Burtscheidt, Andreas: Edmund Freiherr Raitz von Frentz. Rom-Korrespondent der deutschsprachigen katholischen Presse 1924–1964, Paderborn [u. a.] 2008

Andreas Burtscheidt: Edmund Freiherr Raitz von Frentz. Rom-Korrespondent der deutschsprachigen katholischen Presse 1924–1964.

Raitz von Frentz became the Rome foreign correspondent for a newly established newspaper consortium of the most important Catholic German-language press organs in 1924. In Rome, he held a monopoly position on coverage of Italy and the Vatican for Catholic Germany and the neighboring German-language regions, until the final demise of these papers during the Third Reich.

Between 1924 and 1964, Edmund Freiherr Raitz von Frentz operated as a journalist at the interface between Germany, Italy, and the Vatican during the most politically turbulent epoch of the 20th century. During his most effective work period between 1924 and 1933, he covered Mussolini’s Italian regime for the larger daily newspapers of the Center Party press, among others, and perceived the rise of the Nazi movement in his home country after 1930. The Nazis’ consolidation of power gradually reduced Raitz von Frentz’s sphere of activity to the very limits of his ability to earn a living.

After the final demise of his remaining newspapers in 1941, his professional future looked to be at an end. But as a papal secret chamberlain, his closeness to the Roman Curia enabled him to stay in Rome and survive the dangerous months of German occupation in 1943–1944 in the security of the Campo Santo Teutonico.

After 1949 he worked tirelessly to carve out a niche in the newly emerging press spectrum of the Federal Republic but his efforts failed because of the changed professional conditions and journalistic demands of the post-war period. Following his death in 1964, the late journalist was eventually forgotten.