Rigasche Rundschau

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The Rigasche Rundschau was a German-language daily newspaper in Livonia from 1894 to 1939 and in Latvia from 1918 . The previous newspaper was called Zeitung für Stadt und Land (1867-1894). In the Russian Empire it was considered the leading liberal paper. After 1919 it developed into the most famous newspaper of the German minority in Northern Europe. The Rigasche Rundschau had its journalistic peak in the 1930s. It appeared in the Rhenish format ten pages daily, except on Sundays. The editorial and publishing headquarters were located in Riga on Cathedral Square. The publication of the newspaper ended with the resettlement of the Baltic Germans in the German Empire .

Foundation in the Russian Empire

The previous paper was the newspaper for town and country founded in 1867 by Georg Berkholz (1817–1886) and Gustav Keuchel (1832–1910) in Riga . The zero number appeared on December 13, 1866, the regular number 1 on January 3, 1867 (1st year). The newspaper was close to liberalism , with clear criticism of the Russification of the Baltic region that began towards the end of the 19th century , but also with a clear opposition to the anti-clerical and separatist- oriented young Latvians . In 1894 Richard Ruetz (* 1850; † 1915) took over the editorial office. On October 1, 1894, he renamed the newspaper Rigasche Rundschau , maintaining the year count of the newspaper for town and country (28th year, issue no. 222, first issue of the Rigasche Rundschau ).

In the last decade of the 19th century, the Baltic Germans increasingly came into a minority position, especially in cities such as Riga, Reval or Dorpat , whereupon Ruetz made a change of direction. Under his aegis , the paper developed into a newspaper close to Germanism , without questioning Livonia's membership of the Russian Empire. This position was represented by the majority of Russian Germans in all parts of the tsarist empire until 1914 . Until 1915, the Rigasche Rundschau was one of the two most important German-language newspapers in Russia alongside the St. Petersburg newspaper , including for Volga Germans , Crimean Germans and Siberian Germans . At that time it was considered the most liberal newspaper in the Russian Empire.

In the spring of 1907 Paul Schiemann could be won as editor, who as later editor-in-chief had a decisive influence on the character of the newspaper until 1933. Schiemann established the paper from 1907 to 1914 as the organ of the Baltic Constitutional Party , which was represented in the Duma and of which he was a co-founder in 1905. During the First World War , Ruetz succeeded in circumventing the ban on German newspapers by continuing to appear in Russian as Rishskoje Obozrenije . In this way, the Rigasche Rundschau was the only paper in the Baltic States to survive the First World War. Richard Ruetz died in 1915. His son Alfred Ruetz (* 1876; † 1955) continued the company under the name of "Buchdruckerei und Verlag Ruetz & Co." and took over the editing of the Rigaschen Rundschau .

Development in the Republic of Latvia

From September 1918 the newspaper supported the independence movement in the Baltic States. Significantly under Paul Schiemann's political participation, after the division of Livonia into Latvia and Estonia, the "organizational incorporation of the down-to-earth Baltic Germanness in both newly founded states". This means that both countries granted their national minorities extensive cultural, economic and social autonomy . In 1919 Schiemann took over the editor-in-chief of the Rigaschen Rundschau and transferred his basic democratic-parliamentary position to the newspaper. Through the German-Baltic Democratic Party , he was the leader of the German parliamentary group in the Latvian state parliament, the Saeima , and thus the political leader of Latvian Germanness. In 1922 he became a member of the Presidium of the Association of German Minorities in Europe and in 1925 Vice President of the European Nationalities Congress (ENK).

While Estonia and Latvia were regarded as model states in their minority policy, in almost all other states newly created by the victorious powers of the First Western War , national minorities - not just the Germans - were subjected to repression. Among other things , the publication and distribution of German newspapers was repeatedly banned in the SHS state and Romania, at times also in Poland and in Czechoslovakia . By means of language constraints, professional bans and expropriations, various states tried to obtain emigration of sections of the population who did not want to be assimilated . In addition to German ethnic groups, this affected Hungarian, Croatian, Ukrainian and other minorities. Hundreds of thousands of people from the German minority in Poland emigrated to Germany as early as the 1920s. At the Rigaschen Rundschau , as with many German-language foreign newspapers , this development led to a decrease in circulation and, accordingly, to financial bottlenecks.

