German soldier transmitter 935

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The German soldier transmitter 935 ( DSS ) was a propaganda radio transmitter of the GDR , which was operated as a secret transmitter from 1960 to 1972 on medium wave Burg 935  kHz .

history

The Deutsche Freiheitsender 904 had been in existence since 1956 and was also regularly addressed to soldiers in the Bundeswehr . The target group of the station was, by definition, much broader, so that the programs only played a minor role for the Bundeswehr. This met with increasing criticism , especially among NVA officers. That is why the SED Central Committee decided to set up another secret broadcaster that would specifically address members of the Bundeswehr and influence them ideologically.

Regattastraße 267 in 1955,
before that the ZSK's rowing eight

On June 15, 1960, the National Defense Council of the GDR decided to found a German soldier broadcaster. It should be the answer to the transmitter of the radio battalion "990" of the Bundeswehr, which broadcast for the soldiers of the NVA. When choosing the location, a building at Regattastraße 267 in Berlin-Grünau was used , which formerly belonged to the Funkhaus Grünau and housed its administration and canteen until the mid-1950s. As early as 1955, the ZSK Vorwärts Berlin (later ASK Vorwärts ) was using this building with its rowing club. This provided ideal conditions for camouflaging the transmitter as a boathouse. Two studios with the appropriate technology were set up on the ground floor and editorial rooms on the upper floor. On October 1, 1960, the transmitter started operations.

Since June 1, 1965, the station operated as the 9th department of the 10th administration of the political headquarters of the NVA. This designation was part of the strategy for camouflaging the station, which was maintained until its dissolution. From the beginning, the station was part of the GDR's military propaganda. The sender's contact address was: Werner Schütz (or: Kathrin Jäger), Berlin W 8, Postfach 116.

On July 1, 1972, the German soldier broadcaster ceased operations after more than ten years of broadcasting. The reasons for the shutdown were the emerging policy of détente in Europe and the negotiations that had begun on the basic treaty between the Federal Republic of Germany and the GDR. As part of the psychological warfare , later called Psychological Defense , the Federal Republic of Germany carried out balloon campaigns with leaflets in the direction of the GDR. In the course of the détente these actions were stopped; In return, the GDR ordered the DSS to be closed. The last broadcast was moderated by Kathrin and chief spokesman Martin and at the beginning of the broadcast contained the note that the station was paused for a few days for technical reasons. In reality, however, this meant that by order 96/1972 of the Minister for National Defense and a resolution of the National Defense Council, the German soldier broadcaster was disbanded on June 30, 1972 at midnight. The employees did not find out about the shutdown until noon on June 30, 1972. The program for the weekend (July 1st and 2nd) had already been worked out. In fact, the employees were busy removing all traces until the beginning of 1973.

After the station was closed, many former employees such as speakers, technicians and editors switched to television in the GDR and, in particular, to " Current Camera ". Among them were the speakers Elisabeth Süncksen ( Kathrin ) and Wolfgang Meyer ( Joachim ), Günter Kunert ( Peter ) as well as Helga Krüger ( Heike ) and Gero Schreier ( Thomas ).

In the MDR - Documentation "Attention, we call herbalist" portrays the former chief spokesman Eberhard Kohlmann ( Martin ) Details of the work at the German soldier transmitter 935 . In the 36th minute of this documentary, the group photo shown there also shows other former DSS speakers.

Employee

The first commanding officer was Erhard Reichardt , the first editor-in-chief was Lea Große , who worked for the broadcaster of the National Committee for Free Germany in Moscow and, after the war, had experience in radio work at MDR.

As Deputy Head of the Political Headquarters of the NVA , Richard Fischer took part in the approval of the readiness for broadcasting of the German soldier broadcaster on September 29, 1960.

Other employees were Job von Witzleben and Wilhelm Adam .

program

The transmitter shared a 250 kW medium wave transmitter in Burg with the German freedom transmitter 904 until it was discontinued on September 30, 1971 . So they never broadcast at the same time. Because of the necessary frequency retuning work from 904 kHz to 935 kHz and back, the transmission end and transmission start of the two transmitters usually differed by 15 minutes.

The sole use of the medium wave transmitter due to the discontinuation of the DFS enabled the DSS to broadcast a new program at new broadcast times from January 1, 1972. These were daily from 6:15 a.m. to 7:00 a.m., 12:30 p.m. to 2:00 p.m., 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. to midnight. Before this change in the program structure, there was an additional program starting at 8:15 p.m.

The opening and closing credits were the same for every broadcast: "bum, bom, bu-bu-bom - German soldier transmitter - medium wave 935 kHz - we contact you daily (earlier: we broadcast daily) 06:15 am, 12:30 pm, 6:00 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. - bum, bom, bu-bu-bom ... "

The content of the broadcasts also followed the previous broadcast schedule. For example, on Saturday there was the 6:00 p.m. magazine Informations für den Bund , 6:10 p.m. and 7:20 p.m. the evening commentary and two minutes of reports mixed with music, greetings, a war of the feathers and brisk sayings.

In the time from 6:50 p.m. to 7:10 p.m., a hit parade or the star portrait ran . After the broadcast had ended, there was a striking bang as a pause .

literature

  • Jürgen Wilke : Radio on a secret mission. The German freedom transmitter 904 and the German soldier transmitter 935 as instruments of the Cold War . In: Klaus Arnold , Christoph Classen (ed.): Between Pop and Propaganda, Radio in the GDR . 1st edition. Christoph Links Verlag, Berlin 2004, ISBN 3-86153-343-X , p. 249-266 .
  • Wolfhard Besser: From the boathouse to the broadcasting house . In: Treptow-Köpenick, A year and reading book . tape 2007 . Kunstfabrik Köpenick, Berlin-Köpenick July 31, 2006, p. 133-137 .
  • Gerd Kaiser: Here is the German soldier transmitter 935 - A voice in the Cold War . Edition Bodoni, Berlin 2014, ISBN 978-3-940781-50-5 .

Web links

Coordinates: 52 ° 24 ′ 38.9 "  N , 13 ° 35 ′ 51.5"  E