Der Spiegel is a German and Europe’s largest news magazine. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/559866/Der-Spiegel “Der Spiegel” translates into “the mirror” and is published weekly. It is published by the Spiegel-Verlag in Hamburg, Germany and has an approximate weekly circulation of about one million and a coverage of almost six million German readers. The magazine is the successor of “Diese Woche” (“this week”) and was first published in 1947 by Rudolf Augstein. Der Spiegel gained significant popularity through the so-called “Spiegel affair” - a political scandal in Germany in 1962 during which several of the magazine’s journalists got arrested. http://www.spiegelgruppe.de/spiegelgruppe/home.nsf/4E36CF1395E8C0AFC1257421002AD46A/$file/UnternBroschuere_2010_engl_Ansicht.pdf

The current Editors-in-Chief of Der Spiegel are Georg Mascolo and Mathias Mueller von Blumencron. http://www.spiegelgruppe.de/spiegelgruppe/home.nsf/4E36CF1395E8C0AFC1257421002AD46A/$file/UnternBroschuere_2010_engl_Ansicht.pdf Der Spiegel is also available in digital format as an iPhone and iPad app available on Apple’s App Store. http://www.spiegel.de/dienste/0,1518,675533,00.html In addition, the magazine’s publisher, the Spiegel-Verlag, owns a news website called Spiegel Online. http://www.spiegelgruppe.de/spiegelgruppe/home.nsf/4E36CF1395E8C0AFC1257421002AD46A/$file/UnternBroschuere_2010_engl_Ansicht.pdf Der Spiegel is currently priced at 3.80 Euro in Germany. http://microshop.spiegel.de/einzelhefte/spiegel-2010-40

The “Spiegel Affair” of 1962 was a political scandal in Germany. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/559866/Der-Spiegel A journalist of Der Spiegel, Conrad Ahlers, wrote an article that questioned the defense ability of the German Armed Forces, the “Bundeswehr”, under Minister of Defense Franz Josef Strauss. According to the article, the Bundeswehr would not have been able to defend Germany against a potential attack of the Warsaw Pact. http://www.freemedia.at/Heroes_IPIReport2.00/02Augstein.htm

As a consequence, Der Spiegel was accused of treason and multiple employees of Der Spiegel were arrested, including Conrad Ahlers and founder and Editor-in-Chief Rudolf Augstein. These actions taken by the German government lead to protests throughout the country as people felt their right to freedom of speech had been breached. http://www.freemedia.at/Heroes_IPIReport2.00/02Augstein.htm

In the end, all accusations by the government “proved to be unfounded and defence minister Franz Josef Strauss, who had been deeply implicated in the affair, was forced to resign.” http://www.spiegelgruppe.de/spiegelgruppe/home.nsf/4E36CF1395E8C0AFC1257421002AD46A/$file/UnternBroschuere_2010_engl_Ansicht.pdf