In summer 2021, we received many, many old newspapers as a gift and took this as an opportunity to completely reorganise our newspaper shelves. The old volumes of our daily newspapers can now be found under the ‘Large format shelves’ in the basement of the library.
We have added some new left-wing dailies from the old Federal Republic of Germany to our stock. Researching the publication histories also tells a piece of contemporary German history, as some newspapers could no longer be published after the KPD was banned in 1956 and were later re-founded, merged or bought up.
To our surprise, some of the newspapers were not exactly listed in the central Zeitschriftendatenbank (newspaper database). We have had this corrected, because what can be proven to exist can also be read and researched.
With this in mind: Vorwärts ("Come along"), and don't forget... and yes, masks also help against inhaling dust when looking through old newspapers.
Neuer Vorwärts, Hannover (Z 724: 1954), Vorwärts, Westberlin (Z 722: 1955 – 1989); Vorwärts, NRW (Z 726: 1996 – 2010) and Der Neue Vorwärts, Wien (Z 721: 1949; 1951; 1953 – 1955)
In 1876, the two Wilhelms, Liebknecht and Hasenclever, founded the "Zeitung der Deutschen Sozialdemokratie ("Newspaper of German Social Democracy"), the "Vorwärts". It was banned in 1933, the editorial team went into exile and published the newspaper under the title "Neuer Vorwärts" in Prague and Paris until 1940.
In 1948, the first issue of "Neuer Vorwärts" was published as the "Zentralorgan der Sozialdemokratischen Partei Deutschlands" ("Central Organ of the Social Democratic Party of Germany"), of which we have the second half-year of 1954. From 1955, the newspaper was simply called "Vorwärts" again. We have all volumes up to 1989.
Since 1996, there has been a regional edition in North Rhine-Westphalia, of which we have the volumes from 1996 to 2010.
But there was also a "Neuer Vorwärts" in Vienna, which was founded in 1948 by the left-wing socialist Erwin Scharf and was published until 1956. We still have five volumes of it in our collection.
Unsere Zeit, Mannheim Stuttgart (Z 723: 1963 – 1967), Tatsachen, Duisburg (Z 725: 1965 – 1969) and Unsere Zeit, Essen (Z 727: 1990; 1992 bis 1999)
In 1962, Mannheim locksmith Eugen Straub published the regional newspaper "Unsere Zeit, unabhängige Zeitung für Südwestdeutschland" (UZ) fortnightly. In December 1963, the public prosecutor's office searched the publishing premises on suspicion that the UZ was a KPD party newspaper. In April, Straub then sold UZ to Gutmann-Verlag in Stuttgart, where it was published until 1967. In March 1965, Straub and his former editor Eberhard Weber nevertheless had to justify themselves before the Karlsruhe Regional Court for alleged hostility to the constitution. The case was later dropped. We have a somewhat gappy collection of issues from 1962 to 1967.
Parallel to the UZ, the weekly newspaper "Tatsachen" was published in the Ruhr area from 1961 to 1969, of which the ZZF holds the issues from 1965 onwards. It is regarded as the actual predecessor of the "sozialistische Volkszeitung" ("Socialist People's Newspaper") "Unsere Zeit", which was published in Essen from 1969 – when the KPD was refounded as the DKP and was no longer banned. For a time, its deputy editor-in-chief was the same Eberhard Weber who had been the sole editor of the UZ in Mannheim. The ZZF holds the 1990 and 1992 to 1999 volumes of the now nationwide published UZ.
Die Wahrheit, Westberlin (Z 734: 1959 – 1989)
The SED was founded in 1946. According to the wishes of the Soviet military administration, it was to act as the successor party to the KPD and SPD. In fact, it was only authorised in the territory that would later become the GDR – and in Berlin. When the Wall was built, the SED-W was no longer considered to be directly subordinate to the SED of the GDR and was renamed the SED Westberlin; from 1969 it was known simply as SEW. It was considered independent of the West German KPD and was not banned. The central organ of the SEW was "Die Wahrheit" ("The truth"), which was published from 1955 to 1989. We have a gappy collection of issues from 1959 onwards, as well as the supplement "Zeitgeschichte, Theorie, Dokumentation" ("Contemporary history, theory, documentation"), which was published from 1968 onwards.
Hamburger Volkszeitung (Z 729: 1952 – 1954)
The Hamburger Volkszeitung was founded in 1918 and first banned in 1933. Re-founded in 1946, it was banned again in 1956. Illegal editions continued to appear until 1962. We have three volumes from the 1950s in our collection.
Neue Zeit, Saarbrücken (Z 730: 1951 – 1957)
The "Zeitung des schaffenden Volkes an der Saar" ("Newspaper of the working people of the SAAR"), as the "Neue Zeit" was subtitled, was the "Organ der Kommunistischen Partei") ("Organ of the Communist Party") in Saarland. The first issue was published on 22 June 1946, the last official issue on 9 April 1957. We have a somewhat gappy collection of issues from 1951 onwards.
Deutsche Volkszeitung, Düsseldorf (Z 735: 1954 – 1960; 1982 – 1983)
Immediately after the end of the Second World War, the first issue of the "Deutsche Volkszeitung" was published on 13 June 1945. Named after the KPD weekly newspaper published in exile in Prague from 1936 to 1939, it was the central organ of the German Communist Party until the founding of the SED. It merged with "Neues Deutschland", which was published on 23 April 1946.
In the Federal Republic of Germany, a "Deutsche Volkszeitung" was published again from 12 May 1953, which saw itself as left-liberal but also allowed communist authors to have their say. The "Deutsche Volkszeitung" positioned itself as a left-wing weekly newspaper, particularly in the course of the student movement and in the fight against the German Emergency Act. Unfortunately, the 60s and 70s are missing from our collection.
Die Tat, Frankfurt am Main (Z 732; 1957)
In 1983, the "Deutsche Volkszeitung" merged with the "Tat", the "Zeitung der Vereinigung der Verfolgten des Naziregimes" ("Newspaper of the Association of Persecutes of the Nazi Regime"). At least, we have one volume of this weekly newspaper in our collection.
Sonntag, Ost-Berlin (Z 23: 1946 – 1990) and Freitag, Berlin (1990 –)
In 1990, the "Deutsche Volkszeitung/die Tat" merged with the GDR weekly newspaper "Sonntag", which had been published since 1946, to form "Freitag", which we still subscribe to today.
(15.11.2021)