Minnesota Staats-Zeitung

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The Minnesota Staats-Zeitung (English: Minnesota State Newspaper), formerly Die Minnesota Deutsche Zeitung, was a German Republican newspaper based in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States from 1858 to 1877. The newspaper has its origins as Die Minnesota Deutsche Zeitung (The Minnesota German Newspaper) in 1855 which was Minnesota's first newspaper printed in the German language. In 1877 the Staats-Zeitung merged with the Minnesota Volksblatt (Minnesota People's Journal) and was renamed the Wöchentliche Volkszeitung (Weekly People's Newspaper) in 1881.

Contents

Minnesota Staats-Zeitung
Minnesota Staats-Zeitung front page September 28, 1871.jpg
The September 28, 1871, front page
of the Minnesota Staats-Zeitung
Type Weekly newspaper
Format Broadsheet
Owner(s)Samuel Gottlieb Ludvigh (1858–1864)
Charles Reuther (1864–1864)
Andrew Robert Kiefer (1864)
PublisherCharles Reuther
Christian Exel
EditorAlbert Wolff (1860–1893)
FoundedJuly 24, 1858
Ceased publication1877 (merged with the Minnesota Volksblatt)
Political alignment Republican Party
Language German
Headquarters Saint Paul, Minnesota
United States
CitySaint Paul, Minnesota
CountryUnited States
ISSN 2372-8647
OCLC number 1713829

History

Die Minnesota Deutsche Zeitung

By 1855 the largest ethnic group living in Minnesota besides English-speaking Americans from the East Coast of the United States were German Americans. [1] The surge in German immigration to Minnesota Territory justified the printing of a newspaper in the German language. [1] The first newspaper to be printed in the German language in Minnesota was Die Minnesota Deutsche Zeitung (The Minnesota German Newspaper) which began under Friedrich Orthwein, a German immigrant from Milwaukee. [1] [2] [3] Die Minnesota Deutsche Zeitung was an independent German Democratic newspaper which was largely funded by local notable German Democrat politicians. [2] [3] In 1856 Orthwein became in trouble with his investors and his newspaper was confiscated and suspended. In 1856 the Deutsche Zeitung's ownership was transferred to Charles Duncan Gilfillan, a local Republican politician and the chairman of the Minnesota Republican Central Committee. [2] [3]

Minnesota Staats-Zeitung

By 1858 a local freethinker, German writer, and forty-eighter, Samuel Gottlieb Ludvigh, began to promote his quarterly, Die Fackel (the Torch), [4] to Republican printers and the German-speaking community in Saint Paul. [2] [5] Gilfillan, impressed by Ludvigh's writings and political leanings, offered Ludvigh to take over the Zeitung as the newspaper's editor and publisher. [5] [6] Ludvigh began work on the Zeitung immediately and changed the name to the Minnesota Staats-Zeitung. [2] [5] [6] To assist Ludvigh in publishing the newspaper Charles Reuther and Christian Exel were hired on as the newspapers publishers, while Albert Wolff was hired as the newspaper's editor. [5] [6] [7] Wolff was a forty-eighter, a republican, and an ardent supporter of the German revolutions of 1848–1849. Wolff also had extensive newspaper experience, including having worked previously for Die Minnesota Deutsche Zeitung. [5] [6]

The first issue of the Minnesota Staats-Zeitung was published on July 24, 1858. [5] [6] The Staats-Zeitung was released on a weekly basis, typically on Sundays as a four-paged, seven-column weekly newspaper. [5] [6] The Staats-Zeitung typically covered local, national, and international news including politics, the American Civil War, the Dakota War of 1862, local elections, and advocated for the interests of German American immigrants in Hennepin County and Ramsey County as the newspaper was headquartered in Saint Paul. [5] [6] After the 1860 United States presidential election the newspaper identified heavily with the Republican Party of Minnesota and abolitionism, despite the newspaper being a previous advocate and sponsored by the Minnesota Democratic Party. [1] In 1866 Theodor Sander joined the publishing team at the Staats-Zeitung and assisted Wolff in expanding the Staats-Zeitung into a four-paged, six-columned tri-weekly newspaper edition under the same name. [5] [6]

Post 1877

In 1877 the Staats-Zeitung merged with another Minnesota newspaper, the Minnesota Volksblatt (Minnesota People's Journal) which was founded in 1856 and became the Wöchentliche Volkszeitung (Weekly People's Newspaper) in 1881. [1] [5] [6] A March 13, 1877 print of the Luxemburger Gazette out of Dubuque, Iowa states "The democratic "Volksblatt" and the republican "Minnesota Staats-zeitung" of St. Paul have merged. The product of this merger is to be a daily German-language newspaper with a Republican orientation". [8] The Wöchentliche Volkszeitung would see continued printing from previous publishers including Albert Wolff until his death in 1893. Other German newspapers in Minnesota, such as Der Nordstern, would see continued printing in Minnesota well into the Great Depression. [9] Following both World War I and World War II German newspapers fell out of favor in Minnesota for other titles in the English language, such as the popular St. Paul Pioneer Press and the Minnesota Star Tribune.

Notable staff

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Tolzmann, Donalnd (1972). The German Language Press in Minnesota, 1855 to 1955. German-American Studies, 5, 169-178. https://journals.ku.edu/gas/article/view/19660
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Die Minnesota deutsche Zeitung". Minnesota Historical Society. 2026-01-21. Retrieved 2026-01-21.
  3. 1 2 3 "Die Minnesota Deutsche Zeitung (Saint Paul, M.T. [Minn.]) 1855-1858". The Library of Congress. 1957-01-20. Retrieved 2026-01-21.
  4. ↑ Samuel Gottlieb Ludvigh (1867). Die Fackel (in German). New York Public Library. Samuel Ludvigh.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 "Minnesota Staats-Zeitung (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1858-1877". The Library of Congress. 2025-12-03. Retrieved 2026-01-21.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "Minnesota Staats-Zeitung | Minnesota Historical Society". www.mnhs.org. Retrieved 2026-01-21.
  7. ↑ Johnson, Hildegard Binder (1947). "The Election of 1860 and the Germans in Minnesota". Minnesota History. 28 (1): 20–36. ISSN   0026-5497. JSTOR   20175308.
  8. ↑ "Image 6 of Luxemburger gazette (Dubuque, Iowa), March 13, 1877". The Library of Congress. 2023-05-16. Retrieved 2026-01-22.
  9. ↑ "Der Nordstern (St. Cloud, Minn.) 1874-1931". Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. Retrieved 2026-01-21.
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