seen as significant. Pope John Paul II is once more in the centre of the image which was created by the well known French author and illustrator Jean-Thomas “Tomi” Ungerer. (Fig. 20) His cover image shows a caricature of the head of the church at the time. The Pope is holding a pink condom in his hand, the top of which is styled like a gargoyle. The cover story, which deals critically with the prevailing teaching of the Church and of Pope John Paul II on human sexuality, is entitled “Der Papst und die Lust” (“The Pope and the Lust”). All in all, it seems that the political and social situation in Poland at the beginning of the nineties was not so worrying that it needed to feature on the magazine’s cover. In 1989 and 1990, the picture editors at the Spiegel focused on the ever more imminent reunification of the divided Germany, the collapse of the Eastern Bloc and in its wake the disintegration of the USSR.

Aleksander Gowin, July 2018

Literature:

Stefan Aust (Hrsg.), Die Kunst Des Spiegel. Titel-Illustrationen aus fünf Jahrzenten, teNeues Publishing Group 2004.

Jochen Bölsche, Rudolf Augstein. Schreiben, was ist. Kommentare, Gespräche, Vorträge, Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt 2003.

Hans Dieter Jaene, Der Spiegel. Ein deutsches Nachrichten-Magazin, Fischer Bücherei 1968.

Dieter Just, Der Spiegel. Arbeitsweise – Inhalt – Wirkung, Verlag für Literatur und Zeitgeschehen 1967.

Peter Merseburger, Rudolf Augstein. Der Mann, der den Spiegel machte, Pantheon Verlag 2009.

Hans-Dieter Schütt, Oliver Schwarzkopf, Die Spiegel-Titelbilder 1947-1999, Schwarzkopf &Schwarzkopf Verlag 2000.

“Der Spiegel”, Special edition 1947-1997, Issue 0/1997.