John Adam Rittinger was a Canadian German-language-newspaper proprietor, editor and Pennsylvania-German humorist. In 1875, he and Aaron Eby purchased Walkerton, Ontario's German-language newspaper, the Walkerton Glocke. Affectionately known by locals as the "Glockemann", Rittinger was both a shrewd businessman and a popular writer. He became the paper's sole owner in 1878, renaming it Die Ontario Glocke in 1882. A staunch conservative, he used the editorial column to comment on domestic political issues, advocating for the National Policy, individual freedoms and the teaching of the German language in Ontario schools while opposing prohibition and nativism. When the Glocke amalgamated into Berlin, Ontario's Berliner Journal in 1904, he became the Journal's editor-in-chief, a position he held until his death in 1915.
In 1873, Rittinger graduated from St. Jerome's College (pictured, 2012). His education under the school's founder, Louis Funcken, influenced his writings and political views.
The Rittinger family home in 2021, where Rittinger died in July 1915.
The Berliner Journal was a German-language weekly-newspaper published in Berlin, Canada, from 1859 to 1918. The newspaper was founded by the German immigrants Friedrich Rittinger and John Motz, who operated the paper together through most of its existence until their sons – William John Motz, Herman Rittinger and John Adam Rittinger – took over the operation at the turn of the century.
Top of the Berliner Journal front page, 12 August 1914, reporting on the outbreak of the First World War in Europe
At left, the Berliner Journal printing office in 1863.
The printing office at 42 King Street West, c. 1889. From the left, Herman Rittinger, William John Motz, John Motz and Friedrich Rittinger [de] stand second through fifth.
Most German newspapers in Ontario issued an annual broadside with a long poem to celebrate the New Year. The Berliner Journal's poem of 1888 (pictured) was written in the local Pennsylvania German dialect.