By Claudia Lux
“Scheef”, he loved that name. Scheef, that makes authority smarter, is self-deprecating and also charismatic. That was Wolfgang Kryszohn.
Scheef died in Hamburg on Monday last week. Aged 81 after a stroke. Not only his family, the five children (the youngest 15) mourn him. It saddened everyone who knew him.
Wolfgang Kryszohn, editor-in-chief of BZ from 1992 to 1996 and then its publisher, was one of the old-school journalists. Someone who read every letter on his paper, knew every little message, spotted every mistake. It was before Twitter, Facebook and social media.
I met him for the first time in Hamburg. Kryszohn was co-editor-in-chief of BILD am Sonntag (1984-87). After the interview, I never got back in touch.
1996, Culture Prize Gala. BZ editor-in-chief Kryszohn and award winner Mario Adorf Photo: ullstein bild
Our second encounter in 1992 in Berlin. Kryszohn was the new editor-in-chief of BZ, and I recently became editor there. “We already know each other,” he said. And smiled.
I sat on his new couch. He had exchanged his predecessor’s leather sofa for large flowers (blue, pink, green) and soft pillows. But anyone who thought that in such an editor-in-chief’s boudoir would not be harshly negotiated or criticized was wrong.
The feminine pattern in the male-dominated newspaper world signaled: I trust you women, trust me too. Scheef pushed women into management positions. He believed in her, at least original 30 years ago. He praised, encouraged. Not exactly standard equipment in executive offices either.
Kryszohn gave his words to Berlin in the nineties. “And if an egg falls on my coat, I take it off – and carry on,” he headlined in 1992 after the throwing attack on Federal President Friedrich von Weizsäcker.
In 1993, after the revelation of Minister Krause’s cleaning lady affair, he commented on the accusation of “pig journalism” and defended the control authority of the media. In 1995, when Christo wrapped the Reichstag, he wrapped page 1 of the BZ. He was as happy as a little boy about it. How about anything that is exclusive and does its newspaper better than others.
1997. Kryszohn with the BZ Culture Prize winners Karl Lagerfeld (right) and Robert Wilson (2nd from left) Photo: ullstein bild
“He was the best boss of all time,” say the older colleagues. He always remained connected to the BZ, congratulated his successor Jan Schilde in September and wished him “fun, which you can surprisingly have as editor-in-chief of this tabloid newspaper. I experienced it…”
His passion for journalism, for turning pages, for uncovering, his honesty, the joie de vivre, yes, also the nights spent with colleagues in a corner pub in Wilmersdorf – they were part of the Kryszohn generation with a passion. I am grateful that I was able to experience her – and him.
I imagine that he has taken a seat on a flower sofa in his new world. He keeps smiling from the wall in the editor-in-chief’s office, where all his predecessors and successors hang. Scheef never goes completely.