Moskaus langer Arm - Stalin und der Kommunismus in Polen (German Edition)

The study quoted here claimed that, under the approach adopted by the Polish propaganda, Poland was unable to accept the accusations of anti-Semitism articulated in Germany. According to Warsaw, the Germans had already levelled such allegations against the Poles during the barbaric German occupation. Now, when swastikas were being painted on synagogues in the FRG, attempts were being made to divert attention from the racism existing in the FRG itself.

Opponents of the recognition of the border on the Oder and Lusatian Neisse rivers were being equated with those who accused Poland of anti-Semitism. It consisted of discrediting the Western journalists who criticised the discrimination against the Jews in Poland. The Foreign Ministry in Bonn did not quite know how to react to the events in Poland and the commentaries on them published in the West German media. On the one hand, it was not possible to ignore the indignation of Western public opinion, which was, of course, particularly visible in the media.

Die deutsch-britische Flottenrüstung in den Karikaturen des Kladderadatsch (German Edition)

The article referred to here is A. In the summary, he emphasised that, [ The reaction of the largest part of the Polish public opinion is, at its best, indifferent; in its majority, however, it supports [the emigration of the Jews — PM]. Moreover, he clearly called Bonn to approve the emigration to the FRG for those wishing to leave. This would certainly have required a departure from the standard procedures, as the consideration of a visa application was a lengthy process He had, however, put the anti-Jewish purges to an end, apart from the one which took place in the Ministry of the Interior.

The report went on to say that, in June , under the pressure exerted by the so-called Partisans, he had come to the conclusion that he would have to use political anti-Semitism himself as a tool in the power struggle; this, however, provided the Partisans with an impulse to launch the anti- -Zionist campaign. This resulted in the purges in every area of social and political life, albeit that they did not affect everyone of Jewish origin.

The little time left by the authorities between the issue of a travel document and its expiry date made the formal obtaining of a visa to the states of the West impossible. In this situation, it was the Danish and Swedish authorities who were extending a helping hand Moreover, he suggested that any comparisons to the III Reich were exaggerated, bearing in mind that they were being applied to Poland where, after an end was put to the most radical part of the campaign in , subtler forms of discrimination, often invisible to an observer remaining on the outside, were brought into play in order to compel people to emigrate.

Apart from that, the authorities could count on support on the part of the majority of society. The problem of Polish anti- Semitism was to recur, however, even after , which is to say, after the ruling group in Warsaw changed. This emerged, inter alia, in , when the thirtieth anniversary of the uprising in the Warsaw ghetto was commemorated. The commemoration did not trigger emotions comparable to those which had arisen earlier. The reporter described this as a mark of a new climate, wherein such insinuations now resulted in a court trial rather than persecution by the secret services and emigration.

However, these issues failed to disappear from the media, which continued to persist as a thorn in their reports from Poland. The echoes of the events of In the German edition of Wikipedia, the encyclopaedia most often accessed by an average user of the Internet, the description which is of interest of the study begins with the following statement: The disturbances were quelled by militia units and volunteers from among the army reservists, the so-called worker activists.

Feierlichkeiten aus Anlass des The impact of the anti-Semitic campaign in Poland on the forming of negative stereotypes of the country cannot be seen in a number of historical studies either. The entry in Russian is written in what is, essentially, the same tone. An Encyclopedia, New York Only a reference to the Moczar movement and his using of the anti-Zionist campaign can be found in the Das zwanzigste Jahrhundert.

Europa nad dem Zweiten Weltkrieg series, Frankfurt am Main pp. Mason does not deal with anti-Semitism, writing only that: Firstly, the manipulation by the communists of anti-Semitism in order to channel social discontent and maintain their grip on the helm of power, and secondly, a democratic protest quelled by force The impact of this ideology on society is also 56 Cf.: Encyclopedia of Eastern Europe: Dissent and Opposition in Communist Eastern Europe.

Einsamer Wolf unter Wölfen

The author refers to the conclusions reached by Marcin Zaremba and Dariusz Stola. The anti- -Semitic hue-and-cry after March is only one of the links included in a markedly longer process. The meaning of the image of the enemy in explaining all the Polish problems is described by Michlic as follows: Nevertheless, she wrote of the resistance of certain social groups to the anti-Semitic propaganda. Ramet, Social Currents in Eastern Europe: These articles have been infrequent, but in general, they have reported on the debate in Poland about the problem of anti-Semitism in a positive tone Michael Ludwig criticised the Polish authorities for their lengthy inability to cope with the provocative erecting of the crosses in the Gravel Pit and their playing on anti-Semitic feelings.

