50 years ago: AZ prints on despite fire
Fifty years ago, in the early hours of an August public holiday, disaster struck: the typesetting department of newspaper publisher John Meinert was completely destroyed by fire.Yet, against the odds, the Allgemeine Zeitung still appeared the very next day – a special four-page “emergency” edition.
How did the editorial team pull it off, given that the fire had melted the lead type they relied on at the time?
Fortunately, the blaze did not spread to the rotary presses of the AZ and the Windhoek Advertiser, housed in the adjacent building. But without typesetting, those presses were useless.
Help came from just down the street. The editor of the neighbouring newspaper, the Suidwes-Afrikaner, Angel Engelbrecht, immediately offered the use of his typesetting department. The Meinert team moved in at once – only to realise the machines needed a quick service. They hurried back to fetch their toolbox and set to work.
While the reporters hammered away at their typewriters to prepare copy, the hand typesetters assembled the pages on flatbed printing frames. This simpler press allowed them to produce the four-page edition, even though Meinert’s own rotary press could not be brought into the process.
There was help from other quarters too. Frans van Zyl, editor of the Die Suidwester, also stepped forward, proving that political differences – the two papers backed opposing parties – meant nothing in the face of a shared crisis.
Thanks to swift teamwork, ingenuity, and a spirit of solidarity, the AZ went to print on time. In its 109-year history, not a single issue has ever been cancelled – not even in the face of a fire that destroyed its heart.
Below is the report translated from the original German into English. - Eberhard Hofmann
Despite fire, printing continues - AZ 15 August 1975
In the early hours of Thursday morning, flames tore through the hand and machine typesetting departments of the John Meinert printing company in Stübel Street, Windhoek.
By the time firefighters arrived, both departments had been completely destroyed.
The blaze was first spotted at around 04:30, by which time part of the roof had already collapsed. The alarm was raised almost simultaneously by two witnesses – Miss Hilde Schneider, who lives opposite the building, and passer-by Franz Gilge.
Miss Schneider said she first heard strange noises – a crackling sound and what seemed like wood falling. At first, she thought it was coming from a passing vehicle, but when she heard no engine, she stepped onto her balcony and saw flames engulfing part of the building.
Meanwhile, Mr Gilge, driving along Stübel Street at the same time, also noticed the smoke and fire. He went straight to the fire station, which had just received Miss Schneider’s phone call. Within four minutes, firefighters were on the scene and quickly brought the blaze under control.
Company president Jürgen Meinert arrived shortly after 05:00, but by then it was too late to save anything from the typesetting rooms. The prepared pages for Friday’s editions of the Allgemeine Zeitung (AZ) and the Windhoek Advertiser, along with many articles still in production, had been reduced to ashes.
Even before sunrise, plans were being made to get printing back on track. The John Meinert company also operates a branch in Otjiwarongo and owns the Eduard Baum printing works, so arrangements were put in place to keep all printing departments running. However, the fire had caused a power outage that left the main rotary press unusable, forcing emergency measures to ensure the AZ could be published.
Thanks to the immediate help of Verenigde Pers, a smaller four-page “emergency” edition of the AZ rolled off the presses.
The full extent of the damage is still unknown, but alongside the destroyed machinery, valuable printing materials were lost, including manuscripts for the Windhoek Show catalogue and the African Heritage Calendar.
As soon as the flames were out, staff began clearing debris – a task that took the entire day. By midday, preparations for the emergency edition were underway. The work had to be finished early so that Verenigde Pers could use the same typesetting equipment for the Windhoek Advertiser and Suidwes-Afrikaner.
The fire is believed to have been caused by a short circuit in an electrical switchboard.