Blackening

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Hannoverscher Volkskalender" with blackening, 19th century

Under darkness means the subsequent blurring of text by coloring with black ink or printing ink . The method is either used to withhold some information from posterity or - especially when it comes to blackened reproductions - to hide this information from certain unauthorized persons.

execution

Since blackening is primarily a subsequent measure on printed products or other documents that can no longer be handled automatically (e.g. bound books), it is usually carried out manually. The aim is that the blackened passages can no longer be uncovered, even with fluoroscopy or chemical treatment. Whether the measure is actually carried out irreversibly, however, depends on the intention and scope of a possible discovery. However, in the case of books that had to be partially blackened prior to delivery due to interim injunctions ( see below ), the use of a felt-tip pen may be sufficient , as the hidden text, for example, from studying court documents or reporting newspaper articles or from earlier copies sold without blackening could be researched anyway. Since (for whatever reason) copies of a book that has otherwise only been blackened are usually very rare, they are sought after by collectors in second-hand bookshops and are often highly paid for.

censorship

In countries with censorship , system-critical and other undesirable information is sometimes made unrecognizable by blackening it out. But even in constitutional states , blackening is used for censoring, for example in the case of writings that are created by prisoners in correctional facilities and that are edited and checked by officials before publication. In addition to hints that are obviously intolerable and that could be useful in attempting to break out , more harmless words from prisoner jargon such as "quail" are sometimes blackened out for sergeants.

The blackening is occasionally also used as a ( satirical ) stylistic device when imminent censorship should be pointed out. The Donaukurier once appeared with a completely blackened front page to point out the perceived restrictions on fundamental rights and freedom of the press .

Stasi records

The highest demands are placed on the blackening of the Stasi documents, so that only copies of blackened copies are issued. When viewing files at the Stasi Records Authority , the rights of non-perpetrators must be protected under the Stasi Records Act. For this purpose, copies of the original documents may be made in which relevant passages are blackened out.

Provisional injunctions

If the distribution of printed works, especially books , has been prohibited by an injunction because this would violate personal rights, the respective publisher sometimes decides, for economic reasons, to distribute the works with subsequent blackening of the indexed passages. In 2008, for example, in Olaf Kraemer's Romy Schneider novel “End of a Night”, 152 words had to be blacked out.

Literature from the time of National Socialism

Blacked out passage from the present lexicon from 1944

In books from the era of National Socialism , which were sold in 1945, critical passages have been blacked out. For example, in the introduction of Rudolf Sängewald's copy of the contemporary lexicon (see figure opposite), the following text was blacked out: “The superiority of weapons and thus around”.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Uta Klein , Prison Press: Their Origin and Development in Germany, Forum Verlag Godesberg, 1992
  2. ↑ Blackened front page for civil rights Donaukurier online 26 February 2010 (accessed on 19 August 2015).
  3. ↑ BStU , topic: Why are Stasi documents blacked out?
  4. ^ Court order on blackening in Olaf Kraemer's Romy Schneider novel
  5. ↑ a b Contemporary dictionary of science and technology: Zeitnahe Ergebn. in short presentations, Rudolf Sängewald, 4th ed., Dieterich'sche Verlbh., 1944

Web links