Polen und der Antisemitismus: He underscored the fact that this also holds true for a part of the political milieu that led Poland to liberation from the communist system, but which is unwilling to acknowledge that, in , Moczar was able to exploit the anti-Semitism existing in society The reservations which this article gave rise to a pattern whereby, in the lack of a readiness on the part of the society to look critically at its history, any gestures made by Polish politicians seem to be suspended in a vacuum.

In the meantime, a new poison has emerged which has hatred for its primary cause. One of the photographs illustrates the destruction wrought on the Jewish cemetery in the Warsaw borough of Wola in , another shows a wall with a credo: On the other hand, the nine remaining Jewish communities are thriving. In , a Jewish primary school will be opened in Warsaw and a Jewish sports club will be set up. As far as a symbiosis of Jewish and Polish culture is concerned, it seems, however, irretrievably too late In Poland, the nationalist form of communism included a strong element of anti-Semitism, which, after , became visible both in the communist party and in the society.

Initially it was not resorted to in the political power struggle. This only occurred in the changed circumstances of the growing crisis in the second half of the sixties A precise description as to what the connections between the political plane of the events and the social reaction to them looked like was also not infrequently lacking in works which aspired to the ranks of historical studies H-Soz-u- Kult, 18 December http: An interest was awoken in stories describing the discovery of Jewish roots previously hidden and, sometimes, after the experience of , thoroughly concealed To all intents and purposes, the issue of those people of Jewish origin who, after the war and prior to their emigration, were actively involved in the building of the communist system, including its worst, Stalinist phase, did not appear in the press.

In this approach, Bauman is presented as being a victim of the system which he had helped to create. An article which predated it by a few years and was published in connection with his being awarded the Theodore W. The articles written by Helga Hirsch, describing individual cases but primarily showing one side of the events to a reader unfamiliar with the issues in question, were heavily loaded with emotions.

The fate of another person, Liliana Hausknecht81, was portrayed in a similar vein.

Einsamer Wolf unter Wölfen - DER SPIEGEL 12/

The emigration in was even mentioned in the short announcement at the award ceremony Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, No. As Zoja, who prefers to see the things in a positive light, describes it, she is in love with the two countries at the same time. The last sentence referred, obviously, to the years of World War II. Hubert Torzecki described these events as being of key importance in the forming of an entire generation of people too young to remember the terror of the Stalin period, only a handful of whom were later to become involved in the opposition.

One can also come across the negation of this experience, when, departing from the emphasis being put on the connection between the rise, in the sixties, of nationalism and anti-Semitism85, a thesis was articulated to the effect that, in the eighties, the events of were pushed from the collective memory in Poland in order to make it possible for the national ideology, blamed for March, to become a counterbalance to communism by means of forgetting its connection with the anti-Semitic actions The last argument seems to be among the most radical. Jedwabne und die Folgen, Berlin — Wien One important effect of this omission is to preserve nationalism for the liberal opposition, to construct nationalism as anti-communism in reference to the strikes, by eliminating the memory of Communist-backed nationalist invectives against Jews.

A good analysis comes from The article described the setting of recollections of in the context of the politics of Poland and the Czech Republic. In the case of Poland, the commentary pointed to the emphasis placed by Adam Michnik on the role of the then events as a catalyst of the birth of the opposition and to the negation of this on the right of the Polish political scene.

In an article written for Die Welt, Adam Michnik took a different position. At the same time, he defended the nationalism is alive and well, especially in the political activities of the Catholic church. Long, We All Fought for Freedom: Sauerland wrote that the president had belonged to the political formation which had unleashed the anti-Semitic hue-and-cry in In the subsequent years, the both domestic politics and the intervention in Czechoslovakia was recalled in order to emphasise the undemocratic nature of the system of power in the Eastern bloc and in Poland.

References to the tradition of the democratic protests of made in Poland during the Solidarity years were noticeable. Following the introduction of martial law, it was recalled that some members of the military authorities had been involved in the quelling of social protests including the intervention in Czechoslovakia.

The assessment of Jaruzelski was not unambiguous. On the other hand, an observation recurrently emerged to the effect that, in , the Polish army on its own did what had required outside intervention in Czechoslovakia in Der Spiegel of 21 and 28 December ; see also: Revolution, Democracy and Natural Rights, London , p. A comment of this nature, be it longer or briefer, was deemed a necessary accompaniament to every item published in the press about him In the report of his death, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, No.

