Structure: cultural policy monthly

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construction

language German
First edition September 1945
attitude 1958
Frequency of publication per month
editor Kulturbund for the democratic renewal of Germany
ISSN (print)
April issue 1954

Structure was an East German cultural magazine . It appeared in 1945 as the “first product of the publishing house” in the Aufbau-Verlag as a “cultural and political monthly with literary contributions”. From 1945 (Issue 1 in September) to 1958 (Issue 7) the magazine was published by the “Kulturbund zur Democratic Renewal of Germany”, the later Kulturbund of the GDR . The editor-in-chief was Klaus Gysi , who had returned to Berlin as an illegal KPD member after internment in France in 1940. After his election as Federal Secretary of the Kulturbund, he was followed in 1949 by Bodo Uhse , who had returned from exile in Mexico ; he held the position until the cultural-political monthly after the July 1958 issue was discontinued.

In accordance with the maxim formulated in the foreword of the first issue, "that the awakening and gathering of all building forces in the ideological and cultural area will significantly promote the great national task of our people," those named in the imprint as 'permanent employees' cover a broad spectrum in terms of cultural policy . If in the first two years the confrontation with the National Socialist past is still carried out in dialogue and without hostility between internal and external emigrants, ”said Alexander Abusch in issue 10/1947 ['The internal and external emigration in German literature.', P. 223–226] the broadsides mainly to Manfred Hausmann . " With the split into two German states, the non-socialist or communist-oriented employees withdrew: "Under the growing pressure in world politics, the principle of integration of 'construction' also tore apart."

But even under new social framework conditions, Aufbau offers a forum for a 'conversation about peace' (Issue 5/1949), in which Bodo Uhse , Arnold Zweig , Alexander Abusch and Manfred Meusel on the one hand and Rudolf Alexander Schröder on the other , Ulrich Noack , Reinhold Schneider , Ernst Penzoldt , Manfred Hausmann and Horst Lange take part; the dialogue was continued as the 'German Conversation' until 1951. In the 1950s, Ernst Bloch , Alfred Kantorowicz , Hans Mayer and Joachim Müller were also critical of the GDR, who were critical of the system.

The abrupt end of the construction is explained by the supposed thaw period after the XX. Party congress of the CPSU and the subsequent restalinization. The program renewal promoted by the publisher's director Walter Janka (opening up to literary modernity, democratization of the publisher including the abolition of book and magazine censorship) will end with his arrest and conviction in a show trial. Head editor Bodo Uhse , who had also provided a platform for critical voices, was “discouraged by the political situation, badly hit by the persecution of his friend Janka […], let the reins in the editorial department drag and finally the Kulturbund pleaded for the replacement To ask editor-in-chief. " Without a successor, Uhse leaves the work to the editor Rolf Schneider . “When it became clear that Schneider was running the business alone and wanted to re-profile it as a forum for new literature”, the 'Kulturpolitische MONTHLY' was discontinued, but the subscribers were only informed six months later that “the structure had fulfilled its function in this form . ” (Ibid.)

The edition scientist Siegfried Scheibe has compiled a complete bibliography for the magazine Aufbau ; it lists all 5,244 titles in detail and completely records employees, authors, keywords and categories in the register. In the foreword, Dieter Noll presents, in Cold War rhetoric and SED phraseology, a line-based GDR internal view of the history of the magazine, which "founded as an organ of the 'Kulturbund for the democratic renewal' a consciousness distorted by fascism [...] the social task fulfilled ”. On the other hand, Ruth Glatzer in her publishing history for 1956 comes closer to reality with allusions to Wolfgang Harich's arrest for “counter-revolutionary activity” and Walter Janka's “deprivation of liberty”; for 1957 she states: “Even in the publishing house and among its authors, arguments and discussions took place throughout the year that followed the XX. The party congress and the events in Hungary played a major role. "

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Ruth Glatzer: Verlagschronik 1945-1984 . In: The house on Französische Strasse. Forty years of construction publishing. An almanac . Structure, Berlin a. Weimar 1985, p. 419 .
  2. “For guidance” . In: Structure . 1st year 1945, no. 1, p. [1] .
  3. ^ Günter Wirth: From construction and Sunday, aquarists and tin figures. Personal marginalia on Kulturbund journalism . In: Simone Barck u. a. (Ed.): Between 'mosaic' and 'unity'. Magazines in the GDR. Ch.links, Berlin 1999, p. 304 .
  4. Erhard Schütz u. a .: Introduction to the German literature of the 20th century. Vol. 3: Federal Republic and GDR. (Basic course in literary history) . Westdeutscher Verlag, Oplade 1980, p. 18 .
  5. Günter Wirth .: 'Conversation about peace' in the magazine 'Aufbau' 1949. In: Sigrid Bock u. a. (Ed.): Put down your arms! Writer in the peace movements of the 20th century . Academy, Berlin 1989.
  6. ^ Carsten Wurm: The early construction publishing house 1945–1961. Concepts and controversies. (Publications of the Leipzig working group on the history of the book industry, writings and testimonies to book history, vol. 8) . Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1996, p. 206 .
  7. ^ Siegfried Scheibe: Structure. Berlin 1945–1958. Bibliography of a journal. With a foreword by Dieter Noll. (Publications of the Academy of Arts of the German Democratic Republic, Section Literature and Language Maintenance) . Structure, Berlin a. Weimar 1978.
  8. Dieter Noll: Foreword . In: Siegfried Scheibe (Hrsg.): Bibliography of a magazine. Structure, Berlin a. Weimar 1978, p. 27 .
  9. ^ Ruth Glatzer: Verlagschronik 1945-1984 . In: The house on Französische Strasse. Forty years of construction publishing. An almanac . Structure, Berlin a. Weimar 1985, p. 452 .