For the young Weimar Republic , uncontrollable immigration was a difficult challenge with regard to the financial and social integration of immigrants . Against this background, German policy under Gustav Stresemann aimed to persuade minorities to stay - in various states also in order to be able to use them as a lever for future border revisions . Although the German government in Latvia and Estonia demonstrably did not pursue any revisionist intentions, it also supported financially ailing German-language newspapers in these two countries. The press department of the Foreign Office had already stated in a letter dated January 19, 1922 to the Reich Ministry of Economics that the Rigasche Rundschau was the most important German newspaper in the territory of the former Russia and that it also had a great influence in other countries. As a result, the Reich Ministry of Economics appointed a Latvian straw man as a trustee, founded the “Concordia Literäre Anstalt GmbH” and through this, from 1922 onwards, took a forty percent stake in the newspaper's operation. The Reich government attached so much importance to the Rigaschen Rundschau that even during the inflationary period of 1922/23 they had three railway wagons of newspaper delivered to it via intermediaries to Riga every month. In 1924, the "Concordia" (ergo the German state) took over the Ruetz & Co. publishing house one hundred percent.

Support for the Rigaschen Rundschau was organized by Max Winkler , for a long time the gray eminence of the German newspaper industry, who served as economic advisor to the governments of the Weimar Republic, the Third Reich and the Federal Republic of Germany in concealing state newspaper holdings. However, the commitment of the Foreign Office did not affect the newspaper's ability to act or its direction, especially since the German foreign ministers in the Weimar Republic basically pursued a policy aimed at balancing, not escalating. Ruetz remained the editor until at least 1930, and Schiemann was able to continue his line as the chief editor until 1933 .

Until 1939, the editors of the Rigaschen Rundschau campaigned for active and unreserved cooperation in the Latvian state and its institutions. In doing so, they aggressively represented the positions of the European Nationalities Congress. In addition to regional and global political issues, the Rigasche Rundschau regularly published articles on fundamental questions of minorities, reports on the situation of individual minorities or essays on minority movements in Europe. The portrayals of the minority problem were not one-sided: Marxist theories of Karl Renner or Otto Bauer were given the floor as well as the Zionist ideas of Jitzchak Gruenbaum or the folk politics of Albert Brackmann .

On this basis, the Rigasche Rundschau developed into the most famous daily newspaper for the German minority in Northern Europe. At times, the European Nationalities Congress supported the newspaper both editorially and financially, which also kept the subscription price low. In the early 1930s, a single number cost 12 santīmu in Latvia , 10 kroner in Estonia and 55 litas in Lithuania . In the German Reich , the sheet was available at larger train stations for 20 pfennigs . A monthly subscription including postal delivery cost 3.20 lats in Latvia , 4.20 marks in Germany and 1 dollar in the rest of the world .

Situation after 1933

In March 1933, shortly after Hitler's appointment as Reich Chancellor, the Reich trustee of the majority of shares in the Rigaschen Rundschau, Max Winkler, first demanded the departure of Schiemann and his foreign editor Hans von Rimscha , then only Rimscha's immediate dismissal and Schiemann's resignation Right of veto on personnel issues after he refused to open the Rigasche Rundschau to National Socialist ideas and to replace his foreign editor Rimscha with a brown party man. Rimscha was finally on leave from March 1933 "because of illness" and released on October 1, 1933. Schiemann, who actually became ill, lost his position as editor-in-chief shortly afterwards. Paul Schiemann signed a contract with Max Winkler that guaranteed him and his wife a lifelong pension , with the condition that he would not be active as a journalist in Latvia. Editing of the Rigaschen Rundschau was transferred to the Association of German Ethnic Groups in Europe .

