FORVM

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The Austrian magazine FORVM was founded with the subtitle: Austrian Monthly Papers for Cultural Freedom in 1954 by Friedrich Hansen-Loeve, Felix Hubalek, Alexander Lernet-Holenia and Friedrich Torberg under his leadership and with funds from the Congress for Cultural Freedom . In 1966 Günther Nenning became editor, in 1986 Gerhard Oberschlick . In 1995 the print version of FORVM was discontinued. A reprint of all 42 years (504 issue numbers with 6,664 articles by 2,121 authors on 21,387 pages) was published in 2004. The internationally distributed magazine was the starting point and opinion forum for numerous political and ideological discussions and clashes. After the print version was discontinued, there has been a greatly reduced online version on the Internet since 2000, including an archive index.

Since July 2018, the FORVM has been online with the subtitle International Journal for Cultural Freedom, Political Equality and Solidarity Work in a revised version and at a new Internet address.

history

Editor Friedrich Torberg (1954–1965)

Thirteen years after it was founded, it emerged, thanks to Ramparts and the Saturday Evening Post , that the donor was a CIA forefield organization that was commissioned to support liberal and left intellectual currents in Europe during the Cold War against communism . Sister magazines and also financed by the congress were The Month in (West) Berlin, Preuves in Paris, Tempo presente in Italy, Cuadernos in Madrid, Encounter in London and Freedom First as Monthly of the Indian Committee for Cultural Freedom in Bombay. Nevertheless, the FORVM was not always on the move in the interests of its financiers. Already in the first issue of the first year there was a controversy between Friedrich Heer and publisher Friedrich Torberg on the subject of "Conversation with the enemy", as to whether it would be permissible to talk to the Eastern Communists. Torberg himself was "hopelessly inferior to the pro-author Friedrich Heer on points." And Torberg succeeded - with the energetic support of Hans Weigel and Ernst Haeusserman , but against Günther Nenning - to get Austria's theaters to boycott the Brecht by 1963 . On February 23, 1963, the Vienna Volkstheater played Mother Courage and her children . Despite a strong emphasis on theater and literature, the FORVM already in the first years of its existence provided significant impulses in the dialogue between churches and state, between ideologies and with regard to the social science foundation of the upcoming revolts. Torberg's rigid and rabid anti-communism finally appeared to the financiers - after several warnings - to be unsustainable, which is why CIA funding was restricted in 1961 and discontinued in 1964. From 1958 Günther Nenning acted de facto as the editor of the FORVM, initially strictly controlled by Torberg, but from 1964 largely solely responsible. After the withdrawal of the new financier Hans Deutsch in 1965, Torberg also withdrew and handed the magazine over to Nenning.

Editor Günther Nenning (1966–1986)

In 1966 Torberg handed over ownership and editing of the FORVM to Günther Nenning, who - as a “Christian and Socialist” - opened the sheet to the left, had to rename it to NEW FORVM until Torberg's death and was able to increase the circulation from 2,700 to almost 30,000 copies. When the FORVM printed de Sade's philosophy in the boudoir (with a great comment by Michael Siegert), the Interior Ministry stepped in with confiscation and a ban on posting several subsequent issues. The ban on posting was later generally lifted as unconstitutional prior censorship , and since then there has been no censorship in Austria. At that time there were discussions and debates about the constitution , neutrality and natural law , coming to terms with the past , the sexual revolution , actionism and terrorism in Austria.

From 1973 to 1982 Michael Siegert edited the magazine. He intervened - more than Torberg or Nenning before him - in the texts of authors, to which some reacted angrily. Nenning remained the owner, publisher and editor-in-chief, but formally from 1973 the FORVM was owned by an association “the editors and employees of the FORVM” (following the 1968 style). In 1982 Gerhard Oberschlick took over the position of sheet maker, but was dismissed by Nenning in early 1984 for insubordination. The main points of contention were Nenning's cooperation with the then profil editor Peter Michael Lingens and the Vienna City Councilor Jörg Mauthe as well as the secret financing of the so-called Konrad Lorenz referendum by Hans Dichand and his Kronen Zeitung , with which Nenning also cooperated in journalism. Nenning trimmed the FORVM on a fundamentalist-green line, the circulation dropped dramatically to 1,700 copies, the paper was on the verge of bankruptcy. In 1985 Nenning was expelled from the ÖGB and SPÖ ; the following year he sold the magazine to Gerhard Oberschlick.

Editor Gerhard Oberschlick (1986–1995 as print and from 2000 as online version)

1986 Oberschlick repositioned the FORVM. The magazine recovered and had a circulation of up to 25,000 copies. Günther Anders became the central author, the rule of law and human rights became the central themes. The FORVM attracted attention on the occasion of an anti-fascist speech by Hans Lebert , who accepted the Alfred C. Toepfer'schen Grillparzer Prize , but at the same time strongly criticized the founder and all follow-up efforts and called on his compatriots: "Save your country yourself!" Oberschlick, knowing the intentions of the poet, printed the speech and had it distributed as a special edition of the FORVM in the large ballroom of the University of Vienna immediately after it was read out by the Heldenplatz actor Wolfgang Gasser . In 1995 the print version of the magazine was discontinued.

Since 2000 there has been a sparse online version at www.forvm.at, which was redesigned in July 2018 as a new website, now with the subtitle of the print edition in its last decade - international magazine for cultural freedom, political equality and solidarity work - went online: forvm dot contextxxi dot org .

FORVM authors (selection)

Complete edition

  • Reprint FORVM 1954-1995 . Ueberreuter, Vienna 2001-2005, 29 volumes in 6 slip cases, 18 CD-ROMs, one register volume

literature

  • Science and freedom . Ed. The Congress for the Freedom of Culture. International Conference Hamburg, 23. – 26. July 1953, organized by the fdFdK congress and the University of Hamburg. Grunewald, Berlin 1954.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Reprint FORVM 1954–1995. 28 volumes plus index band in 6 slip cases. Ueberreuter, Vienna 2001-2004, ISBN 3-8000-3834-X , AU 0568 (complete edition).
  2. ↑ a b From and for FORVM. First entry in it (at the bottom), dated July 2018: GO (Gerhard Oberschlick): Campaign: The FORVM appears again (here without date). In: FORVM (forvm.contextxxi.org), accessed on August 16, 2018.
  3. ↑ 1954 records the book about the Hamburg conference of 1953 in a list of the "Magazines of the Congress" for Italy still the title Libertà della Cultura with seat in Rome.
  4. ^ As a bimonthly publication initially based at Preuves' address in Paris.
  5. ↑ FORVM. Special issue in spring 1994
  6. ↑ 1970; later also Michael Siegert: De Sade and We (= Makol Marxism Library mab. 16). Frankfurt 1971
  7. ↑ Eg Rudi Dutschke : The very biggest mess. In: FORVM. XXV year, issue 299/300, p. 4.
  8. ↑ Gerhard Oberschlick: The Konrad Lorenz Million Bingo. In: weekly press. No. 52/1/24. December 1984, p. 22 f.
  9. ↑ FORVM issue 387-394, September 30, 1986, p. 2