F Ur Den b Urger: The Role of Christian Schubart’s Deutsche Chronik in the Development of a Political Public Sphere

Christian Schubart’s twice-weekly journal, the Deutsche Chronik, published in Ulm and Augsburg from 1774-1777, effectively laid the groundwork for the political and editorial journalism of the late 18th and early 19th centuries in Germany. This investigation examines this first overtly political journal in Germany in terms of its content and form, its scope and its intent. Schubart’s continuing problems with the censors, as well as his nemesis, Duke Karl Eugen of Wuerttemberg ended with a ten-year incarceration. As the literary public sphere begins to carve out a political area in which to operate, it looks to journalism, and especially to Schubart and his fellow writers for ideas and inspiration.