From February 2026, Harald Martenstein will succeed the columnist Franz Josef Wagner at “Bild”, who died in October. He took over the “Post von Wagner” column and continued it under the title “Mail von Martenstein,” as the newspaper announced.
In the future, the column will appear Monday to Friday on page two and on bild.de. According to “Bild”, Martenstein continues to write his weekly column for “Welt am Sonntag”. When asked, he would stop his column at “Die Zeit”, as the weekly newspaper announced. The farewell is planned for January 2026.
Martenstein said in a message to his predecessor: “Dear Franz Josef, I liked your texts because they had something completely crazy about them. There are too few crazy people in our job. I’ll try to be completely crazy in my own way, and when we meet in the afterlife over a bottle of wine, you’ll tell me how you found it, okay?”
Franz Josef Wagner’s impact
With his column in Germany’s largest tabloid newspaper, Wagner was one of the best-known German columnists for many decades. The lyrics always had a special mix: for example, they contained something lovely, something impressive, something crazy, something bitterly evil.
“Bild” editor-in-chief Marion Horn emphasized that it was a responsibility and an honor for the newspaper to continue Wagner’s column. “I am very pleased that in Harald Martenstein we were able to gain an author who is both amusing and fearless.”