The War Guilt Question: Berlin Monthly Issues

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The War Guilt Question / Berlin Monthly Issues

description Propaganda platform
Area of ​​Expertise history
language German English
publishing company Self-published
First edition 1923
attitude 1944
Sold edition 3500-4000 copies
editor Central office for research into the causes of war
ISSN 0174-8262
ZDB 214607-1

The War Guilt Issue: Berlin Monthly Issues for International Enlightenment was a historical- propagandistic magazine in which “pro-German” historians were offered a platform to discuss the war guilt issue of the First World War . The German-language trade journal first appeared in July 1923. In 1929 its title was changed to Berlin monthly for international enlightenment: The War Guilt Issue and in 1932 in Berlin monthly: magazine for the prehistory and history of the world war . The magazine was discontinued with the July / August 1944 issue.

Historical background

In the Foreign Office in particular comprehensive source editions of its own stock - - In Berlin, an independent war guilt Unit was formed which tried journalistic activities with the help refute the war guilt. For this project, the war guilt department founded the “Working Committee of German Associations” (ADV, 1921) and the “ Central Office for Research into the Causes of War ” (ZS, 1921). With these organizations, the Foreign Office led an extensive propaganda offensive against the Versailles Peace Treaty in the years 1918–1937, in which many saw a disgrace for the German Reich. The ADV and the ZS were supposed to convince the public at home and abroad that the war had been forced upon the German Reich, that the Allies were partly to blame for the war, and thus refute German sole guilt. The ADV was an externally independent umbrella organization that coordinated the propaganda of its member organizations and wanted to reach broad sections of the population through public relations. The central office should scientifically substantiate the innocence thesis on the basis of publications and writings. In addition, the ZS differed from the ADV in the exclusivity of its target group. This included almost exclusively well-known domestic and foreign publicists and scientists, with whose help one also tried to indirectly influence public opinion .

In addition to the training of these two powerful propaganda machines , the war guilt department represented a kind of censorship authority to control the investigations. It monitored and influenced the public debt debate. The Foreign Office censored the publications accordingly, so that almost only reports with an apologetic tone were made available to the public. The central office was financially dependent on the Federal Foreign Office and was checked by the latter with regard to the budget and journalistic activities. As a result, the employees of the central office were also expected to unconditionally subordinate themselves to the course set by the Federal Foreign Office. Nevertheless, that always affirmed the objectivity and scientific approach of their employees.

Berlin monthly magazine

The platform for this broad-based propaganda was the magazine "Die Kriegsschuldfrage", published by the central office since 1923, which was renamed in 1929 by the new head of the central office, Alfred von Wegerer , a former general staff officer, in "Berliner Monatshefte". The Berlin monthly books were published by the central office's own publishing house, which was financed with a guarantee from the Foreign Office. Their circulation increased from 2500-3000 (1925) to 3500-4000 copies (1931). Around 25% of these went directly to foreign, mainly American, readers.

The Berlin monthly books purported to serve solely for the scientific investigation of the war guilt charge. In the interwar period, the magazine developed into the central forum for communication and discussion of research into the causes of war with a clear national apologetic tendency. In their works, the scientists always emphasized the rejection of the Versailles war guilt charge. They also assigned the states of the Triple Entente a war debt. The researchers described English trade envy, Russian Pan-Slavism, and French thoughts of revenge. In Germany, publications from abroad that emphasized and supported the thesis of German innocence were particularly welcomed, although there were occasionally hidden financial subsidies before publication. Because this innocence campaign would hardly have been so successful if recognized foreign scholars had not supported the theses of the German guilt researchers.

literature

  • Michael Dreyer , Oliver Lembcke : The German discussion about the war guilt question 1918/1919. Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1993, ISBN 3-428-07904-3 ( contributions to political science 70).
  • Ulrich Heinemann : The suppressed defeat. Political Public and War Guilt Question in the Weimar Republic. Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht, Göttingen 1983, ISBN 3-525-35718-4 ( Critical Studies in History . Volume 59), (At the same time dissertation. University of Bochum 1981).
  • Wolfgang Jäger: Historical research and political culture in Germany. The 1914–1980 debate about the outbreak of the First World War. Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht, Göttingen 1984, ISBN 3-525-35720-6 , ( Critical Studies on History 61), (At the same time dissertation. University of Gießen 1983), online .

Web links

Footnotes

  1. ^ Wilhelm Ziegler : The German people's movement to revise the Versailles Treaty . In: The Balance: 10 Years Treaty of Versailles , p. 193 ( online ).