PETER F. DRUCKER BIOGRAPHY

PETER DRUCKER
AS JOURNALIST

Peter Drucker's first journalistic attempts were also made at this time. He began writing his first articles, such as for Der Österreichische Volkswirt (The Austrian Economist). Moreover, though more as a gesture to his father that out of his own interest, he began his studies of law, which he continued after moving to Frankfurt the following year. In Frankfurt he found a post at the daily Frankfurter General-Anzeiger, a regional rival newspaper to the famous Frankfurter Zeitung.

The Frankfurter General-Anzeiger, which according to its own definition was "by far [the] most read daily newspaper and most-used advertising organ in Frankfurt a.M. and the Rhine-Main economic area" had a circulation of half a million and an editorial staff of fourteen people. The generation before him had remained in the trenches of the First World War so that Peter Drucker quickly rose to a position as one of the three main editors.

He was primarily responsible for the foreign affairs and economic departments, but in practice, all of the editors were, under editor-in-chief Erich Dombrowski, responsible for all of the departments. When there was a shortage of personnel, Drucker also had to attend to the music and women's departments. Or he visited the mass rallies of the political parties for his newspaper, or went to press conferences "if a Brüning or Hitler came to Frankfurt."

As a journalist, Peter Drucker experienced firsthand the crises and decline of the Weimar Republic. He had no illusions about the intentions and danger of the National Socialists - in contrast to many others he took Hitler and his statements seriously.

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