About Stolberger Zeitung

Stolberger Zeitung

The Stolberger Zeitung is the Stolberg local edition of the Aachener Zeitung, the regional daily newspaper serving the Aachen region in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Published by the Medienhaus Aachen group, now part of Mediahuis, it appears Monday to Saturday with local pages dedicated to Stolberg, the historic "copper city" east of Aachen, combined with the Aachener Zeitung's comprehensive regional, national and international coverage. The Aachener Zeitung was founded in 1946, has a circulation of around 112,000 copies, and its editor-in-chief is Bernd Mathieu. Its content appears on the aachener-zeitung.de portal.

Overview

The Stolberger Zeitung is one of the local editions through which the Aachener Zeitung covers the Aachen city region, alongside editions for Aachen itself, Eschweiler, Geilenkirchen and Jülich. The Aachener Zeitung is printed alongside the Aachener Nachrichten by Mediahuis in the Rhenish format, and the two papers share one editorial office under editor-in-chief Bernd Mathieu, a concept that was new for Germany when introduced. The paper appears six days a week in print and is available as an e-paper and through the aachener-zeitung.de portal.

Stolberg, officially the "Kupferstadt Stolberg (Rhld.)", is a town of around 57,700 inhabitants in the Aachen district, located about five kilometres east of Aachen in a valley at the fringes of the Eifel. The town has a long history as an industrial town, known for its historic copper yards and its castle, and is divided into 17 districts including the old town quarters of Unterstolberg and Oberstolberg and the villages of Breinig, Gressenich, Mausbach, Vicht and Zweifall. The Stolberger Zeitung's circulation area covers the town and its districts. The paper's registered office is at Dresdener Straße 3 in Aachen, the Medienhaus Aachen headquarters.

History

The Aachener Zeitung was founded in 1946 as the Aachener Volkszeitung by Jakob Schmitz, Josef Hofmann, Albert Maas and Johannes Ernst, first printed on 22 February 1946. It was the first free paper published by Germans after the Second World War. The paper was printed initially only two or three times a week, but daily every working day from 1 September 1949, and was renamed the Aachener Zeitung on 6 March 1996. The paper grew into the leading daily of the Aachen region, with a circulation of around 112,000 copies sold mainly by subscription.

The Stolberger Zeitung developed as the Aachener Zeitung's local edition for Stolberg, chronicling the copper city's post-war transformation from an industrial town into a modern residential and commercial centre in the Aachen city region. The edition covered the town's development through the decades, including the preservation of the historic copper yards and the castle, the growth of the outlying villages, and the devastating flood of July 2021 that struck Stolberg particularly hard. The Medienhaus Aachen group, which also publishes the Aachener Nachrichten and the regional editions, became part of the Belgian-Dutch Mediahuis group, securing the papers' future in the consolidated German regional press.

Coverage and Content

The Stolberger Zeitung's local pages cover Stolberg and its 17 districts. Municipal politics is a central beat, with reporting on the Stolberg town council, the Aachen city region's politics, and the planning issues of a town rebuilding after the 2021 flood. The paper follows the local economy, from the metal processing companies that continue the copper tradition to the retail businesses, crafts enterprises and service providers of the town and its villages.

Cultural reporting draws on the town's heritage: the Stolberg castle, the historic copper yards, and the unique metal-tolerant "Galmeiveilchen" flora of the region. The castle, perched above the old town, and the copper masters' yards with their distinctive architecture give Stolberg a townscape unlike any other in the region. The paper's heritage coverage connects the copper city's industrial past with its present as a residential town in the Aachen city region. The paper gives extensive space to club and association life, local sports and school topics. The flood recovery has been a defining coverage theme, with the paper following the reconstruction of homes, businesses and infrastructure. The July 2021 flood devastated large parts of Stolberg, and the edition's sustained reporting on the rebuilding — from emergency aid to the restoration of the historic old town — demonstrated the local daily's indispensable role in a crisis. The recovery coverage earned the paper deep reader loyalty. The Aachener Zeitung's central newsroom supplies the overregional sections: news from the Aachen region with its focus on politics, economy, culture, sports and weather, national and international news, business and culture. The digital evening news "AmAbend", provided from 7 pm with photo galleries and videos, complements the print edition.

Organization and Ownership

The Stolberger Zeitung is published by the Medienhaus Aachen group, now part of Mediahuis, the Belgian-Dutch media group. The group's headquarters are at Dresdener Straße 3 in Aachen, where the Stolberger Zeitung is also registered. The paper's editor-in-chief is Bernd Mathieu, who has led the Aachener Zeitung since 1995 and the Aachener Nachrichten since 2003, and who also lectures at the Aachen University of Applied Sciences. Mathieu initiated the online news service and the digital daily evening news.

The Aachener Zeitung's local editions share the central newsroom in Aachen, with local editorial teams producing the district pages for each edition. The Stolberg edition maintains its own local editorial presence, serving as the point of contact for readers, clubs, institutions and advertisers in the coverage area. The group's domains, including stolberger-zeitung.eu, redirect to the aachener-zeitung.de portal. Production is handled at the group's printing facilities, and distribution, subscription management and advertising sales are managed through the group's own organisations.

Readership and Market Position

The Stolberger Zeitung operates within the Aachener Zeitung's strong market position as the leading daily of the Aachen region, with a circulation of around 112,000 copies. In Stolberg the paper is the established local daily, where its dedicated pages give the copper city's civic life exceptional prominence. The paper's market position rests on the Aachener Zeitung's comprehensive regional journalism and its dedicated Stolberg pages, and its readership is rooted in the town's 17 districts.

Like all German regional dailies, the Aachener Zeitung has experienced circulation decline, addressed through e-paper subscriptions, the aachener-zeitung.de portal and digital products such as the "AmAbend" evening news. The two-newspapers-in-one-newsroom concept, with the Aachener Zeitung and the Aachener Nachrichten sharing an editorial office, gives the group unusual efficiency. The Stolberg edition's role as the chronicler of the town's flood recovery has underlined its importance as the reference medium for the copper city's public life.

Digital Presence

The Stolberger Zeitung's digital home is the aachener-zeitung.de portal, the Aachener Zeitung's online platform presenting current news from the Aachen region. Readers can access the complete printed edition as an e-paper, and the portal's online newsroom provides continuously updated regional news, with sections for local sports, opinion pieces and sponsored content. The paper reaches readers through social media channels, podcasts and videos, and the digital evening news "AmAbend" provides photo galleries and videos from 7 pm.

The digital offering follows a subscription model, with the e-paper and premium content available to subscribers. The integration of the Stolberger Zeitung into the large aachener-zeitung.de platform gives the Stolberg edition a modern digital infrastructure and extends its reach beyond the print circulation area. The combination of the print daily, the e-paper, the continuously updated portal, the evening news and social media gives the Stolberger Zeitung a comprehensive presence in the Aachen region's media landscape.