However, Karol Sauerland, the author of the article, then added that in the stormy period of , he was away from Poland and no one can know how he would have behaved upon seeing the brutal actions against the Jews, students and intellectuals Let us thus conclude with the appeal, voiced by Karol Sauerland, for the restoration of the Jews to Polish memory, which refers to an important issue also articulated in the West German press as a reproach to the Poles, a reproach in respect of the fact that, despite the enormous change which Poland has undergone, this restoration is yet to occur.

This was bluntly expressed by Sauerland, [ Die Polizei griff nicht ein. Die Regierung beschuldigte lokale Chauvinisten der Tat. Er greift nach der Macht. Kollege Novotny in Prag wich dem neuen tschechoslowakischen Liberal- -Kommunismus. Ochab wich dem — stalinistischen — Nationalkommunisten Moczar. Rosa Luxemburg und Karl Radek standen in ihren Reihen. Nationalkommunist Moczar hatte sich stets im Hintergrund gehalten. Vorsitzender der Vereinigung ehemaliger Partisanen: Er baute seine Machtpositionen aus: Mehrere Theater- und Filmfachleute wurden entlassen, der weltbekannte Regisseur Alexander Ford angegriffen.

Er sei eine Spionage-Organisation. Nun haben sie keinen Kontakt zur Truppe mehr: Das Blatt behauptete vielmehr: Eine erste Gruppe hatte das Land schon bei Kriegsende oder kurz danach verlassen. Eine solche Reaktion hat Tradition. Bei aller Unterschiedlichkeit ist in Polen und der Tschechischen Republik das Jahr eine politische Wasserscheide.

Dabei geht es um den Lackmustest der politischen Positionierung: Um ihre Macht zu sichern und zumindest die Basis der Partei auf regierungstreuen Kurs zu bringen, brachte der innerste Zirkel um Gomulka eine antisemitische Kampagne ins Rollen. Nach der Wende begann Polen, die schwarzen Flecken der eigenen Geschichte anzupacken. Einer dieser Flecken ist der Antisemitismus. Nationalistische Kreise und nationalkonservative Vertreter der Kirche leugnen jegliche katalysatorische Wirkung des Jahres Sie halten den damaligen Dissidenten vor, selbst aus der kommunistischen Partei zu kommen und deshalb kompromittiert zu sein.

Die Entmythisierung hat begonnen. Auf Anordnung Moskaus wurde die Tschechoslowakei auf Linie gebracht. Diese theoretischen Fragen dringen aber kaum in breite Teile der Gesellschaft vor. Eine tiefgreifende Auseinandersetzung mit der kommunistischen Vergangenheit fehlt. Ich traute meinen Augen nicht. All diese jungen Menschen wurden zugleich als ehemalige Stalinisten beziehungsweise als Kinder von solchen bezeichnet. Andere hatte ich bei ihren Auftritten erlebt. Der Danziger Bahnhof in Warschau war der Ort, von dem aus sie sich nach Wien begaben, um von dort aus nach Israel, in die Vereinigten Staaten oder auch in die Bundesrepublik weiterzureisen.

Ich war mehrmals auf diesem Bahnhof, um Bekannte zu verabschieden. Beide hatten kurz nach dem 8. Unvergesslich bleibt mir der Besuch bei Kolakowski. Es muss im Oktober gewesen sein. Ich fragte ihn, was er jetzt mache. Er antwortete, er lese Paracelsus, um der Sprache Heideggers auf die Spur zu kommen. Es war keine theatralische Geste, sondern entsprach seinem damaligen Charakter.

Warschau, ja das ganze Land trocknete geistig aus. Die Freiheitsbewegung wurde auf diese Weise brutal niedergeschlagen. Heute sind diese Leute zumeist pensioniert oder bereits verstorben, jedoch ihr Geist lebt in vielem und bei vielen weiter. Nie gab es den Versuch eines Dialoges. Rufe nach Versammlungs- und Vereinigungsfreiheit folgten. In dieser Hinsicht waren sie Realisten.

Es war das einzig passende Ende des Weges, der am Denkmal von Mickiewicz begann. Joanna Szymoniczek Polish public opinion towards Germany and the events of the year therein Introduction The aim of this study is to present reactions of the Polish society and the Polish public, of the events of in Germany. To reach the aim, press articles have been analysed from a number of angles, including the frequency of their appearance, the way of depicting the events, the opinions and commentaries, the headlining of reports and the placement of photos, as well as the relationship of the articles in question with those tackling other topics which were printed in the most popular publications of the time.

