Sputnik (magazine)

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sputnik
logo
description newsmagazine
language Russian , English , French , Spanish , German , Czech , Hungarian .
publishing company APN ( Soviet Union , Russia )
First edition 1967
attitude 1997
Widespread edition 500,000 copies
editor Boris Krotkov
ISSN 0131-8721

The magazine Sputnik (Russian: companion) was founded in 1967 and published in several languages by the Soviet news agency Novosti . The target group was socialist and western countries. She served as the journalistic ambassador of the Soviet Union until around 1991 . Today it is aimed primarily at Russians abroad and only appears in Russian.

Sputnik saw itself as a digest of the Soviet press and used this as a subtitle. Accordingly, articles appeared from all areas of politics, culture, science and society, mostly with full color illustrations and photos as well as commented on by editorial articles. The cultural diversity of the different nationalities and the regional geographic and climatic conditions of the country was documented.

The magazine was printed in small format on glossy paper and paperback. It was partly printed in Finland. Since the target group was also in the West, the editorial team tried to avoid excessive socialist rhetoric and, to a limited extent, to easily introduce system-critical aspects. The German-language edition was distributed both in the GDR and in the Federal Republic . The Radio Yerevan jokes , which often targeted the weaknesses of socialism, were also particularly popular .

In the course of the glasnost and perestroika policy of the CPSU general secretary Mikhail Gorbachev , the critical reporting also increased in the magazine Sputnik. The GDR citizens learned about the political upheavals in the Soviet Union and read about the crimes of Stalin, who was compared to Hitler. Previously ostracized artists were rehabilitated in Sputnik articles, so that the magazine became increasingly popular in the GDR.

Reaction in the GDR in 1988

Sputnik magazines

The SED leadership was particularly irritated by a few articles about Stalin , who in their view was always a strict opponent of the Nazi dictatorship. When Sputnik reported on the German-Soviet non-aggression pact of August 24, 1939 in the fall of 1988 , this official view was shaken.

Therefore, on November 18, 1988, the GDR government prevented the delivery of the magazine by the Postzeitungsvertrieb (GDR) , which in practice amounted to a ban. The SED newspaper Neues Deutschland published the following report on November 19, under the heading “Communication from the press office of the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications”: “Berlin ( ADN ). As announced by the press office of the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications, the magazine 'Sputnik' has been removed from the postal newspaper list. It makes no contribution that serves to strengthen German-Soviet friendship, instead it makes distorting contributions to history. ”There was no further explanation. Contrary to its own doctrine ( unbreakable friendship with the people of the Soviet Union at all levels, i.e. not just the level of government ), it was also pointed out that the Sputnik was not an organ of the Soviet government and therefore could not adequately represent the Soviet Union. The 10/1988 issue reported for the first time under the heading Stalin and the War on the German-Soviet non-aggression pact, which the SED had denied. The growing opposition in the GDR called the SED's reaction a “ban”.

With their reaction, the SED leadership fueled discontent in the GDR and even in the party. The word "Sputnik" - on leaflets or as an inscription - became a synonym for the suppression of freedom of expression and freedom of the press by the SED and its representation of Stalin's role. GDR citizens no longer whispered behind closed doors about the reaction of the GDR leadership.

In December 1988, the opposition environmental papers reported on protests against the SED reactions, which also affected five recent Soviet films, and reprinted the most important articles in the monthly magazine. One contribution discussed the question “Would there have been Hitler without Stalin?” The focus was on contributions on Stalin, his dictatorship, his followers and the consequences. Criticism was also leveled at his prominent successor, Leonid Brezhnev . When reading the article it became clear why the SED Politburo wanted to withhold this from its citizens. The parallels to their own power practice were obvious.

At the end of 1989 a special issue "The best from SPUTNIK October 1988 - October 1989" was published, which "is primarily intended for those readers (...) who were not able to read our magazine during this period" (opening credits) .

In 2014, the title of the magazine was reactivated by the Russian media company Rossija Sevodnja for the news portal of the same name .

Web links

See also

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Sputnik Digest - Stanford University Libraries (English)
  2. ↑ When the GDR saved Stalinism . In: Wiener Zeitung , November 14, 2013, p. 25 (Sputnik ban November 1988)
  3. ^ Sputnik ban. In: Jugendopposition.de. Federal Agency for Civic Education and Robert Havemann Society , May 2009, accessed on March 20, 2017 .
  4. ↑ Jacqueline Boysen: The Soviet "Sputnik" magazines are no longer distributed in the GDR. (No longer available online.) November 19, 2003, archived from the original on June 15, 2008 ; accessed on January 29, 2017 . 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. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / amor.rz.hu-berlin.de
  5. ^ Environmental library: Umweltblätter , 12/88, Berlin (GDR), pp. 5–7.