Radio Vltava

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Radio Vltava (German: Radio Moldau ) was a propaganda radio transmitter of the GDR , which was operated as a secret transmitter from 1968 to 1969 on medium wave Wilsdruff 1430  kHz .

history

The reform movement to create a more modern society, initiated by the Czechoslovak Communist Party under Alexander Dubček in the Czechoslovakia in the mid-1960s, went down in history as the Prague Spring . However, this could not go without a reaction from the conservative brother countries hardened in their Stalinist structures, especially the Soviet Union . As in Hungary in 1956 , a military invasion by Warsaw Pact forces was considered. The GDR also provided troops for use in Czechoslovakia. The units were mobilized and relocated to the designated ready rooms near the border. The leadership of the GDR under Walter Ulbricht wanted to deploy the troops and thus demonstrate their loyalty to the alliance.

The High Command of the Warsaw Pact had a problem with the German troops: In March 1939 the German Wehrmacht occupied Czechoslovakia, smashed the state and installed an occupation regime. None of the military leaders could assess how the Czech population would react to the repeated invasion of German soldiers. Therefore the troops were moved to the border, but with the exception of a few liaison officers they did not cross it. Alternatively, the GDR's performance should be of a propagandistic nature.

The Central Committee of the SED arranged for a secret transmitter to be set up, which should radiate in the direction of Czechoslovakia and pretend to be the transmitter of "patriotic forces" from the neighboring country. The experience with the transmitters Deutscher Freiheitsender 904 and Deutscher Soldatensender 935 , which were still active at the time, was used.

The trigger for the creation of a special radio station was the meeting of the “Warsaw Five” (Soviet Union, Bulgaria , Hungary , Poland and GDR) on July 14th and 15th, 1968 in Warsaw , at which Walter Ulbricht from the allies of the Warsaw Pact a “consistent Action ”against the reform movement. The SED saw the reform movement as an open attack against socialism, which not only required military but also propaganda countermeasures. A short time later, Radio Berlin International , the international broadcaster of the GDR radio station , got in touch with broadcasts in Czech and Slovak.

When the invasion began on the night of August 21, 1968, this station was called Radio Vltava . A secret special editorial team from Radio Berlin International under the direct guidance of the Central Committee of the SED produced the programs under difficult working conditions. A major problem for the station was its speakers, who only had poor knowledge of the Czech and Slovak languages. This led to ridicule in the ČSSR media and unacceptability among the target group of the station. The intention of the makers to fight the “ counterrevolution ” with propagandistic means through misinformation, conspiracy theories, attacks against the Czechoslovak mass media, discrediting the reformers and agitation against the supposed masterminds in the Federal Republic of Germany , must from today's point of view appear unprofessional because of the style and content Programs are considered unsuccessful.

The technical prerequisites for the production of the programs were given in the Funkhaus Nalepastraße . In the mid-1960s, the so-called national programs had moved from Block A of the broadcasting house to Block E, which was newly built according to the most modern aspects, with eight control rooms. The four K-rooms of Block A had been reconstructed and were now available to Radio Berlin International and the Deutschlandsender . On August 21, 1968, the Radio Vltava program went on air in one of the control rooms, which was reserved as an alternative room for measurement days . The pause drawing machine received the new loop with the opening bars from Bedřich Smetana's “ The Vltava ”. The limiter was specially leveled in order to achieve the highest possible degree of modulation of the medium wave transmitter in Wilsdruff with a compression of 12  dB , which should increase its range. Without exception, the technical staff were employed by Studio Technology Broadcasting and were bound to secrecy.

The secrecy of the station was broken very quickly. It was soon known that the program was broadcast by the antennas of the station Wilsdruff. In contrast, it remained in the dark where the program was produced. However, it soon became clear to the listeners that this was an instrument of the Warsaw Pact states. Massive protests on the part of Czechoslovakia finally led to the shutdown of Radio Vltava on February 13, 1969 and its conversion into an official foreign program of Radio Berlin International.

See also

literature

  • Claus Röck: Invasion through the ether . How the GDR fought the “Prague Spring” with the secret broadcaster Radio Moldau (Radio Vltava). 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. 267-277 .
  • Claus Röck: Invasion through the ether. The radio propaganda of the GDR against the political reform movement in the ČSSR of 1968 ("Prague Spring"). Structure, function and response of the secret broadcaster Radio Vltava. Dissertation Leipzig 2004.

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