At this point in time Schiemann was already suffering from a chronic obstructive pulmonary disease , but with his maxim - "The common good of Europe comes before the self-interest of the individual state and individual people" - was in stark contrast to the national politics of the new rulers in the "mother country". On June 30, 1933, he resigned his position as editor-in-chief and moved to Vienna . There was the headquarters of the European Nationalities Congress , where he was Vice President until September 1935. Winkler's request "to take into account the new conditions in the German Reich to the greatest possible extent" gave Schiemann a clear refusal:

"The German parliamentary group, to whose guidelines we have contractually bound the Rigasche Rundschau , is fully aware that it is a vital imperative for the German minority to adhere to the democratic foundations that are the basis of our existence, especially at this time. and that this is precisely where the chances of influencing the Latvian course in domestic and foreign relations lie. It would be completely unacceptable in every respect if the paper suddenly wanted to take up National Socialist ideas. "

- Paul Schiemann

After Schiemann's resignation, the Rigasche Rundschau published a programmatic article in August 1933 by the Führer of the German Volkish Movement in Latvia , which was formed in March / April, on the “Führer of the New German Reich”. It was not until late autumn 1933 that the newspaper was steered on a more cautious course. This ensured their continued existence after the coup d'etat of May 15, 1934 in Latvia, which was controlled by Kārlis Ulmanis .

Schiemann's successors were all Baltic Germans and officials at the European Nationalities Congress who felt obliged to the "idea of ​​a Europe without conflict between nationality and ethnicity" and thus to Latvia. First Schiemann's deputy Karl Keller took over the chief editor, he was followed by Baron Ferdinand von Uexküll-Güldenband (* 1890; † 1939) from July 1, 1933 to November 30, 1933 and then by Ernst von Mensenkampff (* 1896; † 1945). With the exception of Hans von Rimschas, there are no other references to personnel changes in the specialist literature.

Until its end, the Rigasche Rundschau was considered a serious paper. It was not only one of the most widely read newspapers in Latvia; it was quoted all over the world, German minorities throughout Europe had copies sent to them by post, and even in Germany it was a highly regarded medium because of its neutrality. The line under the more than 700 years of German-Baltic Culture put the Hitler-Stalin pact of 23 August 1939 and the confidential German-Soviet protocol of 28 September 1939 in which, among other things, the "relocation" of the German-Baltic into German Empire was decided.

The last edition of the Rigaschen Rundschau on December 13, 1939 contained an interview (note: no leading article ) with the head of the National Socialist movement in Latvia, Erhard Kroeger, about the organization of the resettlement measures in the Wartheland , with the headline: “We followed the order of the Führer ”(note the simple past : followed). In between the interview, a two-column article entitled “We say goodbye” was listed. In it, the editors expressed their thanks again in particular to the Latvian state:

“Today the day has come when the Rigasche Rundschau will cease its publication forever. Once again our thoughts wander gratefully into the past, only to then turn to the future with confidence and confidence. It is a moment of extraordinary importance in which we close our gates, and only in the coming times will we fully appreciate the turning point that is taking place in Baltic Germans through the Fuehrer's call. […] We were able to express our farewell thoughts to the Latvian people and the Latvian state on the occasion of the national holiday and we want to repeat it again at this point: Now that we are divorcing and really not easily parting from our common homeland, everything should be forgotten what inevitably had to stand between us during the years of the Volkish struggle for life. We do not want to be mindful of what separates us, but of what we have in common and see our task in our part, from our new homeland, to contribute to a good and lasting understanding between the German and Latvian people. […] We wish the Latvian people a happy future, their leadership and the President of Latvia complete success in achieving the national goals that have already been set. God bless the land we will never forget. ... Our mission has been completed in our old homeland. "

