Telegraph und Tribüne

German language newspapers were thriving in Indiana by 1850. They reflected the larger German immigrant population that had made Indiana their home. The Taglicher Telegraph became Indianapolis’ first daily German-language newspaper in 1866. It was just one of over 175 German-language newspapers published in Indiana between 1843-1920.

The Täglicher Telegraph merged with the other largest known German language newspaper in Indianapolis, The Indiana Tribune, on March 3, 1907. The Indiana Tribune, originally established in 1878, had also built a strong reputation with the German speaking population of Indianapolis. After the merger, the paper was known as the Telegraph and Tribüne. 

By 1918, the Telegraph und Tribüne and many other German-language newspapers in the United States were under threat of being shut down due to suspicion created by the United States’ entry into World War I. In early May of 1918 the United States government expressed support for these publications, stating that they would not lend aid to the suppression of German language publications, “provided that they do not engage in unlawful propaganda.” But as anti-German suspicion grew, concerns mounted about the papers communicating in the German language.  On May 29, the Telegraph und Tribüne printed an announcement that it would cease its publication by early June due to the emergence of “a pronounced prejudice against everything printed or written in the German language, regardless of the fact that the German language newspapers are the means of reaching thousands of persons who are reached in no other way.”

German language newspapers as well as German language instruction in schools declined across the United States during and after World War I.