German Women’s Magazine Emma Celebrates 50 Years Amid Controversies

Emma celebrated its 50th anniversary on 21 October 2026, the same day Alice Schwarzer announced the magazine’s planned closure (Der Spiegel). The first issue, released in February 1977, featured Schwarzer on the cover and was printed in 200,000 copies, with 100,000 reprinted (Der Spiegel). The anniversary was marked by a ceremony in Berlin where the magazine’s editors and guests gathered to reflect on five decades of feminist journalism (Der Spiegel).

Emma has been involved in several controversies over the years. In 1979, the magazine sued Stern for sexist covers, a case that was dismissed by the Hamburg District Court (Der Spiegel). In 1994, masked women from a group called Frauen Lesben Gruppen aus Köln + Anderswo stormed the Emma office, accusing the magazine of racism, eugenics advocacy, and Holocaust denial (Der Spiegel). The magazine also launched the PorNO campaign in 1987 to criticize pornography as a violation of human dignity (Der Spiegel).

In 2023, Alice Schwarzer and Sahra Wagenknecht released a Manifest for Peace that called for a halt to military support for Ukraine, sparking criticism from some readers (Der Spiegel). The magazine’s final issue is scheduled for December 2026, following Schwarzer’s announcement that Emma would be discontinued (Der Spiegel).

A writer for FAZ recalled early interactions with Emma, noting that Schwarzer invited the author to cover U.S. feminist debates and that the magazine’s coverage of topics such as abortion, pornography, and sexual abuse at universities was influenced by Schwarzer’s editorial direction (FAZ). The writer also described a 2021 interview with Schwarzer in the Bayenturm, where Schwarzer was portrayed as open to discussion but critical of intrusive questions (FAZ).