DAS STERNCHEN ( little star ) was an added eight pages children magazine inside the bigger-format german weekly magazine STERN, founded 1948 by HENRY NANNEN. the children magazine started in 1953 and lasted until 1961 when it was changed into a doublepage within the bigger STERN. from the very beginning well known german writers and illustrators contributed their art, amongst others ROLAND KOHLSAAT and his series JIMMY DAS GUMMIPFERD ( 1953 – 1977 ) as well as LORIOT with REINHOLD DAS NASHORN ( 1953 – 1970 ). early on my father collected the magazine for me and my brother and bound them at the end of the year into a thick ‘collector’s book’. they were treasures for us and probably they started an interest in illustration and comic strip very early. following I put together a small collection of my favorite covers mostly from the fifties.
this post will be the start of a series about GERMAN ILLUSTRATION. during the last weeks I went through my archives and there are thousands of illustrations from the fifties on. I am sure I am not the only one who is interested in them. so far I haven’t seen any of these treasures anywhere in bookform, what is a shame.
© stern / gruner&jahr
my name is hans bacher, – I work as production designer in the animation film industry. for the last 45 years I lived and worked in exciting places around the world. after 7 years of teaching in singapore I am back at my homebase in manila, working on a few more books.
One1more2time3's Weblog 
Hans, has children’s book illustrator/logo designer Paul Rand done animation? Or been the chief inspiration for any animators?
from hans –
I am not too familiar with his bio
Beautiful art works!:o)
I haven’t seen these for over forty years. They still look beautiful! The Jazz one specially: influenced by the style of David Stone Matin, but that is a good thing.
David Stone MARTIN, I mean
Hi – I’m researching the German version of the I-Spy books, and discovered that they had a tie-up with Das Sternchen in the mid-1950s. Have you got any copies with the Der Spaher logo on the front? Simon