Knowledge and defense

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Knowledge and defense

description Monthly publication of the German Society for Defense Policy and Defense Sciences
Area of ​​Expertise military
language German
publishing company ES Mittler & Sohn ( Germany )
Headquarters Berlin
First edition 1920
attitude 1944
Frequency of publication per month
editor German Society for Defense Policy and Science (from 1933)
ZDB 163458-6

Wissen und Wehr - Monthly of the German Society for Defense Policy and Defense Sciences was a German military trade journal that was published by E. S. Mittler & Sohn from 1920 to 1944 ; initially every two months, from 1923 monthly.

The initiators for the establishment of the magazine were General der Infanterie a. D. Hugo von Freytag-Loringhoven and Major General Hans von Seeckt . The editors were initially Major Hermann von Giehrl , who had previously been chief of the intelligence department of the Great General Staff , and from 1923 Lieutenant Colonel Karl Ludwig von Oertzen, department head of the intelligence agency (1923–1925) and press chief of the Reichswehr Ministry (1925–1929). In 1933 Karl Linnebach , senior government councilor in the Reichsarchiv , became editor of the magazine. It has now been published by the German Society for Defense Policy and Science (DGWW) and acted as its main body.

The program of the magazine: Combination of the military and the civil

Knowledge and defense stood at the interface between the military and civil society. It was covertly financed by the Reichswehr when it was created and, because of the advertising support from the army command, it can appear as a disguised continuation of old traditions and programs. Nonetheless, their conception was based on the premise that war was a matter beyond the purely military and required the integration of civil society in its meaningfulness, since war was viewed as a matter for the whole people. The war should be viewed as a phenomenon that affects society as a whole. One started from the totality of the war. Unlike the established military weekly, this magazine, subsidized by the Reichswehr, was intended to address civilian target groups beyond members of the Reichswehr and former soldiers. The publisher now focused more on the new magazine and from this point on, reduced the intensity of the publication of its previous flagship military weekly paper , which was no longer published as frequently as before.

The circulation of knowledge and defense was higher than that of purely scientific journals. It rose from 1,900 copies to 2,800 copies in 1939 and, as a high point, 3,500 copies despite the paper shortage in 1943. The essays printed in it were usually 10 to 15 pages long. They included the subject areas of warfare, people and military strength, military education , military economics , defense technology , defense psychology, military geopolitics and military history . In addition, each issue contained a comprehensive review section.

Continuity and emphasis after 1933

After Wissen und Wehr became the responsibility of the German Society for Defense Policy and Defense Sciences (DGWW) in the summer of 1933, the program of civilian military detention that was promoted in the 1920s was integrated into the ideological network of National Socialism without any problems . Even if Wissen und Wehr wrote in his editorial in the August 1933 issue, “Since January 30th we no longer need to worry about the internal consolidation of the front; with a clear view we can turn our gaze outwards, ”the content orientation was essentially retained, so that the Nazis' seizure of power in the meantime was more recognizable by the symbols of sovereignty on the front pages and the editorial addresses of devotion. According to the historian Markus Pöhlmann , this was due to the fact that even before the takeover of power there was a "partial identity of interests" between the National Socialists and the military magazine, especially with regard to objectives such as military-political revision policy and the rise of the German Reich in terms of power politics, so that no formal "National Socialist conformity" was required.

The President of the DGWW and former General of the Artillery Friedrich von Cochenhausen characterized the type of journal 1934 as follows: “It is not an actual military journal […] Its content rather encompasses all branches of political, economic and scientific life related to national defense in the Within the framework of the modern war. ”The articles were now focused more on discussions of questions of the“ total war ”under the responsibility of the DGWW.

Development in the Second World War and reception of the magazine

During the Second World War , the magazine was under the strong influence of the "Commissioner of the Führer for Military Historiography" Colonel i. G. Walter Scherff . Its scientific content was further reduced and it was now used almost exclusively as a perseverance and propaganda instrument before its publication at the end of 1944.