- Last title page of the Rigaschen Rundschau

Editors

Commemorative plaque for Oskar Grosberg on the former editorial building of the Rigaschen Rundschau (today Hotel Gūtenberg) in Mūku iela (German Monks Street) in Riga

literature

  • Hans von Rimscha : The synchronization of the Rigaschen Rundschau in 1933. Baltische Hefte 21 (1978), pp. 178–197.
  • Michael Garleff (Ed.): Baltic Germans, Weimar Republic and Third Reich , Vol. 1. Böhlau Verlag 2001.
  • Martyn Housden , David J. Smith: Forgotten Pages in Baltic History: Diversity and Inclusion. Rodopi (publisher) 2011.
  • John Hiden : Defender of Minorities: Paul Schiemann, 1876-1944. C. Hurst & Co. Publishers, 2004.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Dietrich A. Loeber : Dictated option. The resettlement of the Baltic Germans from Estonia and Latvia 1939–1941 . Karl Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 1972, ISBN 3-529-06142-5 , p. 16 .
  2. ^ Baltic Historical Commission (ed.): Entry on Gustav Keuchel. In: BBLD - Baltic Biographical Lexicon digital
  3. Brief information newspaper for town and country , The Academic Library of Tallinn University, accessed on June 1, 2017.
  4. Alfred Bīlmanis: A History of Latvia. Princeton University Press, 1951, p. 32 f.
  5. Bibliography Editors Newspapers for Town and Country , National Library of Estonia, accessed June 1, 2017.
  6. Susanne Janssen: From the Tsarist Empire to the American West: Germans in Russia and Russian Germans in the USA (1871–1928): the political, socio-economic and cultural adaptation of an ethnic group in the context of two states. LIT Verlag Münster, 1997, p. 37.
  7. Overview of selected periodicals (PDF, p. 21.) ( Memento of the original from October 28, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Univ. Heidelberg, accessed on May 27, 2017. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.gs.uni-heidelberg.de
  8. Ulrike von Hirschhausen: The limits of commonality: Germans, Latvians, Russians and Jews in Riga 1860–1914. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2006. p. 196.
  9. Overview of selected periodicals (PDF, p. 21.) ( Memento of the original from October 28, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Univ. Heidelberg, accessed on May 27, 2017. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.gs.uni-heidelberg.de
  10. ^ Data from Richard Ruetz , The Central European Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities, accessed June 3, 2017.
  11. Brief information Rigasche Rundschau , National Library of Estonia, accessed on June 1, 2017.
  12. ^ Hans von Rimscha: Paul Schiemann as a minority politician. In: Institute for Contemporary History, Quarterly Issues for Contemporary History, Volume 4 (1956), Issue 1, p. 45.
  13. Overview of selected periodicals (PDF, pp. 19–23) ( Memento of the original from October 28, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Univ. Heidelberg, accessed on May 27, 2017. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.gs.uni-heidelberg.de
  14. ^ Hans von Rimscha: Paul Schiemann as a minority politician. In: Institute for Contemporary History, Quarterly Issues for Contemporary History, Volume 4 (1956), Issue 1, p. 53.
  15. Sebastian Bartsch: Studies on Social Science. Protection of Minorities in International Politics: League of Nations and CSCE / OSCE from a New Perspective. Springer-Verlag, 2013, p. 107.
  16. German minorities in the interwar period , Scientific Services of the German Bundestag, 2009, accessed on May 23, 2017.
  17. Mark Mazower: Hitler's Empire: Europe under the Rule of National Socialism. CH Beck, 2009, p. 52.
  18. ^ Helga Wermuth: Max Winkler - A helper of state press policy in the Weimar Republic. Dissertation. Munich 1975. pp. 95-97.
  19. ibid
  20. Dan Diner : Encyclopedia of Jewish History and Culture: Volume 2: Co-Ha. Springer-Verlag, 2016, pp. 285–290.
