Map publisher Berlin
The VEB map publisher based in Berlin existed from 1954 to 1976 and was one of the most important cartographic publishers of the GDR .
history
The VEB Landkartenverlag Berlin emerged from the Landkartenverlag Kurt Schaffmann after its owner had left the eastern part of Berlin in March 1953 and the publisher was then transferred to public ownership.
As part of the profiling of the GDR publishers, the publisher was developed into a monopoly for tourist maps in the first half of the 1960s, while the VEB Hermann Haack , Geographisch-Kartographische Anstalt Gotha, the monopoly for atlases, non- tourist maps and cartographic literature including school cartography and the VEB Räthglobenverlag in Leipzig received the monopoly for globes . In this context, all tourist maps from the Bibliographical Institute ( Die Gute Wandkarte and Die Gute Verkehrkarte , 1960), the DEWAG advertising (street overview plans, 1964) and the PGH Phönix (home and hiking maps, 1965), of which however only a small part was reissued.
In 1964 it was ordered, for reasons of military secrecy, to no longer allow positional accuracy of topographical objects in public maps, but only to publish falsified maps. As a result, a complete reworking of the publishing program was started in 1966. City maps have only been published in a distorted representation since 1967, showing the inner cities on a larger scale than the suburbs. In contrast to comparable plans in the west, there was no yardstick.
In 1969 and 1973 the private companies Grasmück & Karnahl and Velhagen & Klasing were taken over, which had previously carried out cartographic contract work for the publishing house.
On January 1, 1977, VEB Landkartenverlag was merged with the Department of Local History and Tourism at VEB F. A. Brockhaus Verlag Leipzig to form VEB Tourist Verlag Berlin / Leipzig.
Publishing program
The program, which was taken over by the map publisher Kurt Schaffmann in 1954, essentially comprised travel and traffic maps of Germany and the GDR on a scale of 1: 700,000, city maps of Greater Berlin, traffic and office maps of the GDR countries on a scale of 1: 300,000 and some hiking maps. In the next few years mainly tourist maps for Brandenburg and Mecklenburg appeared; In 1956, a seven-part hiking and winter sports map for Thuringia began to be issued. With the takeover of the hiking maps from the Bibliographical Institute, the publishing program included tourist maps for all parts of the GDR since 1961.
Nine newly edited city maps were published by 1965, and by 1967 17 of the DEWAG road map taken over in 1964 had been reissued.
In addition, a water hiking book Märkische Gewässer (1955), a book plan of Greater Berlin (1957) and an atlas for motor tourism in the GDR (1963) were published.
Since 1966 a completely new publishing program has been developed. It comprised the following series of publications (the number of titles published up to 1976 in brackets):
- City maps , not to scale (37)
- Picture cards in the scales 1: 20,000, 1: 30,000 and 1: 50,000 (4)
- Hiking maps in the scales 1: 30,000 and 1: 50,000 (24)
- Tourist maps in the scales 1: 100,000 and 1: 120,000 (14)
- Traffic maps and district maps on a scale of 1: 200,000 (10 or 12)
- Car maps and thematic maps of the GDR on a scale of 1: 600,000 (6)
There was also an atlas for motor tourism (1: 200,000) and a travel atlas of the GDR (1: 600,000) as well as a few other publications.
Censorship, card falsification
Like all publishers in the GDR, VEB Landkartenverlag was also subject to prior censorship by the publishing and book trade headquarters in the Ministry of Culture as part of the printing approval process . In addition, the publication of maps required the approval of the Ministry of the Interior. Military objects were not allowed to be shown, industrial plants and railway lines were only allowed to be shown in a highly generalized manner. For private purposes only maps with a scale of 1: 1.25 million or smaller were allowed to be published.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Dagmar Unverhau: Card falsification as a result of excessive secrecy? - an approach to the issue of the State Security's influence on the card system in the GDR; Lectures at the BStU conference from 8.-9. March 2001 in Berlin. Volume 5 of the Archive of the GDR State Security , 2002, ISBN 3-8258-5964-9 , p. 33, books.google.de
- ↑ Reginald Pustkowski: Publishing Cartography in the German Democratic Republic . 1981, pp. 45-48
- ↑ Dagmar Unverhau: Kartenverfälschung… 2002, ISBN 3-8258-5964-9 , p. 200, books.google.de
- ↑ Dirk Bloch, Gerald Noack: On the road of progress. The city maps of the GDR - evidence of life under socialism . 2009, pp. 126-132
- ↑ Dagmar Unverhau: Karteverfälschung… 2002, ISBN 3-8258-5964-9 , p. 167, books.google.de