Russki Westnik
Russki Westnik ( Russian Русский вестник , transliteration : Russkij vestnik ; in German Russischer Bote ) was the name of three magazines that were published in succession in the 19th and early 20th centuries, first in Moscow and later in Saint Petersburg .
Russian messenger I and II
The first publishing period of the Russian Messenger falls between 1808 and 1820 and 1824. The monthly journal published in Moscow was edited by the writer Sergei Nikolajewitsch Glinka , financed by the general and minister Fyodor Vasilyevich Rostoptschin and was oriented as to be classified as patriotic-monarchist.
The second period falls between 1841 and 1844 and already appeared in Saint Petersburg. The editor, editor, journalist and publicist Nikolai Ivanovich Gretsch and the writer, playwright, journalist and historian Nikolai Alexejewitsch Polewoi were involved in its creation . Another collaborator was the historian Ivan Michailowitsch Snegirjow .
Russian messenger III
The third publishing period of the Russian Messenger falls in the years 1856 to 1887, published in Moscow, and from 1887 to 1906, published in Saint Petersburg. Unlike its predecessors, the magazine was no longer limited to historical and military articles, as well as general political issues, but also saw itself as a literary journal and quickly became one of the most influential magazines in Russia in the second half of the 19th century .
The magazine was founded in 1856 by a group of liberal writers and scholars, among them Mikhail Nikiforowitsch Katkow as editor , but also the professor of the Moscow University Pyotr Nikolayevich Kudryawzew .
Liberal period
The period of relaxed censorship in Russia is to be understood as the “liberal period” . For example, on the five-year anniversary of the government of Tsar Alexander II , the Russian messenger printed the clearly anti-Tsarist sketches from the governorates of the writer Mikhail Evgrafowitsch Saltykov-Shchedrin . Furthermore, one did not shy away from the critical essays Stepan Stepanowitsch Gromeka , Pawel Iwanowitsch Melnikows or Marko Vovčoks (pseudonym of the Ukrainian writer Maria Wilinskaja ). In the literary field to published works by authors like Sergey Aksakov , Ivan Goncharov , Fyodor Tyutchev or the drama The hangover the strange feast (russ. В чужом пиру похмелье , transliteration : V čužom piru pochmel'e, 1856) by Alexander Nikolayevich Ostrowski .
Russian classic
After the magazine had acquired a corresponding reputation, some of the most important works of Russian literature of the 19th century appeared for the first time in the Russian messenger . Ivan Sergejewitsch Turgenev published in it "On the eve" (1860), " Fathers and Sons " (1862) and "Rauch" (1867). From Leo Tolstoy many works were printed, including " The Cossacks " (1863), " War and Peace " (1865-69) and " Anna Karenina " (1875-77). And also works Fyodor Dostoevsky were published: " Crime and Punishment " (1866), " The Idiot " (1868), " The Demon " (1871-72) and " The Brothers Karamazov " (1879-80). Works by Nikolai Semjonowitsch Leskov were also printed.
Reactionary period
As the ideological struggle between conservatives and liberals in Russia intensified between 1861 and 1863, the magazine became more and more conservative and “reactionary” in the eyes of the liberal public, that is to say, committed to the tsar. This "change of mind" was expressed in publications such as Aus dem Dorf (1863) by Afanassi Afanassjewitsch Fet or the anti-nihilistic dialogues of Vsevolod Vladimirovich Krestowski such as Zwei Forces (1874). The participation of people classified as reactionary such as the chief procurator of the Holy Synod , Konstantin Petrovich Pobedonoszew or the thinker and writer Konstantin Nikolayevich Leontjew , reinforced this impression.
Post-Katkow period
After Mikhail Nikiforowitsch Katkow's death in 1887, his widow took over the publication of the magazine, but gave it to the former poet and translator Fyodor Nikolajewitsch Berg at the end of the year . Berg moved the headquarters of the Russian Messenger to St. Petersburg and increased the circulation again to up to six thousand subscribers. After eight years, however, he was forced to give up the magazine for financial reasons. The last editors until 1906 were MM Katkow and Wladimir Andrejewitsch Gringmuth .
The Russian messenger today
Since 1991 a magazine with the name Russischer Bote has been published in Russia (publishing location Moscow). It is published weekly and its main editor is Alexei Alexeyevich Senin . The newspaper has the motto "Whoever loves the Tsar and Russia also loves God" (Russian Кто любит Царя и Россию, тот любит Бога , transliteration : Kto ljubit Carja i Rossiju, tot ljubit Boga ). The main topics of the newspaper, according to its own statement, are: rebirth of orthodoxy in Russia, politics, economy, history, army, Cossackism, Slavic brotherhood, Russian martial arts, Russian culture, science, school, education, health and "to survive in the wild, Russia imposed market ”. Another topic of the newspaper is likely to strike deeply into old wounds: reunification with "Little Russia" ( Ukraine ) and Belarus as "legitimate union of the wrongly separated people". All these aspects, so the self-statement further, should be treated in the sense of a religious rebirth of the Orthodox faith in Russia.