According to Frank Reichherzer, historian in the research field of military history up to 1945 at the Center for Military History and Social Sciences of the Bundeswehr , the magazine as a whole is exemplary for the merging (Reichherzer speaks of "hybridization") civil and military spheres from the 1920s onwards in terms of waging war whole society. A similar concept was the from after World War II Working Group of Defense Research published journal Military Scientific Rundschau pursued, in the tradition of knowledge and defensive stand and then accordingly in the Cold War have operated "the blurring of civil and military under the primacy of war."

literature

  • Markus Pöhlmann (ed.): German military journals in the 20th century. Potsdam writings on military history . Volume 17. Military History Research Office , Potsdam 2012; therein the articles by Christian Haller: The German military journals 1918–1933. A media historical overview , pp. 25–35 as well as Frank Reichherzer: Demilitarization, Bellification and Hybridization under the sign of the “total war”. On the trail of war in German journalism in the interwar period , pp. 37–48.
  • Frank Reichherzer: "Everything is Front!" Defense sciences in Germany and the bellification of society from the First World War to the Cold War . Ferdinand Schöningh, Paderborn a. a. 2012, ISBN 978-3-506-77138-4 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Christian Haller: The German military magazines 1918-1933. A media historical overview . In: Markus Pöhlmann (Hrsg.): German military journals in the 20th century. Potsdam writings on military history . Volume 17. Military History Research Office, Potsdam 2012, pp. 25–35, here p. 27.
  2. ↑ Frank Reichherzer: Demilitarization, Bellification and Hybridization in the Sign of the "Total War". On the trail of war in German trade journalism in the interwar period . In: Markus Pöhlmann (Hrsg.): German military journals in the 20th century. Potsdam writings on military history . Volume 17. Military History Research Office, Potsdam 2012, pp. 37–48, here pp. 38 and P. 42.
  3. ↑ Frank Reichherzer: “Everything is Front!” Defense sciences in Germany and the bellification of society from the First World War to the Cold War . Ferdinand Schöningh, Paderborn a. a. 2012, ISBN 978-3-506-77138-4 , p. 244.
  4. ↑ Ernst Willi Hansen: Modern war in the shadow of Versailles. The "Defense Thoughts of Foreign Countries" and the Reichswehr . In: Ernst Willi Hansen, Gerhard Schreiber , Bernd Wegner (eds.): Political change, organized violence and national security. Contributions to the recent history of Germany and France - Festschrift for Klaus-Jürgen Müller . Oldenbourg, Munich 1995, ISBN 3-486-56063-8 , pp. 193-210, here p. 198.
  5. ↑ Frank Reichherzer: “Everything is Front!” Defense sciences in Germany and the bellification of society from the First World War to the Cold War . Ferdinand Schöningh, Paderborn a. a. 2012, p. 244f.
  6. ↑ a b Frank Reichherzer: Demilitarization, Bellification and Hybridization in the Sign of the "Total War". On the trail of war in German trade journalism in the interwar period . In: Markus Pöhlmann (Hrsg.): German military journals in the 20th century. Potsdam writings on military history . Volume 17. Military History Research Office, Potsdam 2012, pp. 37–48, here pp. 44–47.
  7. ^ Markus Pöhlmann: From Versailles to Armageddon. Totalization experience and war expectation in German military magazines . In: Stig Förster (Ed.): On the threshold to total war. The Military Debate on Future War, 1919–1939 . Ferdinand Schöningh 2002, pp. 323–392, here p. 337. In the first quote, Pöhlmann reproduces: To our readers . In: Knowledge and Defense. 14th year 1933, p. 385f.
  8. ↑ Frank Reichherzer: Demilitarization, Bellification and Hybridization in the Sign of the "Total War". On the trail of war in German journalism in the interwar period , pp. 44–47, quotation p. 46.
  9. ↑ Frank Reichherzer: “Everything is Front!” Defense sciences in Germany and the bellification of society from the First World War to the Cold War . Ferdinand Schöningh, Paderborn a. a. 2012, p. 245.
  10. ↑ a b Frank Reichherzer: Demilitarization, Bellification and Hybridization in the Sign of the "Total War". On the trail of war in German trade journalism in the interwar period . In: Markus Pöhlmann (Hrsg.): German military journals in the 20th century. Potsdam writings on military history . Volume 17. Military History Research Office, Potsdam 2012, pp. 37–48, here p. 47.
  11. ↑ Frank Reichherzer's employee page at the Bundeswehr Center for Military History and Social Sciences. Retrieved October 24, 2016.