Press Sensation in the Local Newspaper (the reception of serial killer Peter Kürten’s plot in Pałuczanin) Cover Image

Sensacja prasowa w gazecie lokalnej (recepcja wątku seryjnego mordercy Petera Kürtena w Pałuczaninie)
Press Sensation in the Local Newspaper (the reception of serial killer Peter Kürten’s plot in Pałuczanin)

Author(s): Katarzyna Wodniak
Subject(s): Media studies, Communication studies, Interwar Period (1920 - 1939)
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego
Keywords: Peter Kürten; “the Vampire of Düsseldorf”; press sensation; Pałuczanin newspaper; Żnin; Pałuki;

Summary/Abstract: In the history of the Polish press of the interwar period, a provincial publishing center located in Żnin on Pałuki region played a major role, in which in 1933–1939 a dynamically developing press company was operating, offering high-circulation titles of nationwide coverage (Moje Powieści, Moja Przyjaciółka). The first step towards the creation of the later Publishing House of Alfred Ksycki was the establishment of the Pałuczanin newspaper in 1927, on which basis subsequent publishing initiatives were undertaken. The periodical, enclosed with a few additions, edited in accordance with the principle of “everything for everyone”, announced the upcoming epoch of mass press and resorted to various ways of acquiring readers. Reports of a serial murderer of women operating in the late 1920s in Düsseldorf, hailed as a ‘vampire’ or ‘ghost’ were among them. The article shows the ways of exploiting this plot in a local newspaper by comparing it with other selected titles: Gazeta Wągrowiecka, Kurier Poznański, Dziennik Poznański, Ilustrowany Kurier Codzienny.

  • Issue Year: 2018
  • Issue No: 3 (235)
  • Page Range: 476-494
  • Page Count: 19
  • Language: Polish