About Brandenburger Kurier

Brandenburger Kurier

The Brandenburger Kurier is the local edition of the Märkische Allgemeine Zeitung (MAZ) for the city of Brandenburg an der Havel in the state of Brandenburg, Germany, appearing Monday to Saturday with a sold circulation of around 9,897 copies. The edition is one of the regional versions through which the MAZ, the leading daily of western Brandenburg, serves the cities and districts around Potsdam. The parent paper's history reaches back to 18 April 1946, when it was founded as the Märkische Volksstimme, the SED district paper, renamed Märkische Allgemeine in 1990 after the FAZ takeover, and owned by the Madsack media group since 2011. The Brandenburger Kurier combines the MAZ's professionally produced national and Brandenburg pages with local reporting from the historic Havel city, with its cathedral, its industrial heritage and its role as a regional center west of Berlin. Its digital home is maz-online.de, the portal of the Potsdam daily.

Overview

The Brandenburger Kurier appears Monday to Saturday as the MAZ's local edition for Brandenburg an der Havel and the surrounding Havelland communities. Its sold circulation is approximately 9,897 copies, serving a city shaped by its thousand-year history, its steel and engineering industries and its position on the Havel between Berlin and Magdeburg.

The edition is part of the Märkische Allgemeine Zeitung, founded on 18 April 1946 as the Märkische Volksstimme, the Socialist Unity Party's district paper for Potsdam. Renamed Märkische Allgemeine in 1990 following the takeover by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, the paper has belonged to the Madsack Mediengruppe of Hanover since 2011, one of Germany's largest regional media companies.

The paper's structure follows the German regional model: the Brandenburg local pages are written by the edition's reporters, while the national, international and Brandenburg state pages, the mantle, come from the MAZ's central newsroom in Potsdam. Readers receive dedicated city journalism alongside professional supra-regional coverage.

The readership is the Havel city's population: families, commuters to Berlin or Potsdam, workers in the steel and engineering industries, students, club members and seniors. The city's cathedral island, its historic old towns and its industrial monuments give the edition distinctive themes.

History

The Brandenburger Kurier's history is the history of the Märkische Allgemeine in the Havel city. The MAZ was founded on 18 April 1946 as the Märkische Volksstimme, the SED's district newspaper for Potsdam, and served through the GDR era as the party's voice in the region. After the peaceful revolution, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung took over the paper in 1990 and renamed it Märkische Allgemeine, converting the party organ into an independent regional daily.

The Brandenburger Kurier emerged as the MAZ's edition for Brandenburg an der Havel, the historic city on the Havel west of Potsdam, giving the city dedicated local pages within the regional paper. The edition chronicled the city's post-reunification transformation: the restructuring of the steel industry, the restoration of the war-damaged old towns, the development of the city as a university location with the Technische Hochschule Brandenburg, and the Bundesgartenschau of 2015, which reshaped the city's green spaces.

In 2011, the Madsack Mediengruppe of Hanover acquired the MAZ, integrating it into one of Germany's largest regional media groups and investing in its digital transformation. The Brandenburger Kurier's journalism moved onto maz-online.de, with e-paper, apps and digital subscriptions following the group's strategy.

The edition's history thus spans the arc from party paper to modern regional daily, reflecting the broader transformation of the East German press after 1990.

Coverage and Content

The Brandenburger Kurier's local pages are the daily record of the Havel city. The Brandenburg an der Havel city council's decisions on budgets, urban development, the steel industry's future, schools, culture and the Havel waterfront are covered in the detail residents need, giving the community its essential account of local government.

The industrial heritage provides distinctive themes: the steelworks, the engineering traditions and the transformation of the industrial sites, alongside the city's thousand-year history, its cathedral on the Dominsel and its three historic old towns. Features on the restoration, on the city's museums and on the Havel's role in its identity appear alongside the daily news.

The university adds a youthful dimension: the Technische Hochschule Brandenburg brings students and research to the city, and the paper covers campus life and the interplay between town and gown. The 2015 Bundesgartenschau's legacy, the transformed parks and green spaces, remains a recurring topic.

Club life is central: sports clubs, carnival societies, music associations, volunteer fire brigades and church congregations announce events and publish reports. The MAZ mantle provides professional coverage of Brandenburg state, German and world news, business, culture and sports.

The edition also documents the Havel city's cultural ambitions. Reports on the theater, the museums, the concerts and the festivals that fill the city's calendar appear alongside coverage of the cathedral's music program and the historic old towns' preservation. Reader forums and letters on urban development, on the Havel waterfront's future and on the balance between industry and livability give citizens a voice in the city's direction. Special supplements on education, on the Technische Hochschule's programs and on the region's tourism, from the Havel lakes to the cathedral island, connect the paper's journalism with the practical interests of its readers, while the weekend pages carry the MAZ's magazine features.

Organization and Ownership

The Brandenburger Kurier is published as a local edition of the Märkische Allgemeine Zeitung, which has belonged to the Madsack Mediengruppe of Hanover since 2011. Madsack is one of Germany's largest regional media companies, providing the MAZ with corporate backing, technology and shared digital services.

The MAZ's central newsroom in Potsdam produces the mantle, the national, international and Brandenburg pages, while the Brandenburger Kurier's local reporters write the city pages. This structure combines the resources of a major regional daily with dedicated city journalism.

The paper is printed with the group's modern production infrastructure and distributed across the Havel city and its surroundings. The digital operations, maz-online.de, e-paper, apps and social media, are integrated with the print newsroom under Madsack's group digital strategy.

Financial details of the individual edition are not publicly disclosed. The company follows the German Press Code (Pressekodex), the voluntary ethical standard of the German press.

Digital Presence

The digital home of the Brandenburger Kurier is maz-online.de, the portal of the Märkische Allgemeine Zeitung, one of the most-visited regional news sites in Brandenburg. The site carries continuously updated news from Potsdam, Brandenburg an der Havel and the surrounding districts, along with e-paper access, photo galleries, videos and reader services.

The e-paper reproduces the printed edition page by page for computers, tablets and smartphones, including the Brandenburger Kurier local pages. The MAZ app provides breaking news, personalized notifications and full e-paper access, serving readers across western Brandenburg.

On social media, the MAZ maintains strong presences on Facebook, Instagram and other platforms, distributing regional news, engaging readers and driving traffic to the portal. The Havel city's stories, cathedral island views, steelworks features, club news, reach audiences through these channels.

Newsletters deliver curated briefings on Brandenburg to subscribers' inboxes. The digital strategy, shaped by the Madsack group, aims to convert the portal's large reach into paid digital subscriptions, building a sustainable digital business while the printed Brandenburger Kurier remains the daily paper of record for the historic Havel city.