Nebelspalter
Encyclopedia
The Nebelspalter is a Swiss
satirical magazine
. It was founded in 1875 by Jean Nötzli of Zurich
as "Illustrirtes humoristisch-politisches Wochenblatt" and continues to this day, since late 1996 as a monthly. Nebelspalter is the oldest satirical magazine in the world after the demise of the English magazine Punch
(1841-2002).
and their followers in Switzerland, the Frontists. In 1933 Nebelspalter was banned in the German Empire
. Meanwhile its circulation in Switzerland rapidly increased: In 1922 when the Rorschach
publisher Ernst Ernst Löpfe Löpfe-Benz took over the Nebelspalter its circulation was only 364 copies. In 1945 it was 30,000. The Nebelspalter understood itself as a "spearhead of mental defense" against National Socialism, taking the same stand in the Cold War
against communism
until the 1960s .
The popularity of the "Nebi", as it was called, was to a large extent due to the then editor-in-chief Carl Böckli (born September 23, 1889, † 4 December 1970), doubly talented as an illustrator and writer in the tradition of Wilhelm Busch
. Under his pen name "Bo", he produced thousands of cartoons, drawings and texts until 1962. Circulation rose to 70,000 copies by the 1970s. For decades, the Nebelspalter was Switzerland's leading satirical medium and talent factory, associated with the biographies of such well known artists as René Gilsi
, Jakob Nef, Fritz Behrendt, Nico Cadsky, and Horst Haitzinger, and of satirists such as César Keiser, Franz Hohler
, Lorenz Keiser, Peter Root and Linard Bardill. The well-known Uri painter Heinrich Danioth
was a draftsman and illustrator for the Nebelspalter for 15 years. The poet Albert Ehrismann was on the staff for more than three decades and published over 1,600 poems published there.
magazine failed. The circulation plummeted from 34,000 copies to 17,000, and the shrinking number of advertisements further aggravated the crisis. The editor changed several times and in 1996 the magazine was sold to the Friedrich Reinhardt Verlag of Basel
. With a circulation of 8000, the suspension of publication was announced at the end of April 1998.
publisher Thomas Engel
took over the ailing paper in the last minute. He managed to stop the loss of subscribers and readers and launch a new approach. Meanwhile, the magazine again has 200 regular text and image contributors. For its 130th anniversary in 2005, Nebelspalter ventured a gentle relaunch, apparently with some success. With a newly appointed editorial board under Marco Ratschiller the title underwent a face-lift leading toward an unpretentious journalistic style and managed to win over well-known contemporary Swiss authors and satirists like Andreas Thiel, Simon Enzler, Pedro Lenz and Gion Mathias Cavelty. Early in 2010 Nebelspalter appeared in a print run of 21,000 copies and according to the market research study BasicMACH had 252,000 readers per issue. The main edition of Nebelspalter appears ten times a year on the first Thursday of each month (except in August and January). In addition, , a 16-page, up-to-date Nebelspalter Extra has appeared since early 2010; it is published between two main issues in a print run of 80,000 copies.
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
satirical magazine
Satire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
. It was founded in 1875 by Jean Nötzli of Zurich
Zürich
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...
as "Illustrirtes humoristisch-politisches Wochenblatt" and continues to this day, since late 1996 as a monthly. Nebelspalter is the oldest satirical magazine in the world after the demise of the English magazine Punch
Punch (magazine)
Punch, or the London Charivari was a British weekly magazine of humour and satire established in 1841 by Henry Mayhew and engraver Ebenezer Landells. Historically, it was most influential in the 1840s and 50s, when it helped to coin the term "cartoon" in its modern sense as a humorous illustration...
(1841-2002).
Becoming a national institution
The Nebelspalter enjoyed its best time in the 1930s, during and after the Second World War when it denounced the acts of violence and ideology of the NazisNazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
and their followers in Switzerland, the Frontists. In 1933 Nebelspalter was banned in the German Empire
German Empire
The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...
. Meanwhile its circulation in Switzerland rapidly increased: In 1922 when the Rorschach
Rorschach
Rorschach is a municipality, in the District of Rorschach in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland. It is on the south side of Lake Constance .-History:...
publisher Ernst Ernst Löpfe Löpfe-Benz took over the Nebelspalter its circulation was only 364 copies. In 1945 it was 30,000. The Nebelspalter understood itself as a "spearhead of mental defense" against National Socialism, taking the same stand in the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
against communism
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
until the 1960s .
The popularity of the "Nebi", as it was called, was to a large extent due to the then editor-in-chief Carl Böckli (born September 23, 1889, † 4 December 1970), doubly talented as an illustrator and writer in the tradition of Wilhelm Busch
Wilhelm Busch
Wilhelm Busch was an influential German caricaturist, painter, and poet who is famed for his satirical picture stories with rhymed texts....
