Basic Law as a magazine: "Brilliant formulations have blown me away"



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SPIEGEL ONLINE: Mr. Wurm, in the Basic Law, you can scroll freely on the Internet, the law is in PDF format, you can have it printed free of charge by the federal government or you can download it as an application. They bring the law now as a magazine for ten euros at the kiosk – why?

worm: It is precisely for this reason that I read it on the Internet, that I ordered the printed version and that I totally failed. This wasteland was illegible! I attended it because one evening I was listening to television, while the science journalist Ranga Yogeshwar was amazed to have the most beautiful constitution in the world. And since the basic law has appeared more and more often in my environment, friends have cited it, I saw a big banner hanging on the wall of a house of anti-legal protest from Chemnitz with the following sentence: "The dignity of the man is palpable," I thought before TV: Ok, so I'll take that too.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Have you ever read the basic law before?

worm: Yes, but the last one at school. And with the experience of life, you can see a lot of new things. But all the brilliant sentences have me blown away. Especially since I felt the gap between the gift that we gave the Parliamentary Council of 1949 and this wasteland. It was just not fun. I'm a magazine maker: my football books talk about fun flipping through, hanging on a picture and lines of text.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: You've interpreted the text, moved individual sentences to page size – how did you arrive at your selection?

worm: It was the basic idea to show courage to greatness. I always had the toolkit because I published the New Testament 2010 as a newspaper and printed "Jesus" on a double page when the name first appeared in the text. Show big words and phrases, that's guide the eye. It should not be a value system.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: They rely on a chic layout at a high price. You do not have to convince them of the basic law, is not it?

worm: The biggest mistake of a media maker is to think of the target audience. I want as many people as possible to enter into conversation, something to get started, let many come into contact with the text.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: So why not cooperate with the Federal Agency for Civic Education so that it is cheap for the people?

worm: If I have an idea, I want to implement it quickly and in 2019, the constitution will celebrate its 70th anniversary. Working with an agency may take longer. But please: this first edition is now a first offer. If there is a way to produce everything for two euros: happy!

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Are you now a constitutional patriot?

worm: It's a big word. If it means to represent the fundamental law with joy and to be proud of it, then yes.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Which article did you particularly touch?

worm: The pbadage that describes what happens when the federal territory is attacked by force of arms. After the Second World War, constitutional fathers were firmly waiting for that to happen soon. I was born in 1970, I have never experienced such a situation. And of course, as a journalist, I would like to print the sentence "Censorship does not happen". It feels good to read that.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: They bring the text almost naked, without comment. Why?

worm: It should be pure gold. But we have included large format photos, made by astronaut Alexander Gerst from the space. They look like watercolors. It is as if the Germans looked down and saw at a glance that we lived in the middle of a Europe without borders. Gerst tweeted, "From the space, it's pretty obvious that Europe has to be reunited."

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Among the many photos you print, one shows the Baltic Sea, one of Berlin – almost all others, but clearly West Germany. Your basic law does not seem to work in German.

worm: We worked with the images we had. Do not make me a political node. But yes, you're right, maybe we should ask Gerst for a reprint if he has other motives.


The basic law as a magazine, 10 euros, available at the station bookstore, in selected kiosks or online.

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