Publishing house culture and progress

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The publishing house culture and progress , called KuFo , was a literary publisher in the Soviet occupation zone and the GDR . It was founded on November 1, 1947 as the publishing house of the Society for the Study of Culture of the Soviet Union , which from 1949 was called the Society for German-Soviet Friendship (DSF).

The publishing program consisted largely of translations of Soviet literature as well as travel reports, illustrated books and reports on the USSR with which the publishing house was supposed to contribute to the development of German-Soviet cultural relations. In addition, authors from the GDR and other socialist countries appeared.

In addition, the following journals were published by Kultur und Progress Verlag:

  • The new society (1947–1953)
  • Peace Post (1949–1953)
  • Friendship in Action (1953–1962)
  • The Harvest (1953–1964)
  • Soviet science / social science contributions (1949–1989)
  • Free World (1954–1990, published by Berliner Verlag from 1964)

In the course of the de-Stalinization , the publishing program changed significantly, especially after the XX. Party congress of the CPSU . Critical texts by previously unpublished authors such as Anna Achmatova , Daniil Granin , Konstantin Simonow and Mikhail Soschtschenko could now also appear.

From 1965 the publisher took part in the joint project of several GDR publishers buchclub 65 .

On the basis of a resolution by the SED - Politburo of August 6, 1963 to profile the GDR publishing industry, the publishing house was gradually merged with the Volk und Welt publishing house . Until 1971, books were still being published by Kultur und progress . After that, in a transitional period up to around 1977, it was published under the publisher's name “Verlag Volk und Welt / Culture and Progress”. During the time of its existence, books with a total circulation of over 45 million were published by Kultur und Progress .

swell

  • Wolfgang Lehmann: Publishing house culture and progress . In: Herbert Greiner-Mai (ed.): Small dictionary of world literature . VEB Bibliographisches Institut Leipzig 1983. p. 293.
  • Simone Barck : The publishing house culture and progress, called KuFo. In: Simone Barck, Siegfried Lokatis (ed.): Window to the world. A history of the GDR publishing house Volk und Welt. Christoph Links Verlag Berlin, 2nd edition 2005, pp. 35–43.