  21. ^ Helga Wermuth: Max Winkler - A helper of state press policy in the Weimar Republic. Dissertation. Munich 1975. p. 95.
  22. ^ Leibniz Institute for East and Southeast European Studies : Yearbooks for the History of Eastern Europe. Franz Steiner Verlag, 1989, p. 213.
  23. Schiemann, Carl Christian Theodor Paul German Biography online, accessed on October 28, 2017
  24. Hans von Rimscha: The synchronization of the "Rigaschen Rundschau" in 1933. In: Baltische Hefte, 1978, Heft 21, S. 178-197.
  25. Overview of selected periodicals (PDF, p. 21.) ( Memento of the original from October 28, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Univ. Heidelberg, accessed on May 27, 2017. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.gs.uni-heidelberg.de
  26. cf. Rigasche Rundschau , information on title head, issue of September 30, 1930.
  27. ^ Helmut Kause: Paul Schiemann's journalistic resistance to National Socialism in the German ethnic groups . In: Michael Garleff (Ed.): Deutsch-Balten. Weimar Republic and Third Reich . tape 1 . Böhlau Verlag, Cologne, Weimar and Vienna 2008, ISBN 978-3-412-12199-0 , pp. 205 .
  28. ^ John Hiden: Defender of Minorities Paul Schiemann 1876-1944 . Hurst and Company, London 2004, ISBN 1-85065-751-3 , pp. 200 .
  29. ^ Helmut Kause: Paul Schiemann's journalistic resistance to National Socialism in the German ethnic groups . In: Michael Garleff (Ed.): German - Balten, Weimar Republic and Third Reich . tape 1 . Böhlau Verlag, Cologne, Weimar and Vienna 2008, ISBN 978-3-412-12199-0 , pp. 206 .
  30. Andreas Fülberth: Tallinn, Riga, Kaunas: their expansion into modern capitals, 1920-1940. Böhlau Verlag, 2005, p. 26.
  31. ^ Hans von Rimscha: Paul Schiemann as a minority politician. In: Institute for Contemporary History, Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte, Volume 4 (1956), Issue 1, p. 57.
  32. Dan Diner: Encyclopedia of Jewish History and Culture , Volume 2: Co-Ha . Springer-Verlag, Berlin 2016, p. 289.
  33. ^ Helmut Kause: Paul Schiemann's journalistic resistance to National Socialism in the German ethnic groups . In: Michael Garleff (Ed.): German-Balten, Weimar Republic and Third Reich . tape 1 . Böhlau Verlag, Cologne, Weimar and Vienna 2008, ISBN 978-3-412-12199-0 , pp. 204 .
  34. ^ Helmut Kause: Paul Schiemann's journalistic resistance to National Socialism in the German ethnic groups . In: Michael Garleff (Ed.): Baltic Germans, Weimar Republic and Third Reich. Volume 1. Böhlau Verlag, 2001, p. 205.
  35. ^ Helmut Kause: Paul Schiemann's journalistic resistance to National Socialism in the German ethnic groups . In: Michael Garleff (Ed.): Baltic Germans, Weimar Republic and Third Reich. Volume 1. Böhlau Verlag, 2001, p. 206.
  36. ^ Baltic Historical Commission (ed.): Entry on Ferdinand von Uexküll-Güldenband. In: BBLD - Baltic Biographical Lexicon digital
  37. ^ Baltic Historical Commission (ed.): Entry on Ernst von Mensenkampff. In: BBLD - Baltic Biographical Lexicon digital
  38. ^ Helmut Kause: Paul Schiemann's journalistic resistance to National Socialism in the German ethnic groups . In: Michael Garleff (Ed.): Baltic Germans, Weimar Republic and Third Reich. Volume 1. Böhlau Verlag, 2001, p. 214, footnote 42.
  39. Overview of selected periodicals (PDF, p. 21.) ( Memento of the original from October 28, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Univ. Heidelberg, accessed on May 27, 2017. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.gs.uni-heidelberg.de
  40. Dietrich A. Loeber: Dictated option. The resettlement of the Baltic Germans from Estonia and Latvia 1939–1941 . Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 1972, ISBN 3-529-06142-5 , p. 16 .
  41. Dietrich A. Loeber: Dictated option. The resettlement of the Baltic Germans from Estonia and Latvia 1939–1941 . Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 1972, ISBN 3-529-06142-5 , p. 759 .
  42. Rigasche Rundschau of December 13, 1939, No. 284, vol. 72.