 In 1956, shortly before he emerged with a university degree, Pehnert returned to "Junge Welt", now as a contributing editor.He would remain with the newspaper till 1971, promoted to deputy managing editor in 1962 and succeeding as editor in chief in 1966.While this was going on, between 1965 and 1971 Pehnert was a member of the of the FDJ, which was the movement's controlling body.