His life’s work is difficult to overestimate. As co-founder and editor-in-chief of the German magazine Zuerst! he has built one of Germany’s most important magazines.
Manuel Ochsenreiter died after a week in a coma after suffering a heart attack. He was born on May 18, 1976 in the Allgäu in southern Germany and began his political career as a teenager when he joined the Christian Democratic Junge Union. Being a patriot, however, he did not feel at home there, and from 1994 he began writing for the patriotic newspaper Junge Freiheit. He advanced to become one of the editors, but left in 2004 to become editor-in-chief of the German military newspaper, DMZ. In 2010, he co-founded the magazine Zuerst!, where he became editor-in-chief, a position he held until his untimely death.
He never advocated for controversial and politically sensitive issues. He often set out to find out the truth for himself, which also included visiting the bloody battlefields of Donbass and Syria. The information he conveyed through his many interviews and reports contributed greatly to counteracting the political establishment’s war propaganda. He was able to provide a nuanced image, which went against the system media’s standard images.
FreeWestMedia has often and proudly republished Ochsenreiter’s work, which also meant that his information could reach an English audience. Without this enterprising and fearless war reporter, the view of Ukraine and Syria today would probably be very different.
Manuel Ochsenreiter had a positive and optimistic attitude to life – always happy and jesting even in difficult moments. In the circle of comrades, colleagues and writers, he was always at the center. His network was wide-ranging and he could easily interview senior political, religious and military leaders in many countries. Several of his interviews have been reproduced in FWM.
He was an extraordinary journalist, who with his deep knowledge of political ideology, changing geopolitical loyalties and military reality could analyze every event and with his sharp pen comment and put it in perspective.
When colleagues met him in July, he was healthy, in good spirits and full of new ideas. Among other things, he was busy producing video material. His sudden demise is a shock to us all and an irreplaceable loss for alternative media.
On Zuerst’s website, the following words have been published about the magazine’s editor-in-chief:
Manuel Ochsenreiter was a passionate and tireless journalist. Our only consolation is that our friend, who in his restlessness has already lived more than one life, can now rest after his earthly life marathon. Manuel, you immortalized yourself as a lovable person and as a German patriot.
One comment
Very sad news, especially now with the end of the Afghan war that spells the end of the Atlantic-Bruecke in Germany. Ochsenreiter’s knowledge would have been paramount to the understanding of this development just as it has been for the war waged on Syria. A real journalist is gone. May he rest in Valhalla.
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