Attorney Dr. Viktor Michitsch, born in 1928 in Göttenitz, the son of a farmer and innkeeper (Gruabarsch), was one of those men in Carinthia who already early on searched for ways to find and secure the bonds that would tie the last generation of Gottscheers together. The re-establishment of the Gottscheer Zeitung was considered to be the most effective bond. The first talks about it already took place in 1953 among high school teacher Peter Jonke, Obermösel, government official Sepp König, Altlag, elementary school principal Fritz Högler, Altlag, Dr. Viktor
Michitsch, Göttenitz, and the Reverend Heinrich Wittine, Lichtenbach. The estimates for the publication costs confirmed that it was not economically feasible for them to publish the paper themselves. In 1954 a newspaper committee was established that consisted of the following members:

- Sepp König, Altlag (Chairman)
- Fritz Högler, Altlag
- Peter Jonke, Obermösel
- Albert Loser, Grafenfeld
- Dr. Viktor Michitsch, Göttenitz
- Walter Samide, Langenton
- Viktor Stalzer, Reichenau
- Erich Sterbenz, Obermösel
- Hubert Truger, Gottschee/City

Let it be noted that soon after the founding of the committee Albert Loser emigrated to the United States and has been the editorial representative of the Gottscheer Zeitung in New York for a long time. Viktor Stalzer took over the responsibility for content and design upon the death of Hubert Truger on July 4, 1969.

Once the two Gottscheer clubs in Klagenfurt and Graz had financially vouched for it, nothing stood in the way of the publication of the new Gottscheer Zeitung. Fritz Högler was appointed its first editor by the owner and publisher, that is the "Landsmannschaft." The first issue appeared in June 1955. The imprint lists the "Gottscheer Landsmannschaft" in Klagenfurt as owner, publisher, and editor. The monthly journal was printed for several years in Wolfsberg-Lavanttal and is now printed by the large printing firm "Carinthia" in Klagenfurt.

The old-new Gottscheer Zeitung was enthusiastically received by its readership. It was immediately nick-named "da Gatscheabarin," the Gottscheer woman. After a brief starting and advertising phase, it attained a circulation of about 3,300 copies, a figure that it had never reached back home in Gottschee. Viewed from its aim to be the link and mouthpiece of the Gottscheers, it actually is an oversized, printed family letter that appears regularly. However, it rightly calls itself "Zeitung." It is a newspaper not only in form but also in content because it makes public a very detailed account of the public lives of the last generation of Gottscheers. Just as is the case with a daily newspaper, its readership exceeds by several times the number of subscribers. However, there is one essential difference between it and a daily newspaper: daily world politics are only very rarely written about in its columns. Its average reader does not look for politics in it, since it carries the motto: "Mit der Heimat im Herzen über Land und Meer verbunden! ("United across land and sea with the homeland in one's heart!")

Most likely few newspapers can claim such a passionate readership as that of the Gottscheer Zeitung. It literally is read from front to back and vice-versa, often repeatedly, is kept and read again. And not a few old Gottscheers stop whatever they are doing when it arrives because they first must read "da Gatscheabarin." The facts of every article - namely the who? what? where? when? how? and why? - are much more interesting and personal in the homeland newspaper than in the local paper of the new residence. Already the lead article deals with individual
topics that are of interest to all readers, as well as topical or seasonal ones. It is followed by reports about the activities of the "Landsmannschaften" and clubs, recollections of noteworthy personalities or institutions of the "Ländchen," serious and humorous stories from former times.

The next column, "Aus dem Leben unserer Landsleute" (From the Lives of Our Countrymen), contains a colorful abundance of individual news and reports, above all about the life phases that are common to all humans, birth and death, marriages and personal days of celebration, visits here and over there, as well as letters. Extremely numerous are the photographs from the present and most recent past, with which the editors vary the two main themes that overlie the entire reading material, family and the lost homeland. A regular cultural supplement
publishes essays on historical, cultural, and folkloric, as well as financial themes. In addition, the supplement contains stories in High German and in the dialect, new poems, philological essays, and more.

In the meantime, the circulation has dropped under three thousand and continues to sink. The death notices and obituaries on the last page tell us why.

The Gottscheer Zeitung devotes the most extensive announcements and coverage to the folkfest in New York, the celebrations in Cleveland, the pilgrimages in Klagenfurt and Maria Trost, the gatherings in Aichelberg (Black Forest), in Canada and in Australia, as well as to the annual "Gottscheer Kulturwoche" (culture week), to the Christmas festivities and other Gottscheer get-togethers throughout the world. The attendance at these functions is far lower than that at the annual meetings of the ethnic Germans from Czechoslovakia, the Transylvanian Germans, or the Danube-Swabians and the like, but nevertheless the intent, design, and execution impress also the non-Gottscheer. When we consider the events outside of the United States as a counterpart to the large festival in North America, then the attendance figures alone tell us where most of the Gottscheers are living today. We could never attain such attendance figures in Europe (5,000 and higher!). Even with the assistance from over there we can count at the most 2,000, be this in Austria or in Germany.

As was already stated, the elementary school principal Fritz Högler was made editor of the new Gottscheer Zeitung by the "Landsmannschaft" in Klagenfurt. In 1962 Herbert Erker of Mitterdorf, a countryman who has been mentioned several times in this book because of his efforts, succeeded him. Ludwig Kren of Mitterdorf, principal of an intermediate school, took over this difficult but also beautiful task in 1971.

("Jahrhundertbuch der Gottscheer", Dr. Erich Petschauer, 1980)

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