This book, Günter Wallraff’s legendary report from inside the Bild Zeitung, originally published in 1977, made press and publishing history. And, until now, only a censored version of it has been available. In it, Wallraff described what he experienced as “Hans Esser,” a reporter for Bild. The Springer Group retaliated, hiring informers and detectives to follow him, slandering Wallraff as a “liar,” “psychopath and “underground communist” – and bringing more than a dozen lawsuits against the “Aufmacher” (which means both “lead story” and “the one who opens”). Even though the Federal Supreme Court and Federal Constitutional Court both ultimately ruled in Wallraff’s favor regarding the essential points, many passages in the book remained suppressed. Now, on the occasion of his 70th birthday, Günter Wallraff’s investigative tour de force is finally available, uncensored, for the first time.
