Overview
- Dagmar Berghoff, who is 83, told the Deutsche Presse-Agentur on Wednesday that she read and personally replied to the fan and love letters she received during her broadcast career.
- She says her replies typically included an autographed photo with the handwritten note “Herzlichst Dagmar Berghoff” and a written apology when responses were delayed.
- Berghoff traces the practice to a childhood episode in which entertainer Caterina Valente sent only a preprinted signature in reply to her fan letter, and she later says Valente told her management handled fan mail.
- Berghoff became the first woman to read ARD’s Tagesschau nearly 50 years ago, a role that made her highly visible and helps explain the large volume of correspondence she describes.
- The recent pieces published by German outlets are human-interest reports based on Berghoff’s own recollections to dpa and rely on her testimony alongside established biographical facts rather than new documentary evidence.