About Werra-Rundschau

Werra-Rundschau

The Werra-Rundschau (WR) is a daily local newspaper published in Eschwege, the district town of the Werra-Meißner district in northern Hesse. Founded on 1 January 1948 by publisher and chief editor Hans Albert Kluthe (1904–1970) as the successor to the Eschweger Tageblatt (founded 1826), it appears Monday through Saturday with a print run of about 12,000 copies, covering Eschwege, Sontra, Waldkappel, and Wanfried and the district's municipalities. The paper is published by the Werra Verlag Kluthe GmbH & Co. KG, based in Eschwege.

Overview

The Werra-Rundschau covers the Werra-Meißner district — the Werra river's valley, the Meißner mountain's landscapes, and the communities between the former inner-German border and the Hessian heartland. The paper appears Monday through Saturday, combining the Eschwege newsroom's local pages with the shared general section, and has placed its local section at the front since a 2009 redesign — a statement of the local-first identity.

The district's readership consists of Eschwege's households (around 19,000 inhabitants), the smaller towns' residents, the villages' communities, local businesses, and the commuters oriented toward Kassel. The paper's roughly 12,000-copy print run (a 2025 media listing cites 7,511 copies for the local section's advertising metrics) reflects the district's dispersed settlement and the paper's penetration.

History

Hans Albert Kluthe founded the Werra-Rundschau on 1 January 1948, in the post-war press's founding wave. The paper succeeded the Eschweger Tageblatt — founded 1826, one of Hesse's oldest newspapers — whose tradition the WR consciously continued. Among the first hour's editors were Max Klier and Alfred Nagel, names that would shape the paper for decades.

Kluthe's achievements were nationally recognized: the Grand Federal Cross of Merit in 1959, appointment as Knight of the French Legion of Honour in 1964 for his efforts deepening Franco-German cooperation, and the 1969 Fugger Medal for outstanding service to the magazine industry. From 1952 to 1970, he served as president of the Association of German Magazine Publishers — a newspaper publisher leading the magazine industry's association, a measure of his standing.

After Kluthe's early death on 13 December 1970, his son Peter Kluthe — then only 22 — took over the publishing house, leading it until his 65th birthday in May 2013. Alfred Nagel took over the chief editorship on 1 January 1971, succeeded by Karl Kramer on 1 April 1989. In 1992, the paper converted from an evening to a morning paper — since then printed in Kassel. Dieter Preuß led the newsroom from 2000 to 2008, Dieter Salzmann from January 2008 to June 2014, and Tobias Stück has led the editorial team since 1 July 2014.

The paper's physical home moved on 13 November 2014: from the Eschwege Schulberg publishing building to the Stad in the town center, where the offices share the ground floor in partnership with the Sparkasse Werra-Meißner — the advertising department, distribution, and accounting on the first floor, the newsroom on the second. Since July 2013, the paper has appeared with a new masthead.

Coverage and Content

The Werra-Rundschau's local pages cover Eschwege's town politics, the district's municipalities — Sontra, Waldkappel, Wanfried, Wehretal, Meinhard, Herleshausen, Meißner, Ringgau, Berkatal, Weißenborn — and the Werra-Meißner district's affairs. The paper follows the district administration's decisions, the towns' development debates, and the region's particular challenges: the former border zone's transformation, the rural infrastructure, and the demographic shifts.

The Werra river — the Weser's headwater, the district's namesake — shapes the coverage: the river's ecology, the flood management, and the valley's landscapes. The Meißner mountain — the district's landmark, the "King of the Hessian mountains" — the former border's memorial sites, and the half-timbered towns' heritage complete the regional agenda. The paper's 2009 decision to move the local section to the front formalized what readers already knew: the WR is, first, Eschwege's and the district's paper.

Organization and Ownership

The Werra-Rundschau is published by the Werra Verlag Kluthe GmbH & Co. KG, based in Eschwege. The managing director is Markus Pfromm; the majority shareholder is the MBG Medienbeteiligungsgesellschaft mbH. The Kluthe family's publishing house — founded 1948, led by the second generation until 2013 — represents the German local press's family-publisher tradition.

The Eschwege newsroom, led by Tobias Stück since 2014, produces the district's local pages; the Kassel printing arrangement (since the 1992 morning conversion) and the shared general section provide the production backbone. The advertising department is led by Markus Dittmann (since March 2013).

The Border District

The Werra-Meißner district's identity — the former inner-German border running along its eastern edge — gives the paper's journalism historical depth. The border's memorial sites, the divided villages' reunification stories, and the region's transformation since 1990 are the long narrative the WR has documented across three decades. The paper covers the border museums, the commemoration events, and the ongoing reconciliation work with the seriousness of a newsroom that reported the division and the reunification alike.

Eschwege's own heritage — the half-timbered old town, the former district-town functions, the Werra's bridges — and the district's towns each contribute their chapters. In a district where the border's watchtowers stood within living memory, the Werra-Rundschau is the chronicle of a region that experienced Germany's division most directly.

The Werra

The Werra river — the Weser's headwater, rising in Thuringia and flowing through Eschwege's half-timbered valley — is the paper's namesake and constant subject. The river's ecology, the flood management, the riverside paths, and the valley's landscapes form an environmental beat with the river's own continuity. The paper covers the water quality, the renaturation projects, and the communities' relationship with the waterway that shaped their towns.

The Werra's course — through the former border zone, past the half-timbered towns, toward the Weser's confluence — mirrors the district's history: the divided river, the reunited valley. The paper's river journalism, from flood alerts to landscape features, is the daily record of a district living with its namesake. In Eschwege, where the river's bridges are the town's landmarks, the Werra-Rundschau carries the river's name and its stories. The district's half-timbered towns — Eschwege's old town, Wanfried's Weser Renaissance, the villages' preserved centers — give the paper's heritage reporting exceptional material. The paper covers the preservation efforts, the old-town festivals, and the towns' tourism with the care of a newsroom that knows every gable. In the Werra valley, history is not background but the daily subject. The paper's border journalism — the memorial sites, the reunification anniversaries, the eastern neighbors' stories — keeps the district's defining history present for generations that never knew the division.

Readership and Market Position

The Werra-Rundschau serves Eschwege's households and the district's communities as the Werra-Meißner district's paper of record — its market position as the district's dedicated daily, printed in Kassel but rooted in Eschwege. The paper's local-first structure (local section at the front since 2009) distinguishes it in a market where regional papers compete for the district's readers.

Like all German regional dailies, the paper faces long-term circulation pressure, addressed through the werra-rundschau.de digital platform, e-paper editions, and digital subscriptions. The Kluthe publishing house's continuity — family-founded, professionally managed — provides the institutional stability the district's journalism depends on.

Digital Presence

The paper's digital home is werra-rundschau.de, the Werra-Rundschau's online portal, which operates the digital subscription model with e-paper editions, newsletters, apps, and social media channels. The Eschwege newsroom's district stories reach both the local online readers and the wider audience for northern Hesse's news. The paper's local competitors include the Marktspiegel free paper and the Rundfunk Meißner local radio, broadcasting from Eschwege since 1997.