. Under his pen name "Bo", he produced thousands of cartoons, drawings and texts until 1962. Circulation rose to 70,000 copies by the 1970s. For decades, the Nebelspalter was Switzerland's leading satirical medium and talent factory, associated with the biographies of such well known artists as René Gilsi
René Gilsi
René Gilsi was a Swiss painter.-References:*This article was initially translated from the German Wikipedia....
, Jakob Nef, Fritz Behrendt, Nico Cadsky, and Horst Haitzinger, and of satirists such as César Keiser, Franz Hohler
Franz Hohler
Franz Hohler was born on 1 March 1943 in Biel/Bienne. He lives as an author and cabaret performer in Zurich. He is the author of one-man programs and satirical programs for television and radio. He has written theater pieces, children's books, stories and novels. In 2002 he received the Kassel...
, Lorenz Keiser, Peter Root and Linard Bardill. The well-known Uri painter Heinrich Danioth
Heinrich Danioth
Heinrich Danioth was a Swiss painter.-References:*This article was initially translated from the German Wikipedia....
was a draftsman and illustrator for the Nebelspalter for 15 years. The poet Albert Ehrismann was on the staff for more than three decades and published over 1,600 poems published there.
Crisis of the 1990s
The Nebelspalter could not keep up with the rapid development of the Swiss media landscape in the last third of the 20th Century. Cartoons, columns and other satirical forms migrated more and more into the daily press and the audiovisual media. As it became more conventional the magazine steadily lost subscribers and readers. In the 1990s, the radical realignment of the Nebelspalter under editor-in-chief Ivan Raschle following the style of the Frankfurt TitanicTitanic (magazine)
Titanic is a German monthly satirical magazine based in Frankfurt. It has a circulation of approximately 100,000.- History :Titanic was founded in 1979 by former contributors and editors of Pardon, a satirical monthly, which the group had left after conflicts with its publisher...
magazine failed. The circulation plummeted from 34,000 copies to 17,000, and the shrinking number of advertisements further aggravated the crisis. The editor changed several times and in 1996 the magazine was sold to the Friedrich Reinhardt Verlag of Basel
Basel
Basel or Basle In the national languages of Switzerland the city is also known as Bâle , Basilea and Basilea is Switzerland's third most populous city with about 166,000 inhabitants. Located where the Swiss, French and German borders meet, Basel also has suburbs in France and Germany...
. With a circulation of 8000, the suspension of publication was announced at the end of April 1998.
Signs of sustainable recovery
In 1998, the ThurgauThurgau
Thurgau is a northeast canton of Switzerland. The population, , is . In 2007, there were a total of 47,390 who were resident foreigners. The capital is Frauenfeld.-History:...
publisher Thomas Engel
Thomas Engel
Thomas Engel is a former New Zealand rower.At the 1950 British Empire Games he won the silver medal as part of the men's eight alongside crew members Donald Adam, Kerry Ashby, Murray Ashby, Bruce Culpan, Graham Jarratt, Don Rowlands, Edwin Smith and Bill Tinnock.-References:...
took over the ailing paper in the last minute. He managed to stop the loss of subscribers and readers and launch a new approach. Meanwhile, the magazine again has 200 regular text and image contributors. For its 130th anniversary in 2005, Nebelspalter ventured a gentle relaunch, apparently with some success. With a newly appointed editorial board under Marco Ratschiller the title underwent a face-lift leading toward an unpretentious journalistic style and managed to win over well-known contemporary Swiss authors and satirists like Andreas Thiel, Simon Enzler, Pedro Lenz and Gion Mathias Cavelty. Early in 2010 Nebelspalter appeared in a print run of 21,000 copies and according to the market research study BasicMACH had 252,000 readers per issue. The main edition of Nebelspalter appears ten times a year on the first Thursday of each month (except in August and January). In addition, , a 16-page, up-to-date Nebelspalter Extra has appeared since early 2010; it is published between two main issues in a print run of 80,000 copies.
Publishers
- Jean Nötzli, Zurich, 1875-1902
- Johann Friedrich Boscovits, Zurich, 1902-1914
- Jean Frey AG, Zurich, 1914-1921
- Ernst Löpfe Benz AG, Rorschach, 1921-1996
- Friedrich Reinhardt AG, Basel, 1996-1998
- Engeli & Partner Verlag, Horn, 1998
Chief editors
- Jean Nötzli, 1875-1900
- J. Hauser, 1900-1912
- Paul Altheer, 1914-1927
- Carl Böckli, 1927-1952 (picture editor until 1967)
- Franz Maechler, 1952-1984
- Werner Meyer-Léchot, 1984-1993
- Ivan Raschle, 1993-1996
- Jürg Vollmer, 1996
- Hans Suter, 2000-2004
- Marco Ratschiller, since 2005
Literature
- Jenny, Hans A.: 111 years Nebelspalter. A satirical Swiss mirror, 1985.
- Child Hauser, Ernst et al. Böckli Carl. His time, his work, 1989.
- Knobel, Bruno: Switzerland in Nebelspalter. Cartoons 1875-1974, 1974.
- Böckli, Carl: So simmer. 84 drawings and verses of soils from the Nebelspalter, 1955.