« Germanic decadence”, « The law for reparation for war damages”: titles which take us directly into this particular post-war period.
It is December 25, 1918.
The newspaper is now installed in the famous hotel in the Faubourg Saint-Jean (current avenue Foch), inaugurated with great fanfare on March 31, 1913. L'Est republican has become a major regional daily, including the Meuse and the Vosges, published at 26 500 copies. The newspaper opened up to sports news, even became an organizer of sporting events, and launched a supplement called the East illustrated.
Since 1911, it has had offices in Paris to monitor political news.
But on December 25, 1918, Europe was barely emerging from the Great War. It emptied the editorial office and the workshops, limited the supply of paper and ink.
The printing press was even partially destroyed by a bomb on the night of February 26 to 27, 1918.
Despite the context and despite the censorship during this period, L'Est Républicain continued to appear. It became one of the rare sources of information of the time for both the population and the soldiers.
This period will also mark a turning point for the title which will become “a news journal acceptable to all families of opinion. The chronicles are more measured, nuanced even if oriented in a direction favorable to moderates and radicals” ( L'Est Républicain: daily newspaper column ). A turning point that will allow its expansion.
At that time, the diary consisted of four to six pages, even up to eight (excluding war periods). There is still no particular layout for the front page and each edition simply opens with national and international news.
To be continued: the series on the Christmas front pages of the Est Républicain continues with that of December 25, 1945. See you Wednesday, December 25 from 7 a.m. on our site estrepublicain.fr
