People's Army (weekly newspaper)

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People's Army

description Weekly newspaper of the NVA
language German
publishing company Military publishing house of the GDR
First edition September 1956
attitude March 1990
Frequency of publication three times a week (1956–1960)
weekly (1960–1990)
ISSN (print) 0505-9259

The People's Army was a military weekly newspaper in the GDR. The newspaper first appeared in 1956, the year the NVA was founded . The newspaper appeared in the military publishing house of the GDR , but the editorial department was subordinate to the Political Headquarters (PHV), a department in the Ministry of National Defense . In 1990 the People's Army was discontinued.

History and content

The magazine was published for the first time in 1956 and, together with the specialist magazine Militärwesen and the Illustrierte Armeerundschau, was one of the three oldest magazines from the GDR military publisher. Initially the title was The People's Army , later it was shortened to People's Army . The subtitle was first "Organ of the Ministry of National Defense", from 1961 then "Weekly newspaper of the NVA" and in the 1970s again "Organ of the Ministry of National Defense".

The newspaper was aimed primarily at members of the NVA, then at reservists and functionaries in the SED and the state. Young people of military age should also be addressed. In 1956 the circulation was 33,100 copies per issue, in 1963 100,000, 1981 200,000 and 1985 186,600 copies. The newspaper was distributed free of charge in the troops, two thirds of the circulation went to the NVA. A third of the circulation was distributed to civilians through the postal newspaper distribution. The newspaper was also freely available at kiosks. Until 1961 the newspaper appeared three times a week, the subscription price was 1.50 M a month. From 1961 the newspaper was only published once a week.

The newspaper's content included reports from everyday life and training in the NVA, discussions of SED resolutions and comments on foreign policy. In the culture section, there was also entertainment, including “Pictures of Young Women” with slightly suggestive comments. As pin-ups can these photos but not denote nudes were in the GDR the magazine (and sometimes the armeerundschau reserved). Until 1961 the People's Army was printed in one color with eight pages; after the change to weekly publication there were 16 pages in two-color printing.

In March 1990, editors of the People's Army had the newspaper, which they considered discredited, shut down. Instead of the People's Army , they founded the weekly trend , which appeared from the beginning of April 1990 with 24 issues.

people

Editors-in-chief of the People's Army were appointed by the PHV. However, this appointment had to be confirmed by the secretariat of the Central Committee of the SED , to whose nomenclature cadre the service position belonged. Most of the editors-in-chief held the rank of colonel . The editors-in-chief of the People's Army included:

  • Hans Beckmann (1915–1982), editor-in-chief from 1961 to 1965
  • Manfred Berghold, editor-in-chief from 1965 to 1973
  • Otto Lapacz, editor-in-chief from 1973 to 1980
  • Rolf Schleicher (1930–2019), employed by the newspaper since 1956, editor-in-chief from 1980 to 1990
  • Jürgen Kontze, was the last editor-in-chief in 1990

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c d e f Karl-Heinz Freitag: From A (rmeerundschau) to Z (journal for military medicine). In: What was the NVA? , Volume 3. edition berolina, Berlin 2016, ISBN 978-3-95841-066-4 , pp. 250-281. ( Online )
  2. ↑ a b Rüdiger Wenzke : Ulbricht's soldiers: The National People's Army 1956 to 1971 . Ch. Links, Berlin 2013, ISBN 978-3-86153-696-3 , pp. 549f.
  3. ^ A b Andreas Herbst, Winfried Ranke, Jürgen R. Winkler: How the GDR worked , Volume 2 (Lexicon of Organizations and Institutions). Rowohlt, Reinbek 1994, ISBN 978-3-499-16349-4 , p. 754.