Signal (magazine)

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In Palermo (Sicily) (summer 1941)

Signal was a Nazi propaganda magazine that was published in numerous European countries from 1940 to 1945.

Development, edition

The German-language edition was distributed in many European countries. In the German Reich itself it was not available in stores. The American magazine Life was a model for the paper . In 1943 the edition of the magazine, which appeared in various languages ​​and countries, reached more than 2.4 million copies.

Published in different countries

As a press organ, Signal was subordinate to the Wehrmacht and was intended to advertise the supposedly European mission of National Socialism in German-occupied or allied countries . For the Foreign Office , its press officer Paul Karl Schmidt “had a decisive influence on the international illustrated 'Signal' (...). In addition to the glorification of National Socialism and the Wehrmacht, the propagation of a 'large-scale European economy' under German leadership and the 'fight against the Bolsheviks' were among the preferred 'signal' topics. ”The reference to the common goal of a fight against the ideological mortal enemy, the Bolshevism should have an integrating effect. Signal appeared in the local languages in Norway , Sweden , Denmark , the Netherlands , Belgium , France , Spain , Portugal , Poland , Russia , Hungary , Croatia , Romania , Bulgaria and even in a reduced English version, by means of the V-weapons on the canal was transported. Until Germany declared war in December 1941, the English edition also made it to the USA. A total of over a hundred regular editions appeared between April 1940 and March 1945, usually twice a month with forty pages each and from autumn 1942 in twenty editions in different languages.

Exterior

Signal was characterized by an outstanding print quality for the time. Each issue contained several, mostly eight color pages , which was still very unusual at the time. Since the magazine was aimed at a foreign audience, efforts were made to make the propaganda more subtle than within the Reich. The magazine was published by Deutscher Verlag . The editorial office was based in Berlin until March 1945.

management

The main editors of Signal were: Harald Lechenperg (1940–41), Heinz Medefind (1941), Wilhelm Reetz (1942–44) and finally the SS member Giselher Wirsing . Signal's employees were qualified journalists and photo reporters. Among the photographers who worked for the sheet were Arthur Grimm , Hanns Hubmann , Hilmar Pabel , Benno Wundshammer and André Zucca .

literature

  • Hans Dollinger : Facsimile cross-section through signal. Single by Willi A. Boelcke , Scherz, Munich a. a. 1969.
  • Rainer Rutz: Signal. A German illustrated abroad as a propaganda instrument in World War II. Klartext, Essen 2007. ISBN 978-3-89861-720-8 .
  • Klaus-Richard Böhme & Bosse Schön: Signal Nazitysklands Propaganda i Sverige 1941-45, Bokförlaget DN, Stockholm 2005. ISBN 91-7588-540-9 (in Swedish).

See also

  • Walther Kiaulehn , "military editor" of the Zs. In Berlin towards the end of the war

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Rainer Rutz: Signal. A German illustrated abroad as a propaganda instrument in World War II. Klartext, Essen 2007, p. 10.
  2. ↑ Rainer Blasius : Skilled Envoy. From foreign propaganda to the transfiguration of the armed forces. Paul Karl Schmidt alias Paul Carell . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , August 12, 2005 (= review of Wigbert Benz: Paul Carell. Ribbentrop's press chief Paul Karl Schmidt before and after 1945. Wvb, Berlin 2005)
  3. ^ Rainer Rutz: Signal. A German illustrated abroad as a propaganda instrument in World War II. Klartext, Essen 2007, p. 9.