The articles were taken from the following daily newspapers: Furthermore, it seeks an answer to whether the articulation of the views of Polish public opinion was possible in ; how was the image of the events of in Germany manipulated in the press; how Polish society reacted to those events; whether the events had their continuation in the Polish media and whether they were invoked in subsequent years and, if so, then how and upon what occasion. From the outset, the ruling communist party treated the radio and the press, and later, television as well, as one of the most crucial instruments for the exertion of power and the control of social processes1.

Polish public opinion towards Germany and the events The substance of everything to be communicated was subjected to incisive censorship. Only content prepared in this way was recognised as valid and authentic2. By the same token, there existed far-reaching possibilities of creating a picture of the world for the recipients which either differed fairly radically, or even diverged from reality completely.

Given the subject under discussion, several measures undertaken in respect of the press in Poland should be addressed. This included a prohibition on the monitoring of foreign radio stations by editorial staff. Polish Press Agency itself was limited as far as potential undertakings were concerned. Prasa, radio i telewizja w Polsce. It was common to operate half-truths or write untrue things, as it was acknowledged as desirable, just as long as it served the purpose. The world was depicted in black and white, tapping into an internally coherent system of stereotypes and selectively gathering facts and arguments in tune with a thesis established in advance.

By using stereotypes, the press consolidated and preserved a range of myths. The absence of any polemic whatsoever was perceptible in the writing, as was its one-sidedness. Zarys problematyki [Media in Poland. The Outline of Problems], Warszawa , p. The content was rendered more attractive and efforts were made to differentiate and enrich both form and language in order to bring the publications closer to the people and their concerns. It thus constitutes a fundamental structure within a non-democratic state, since it permits the legitimisation of those who hold power. If all that is available to society is one, manipulated image, then that is the basis upon which opinions and judgements will be formed.

Initially, the function of censorship was controlled by the Minister of the Interior. It reported to the Chairman of the Council of Ministers. It guaranteed civil freedoms. The article number 71 said: The decree itself was revoked on 1st July and preventative censorship was abolished in Against this background, the heroism of the Soviet Union and its role in defeating fascism was continuously emphasised. The articles made frequent reference to the revisionist politics of the post-war FRG.

Hence, West Germany was presented as a militaristic state desirous of atomic weapons and rockets, bringing pressure to bear on the Western partners in the case of armament and obstructing disarmament Polish diplomats, though, suspected that individual countries would not be observing them. Moreover, the Romanian leader had opposed attempts to intensify integration under the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance and criticised the proposal for establishing, under its auspices, a multilateral cooperation in which not all the member states would participate He himself did not block the possibility of Polish-West German talks, proposing contact with the FRG at ministerial level.

Notwithstanding pressure from Warsaw and Berlin, on 31st January , Romania established diplomatic relations with Bonn. His position was strong enough for this condition to be accepted Yet, in November , the authorities of the GDR withdrew from decisions which had already been taken concerning the enhancement of coordination of the economies of the two states. Meanwhile, West German diplomacy was beginning to emerge from its earlier impasse.

In , diplomatic relations between the FRG and Romania were established, and a year later they were re-established with Yugoslavia. In terms of propagandist objectives, things were no different in , with negative information regarding the FRG readily being published, though it should be noted that it were the events in the United States of America and France which were predominant in the Polish media that year.

1. and the Polish - West German Relations | Piotr Madajczyk - www.newyorkethnicfood.com!
2. Back from the Ashes;
3. Rebeccas Crossing?
4. Dealing with Donkeys.
5. .
6. Buried Alive?

In , the Vietnam War, in particular, was emphasised to this end, especially when the Americans committed crimes, were defeated in battle or suffered grave losses of personnel. The intention was to discredit, in much the same way as were accounts relating to the training of special units and suppression of liberation movements in Latin America. The press reports also focused on American support for Israel The domestic policy of the US was subjected to critical judgement as well. As for the domestic events in France, that country, too, was often a guest in the columns of the Polish press, though here the picture was different, since France was critical of the policies of the USA and enjoyed a well-disposed 16 Archiwum Telewizji Polskiej [The Polish Television Archive], hereinafter: Death of Martin Luther King]; sygn.

Commentary on the events in France, particularly as compared to the manner of reporting the situation in the United States, was scanter, more laconic and considerably more balanced Nevertheless, this does not mean that West Germany was not addressed at all during the course of that year. The perception was that the sixties had brought to the Western world a new social and moral manifestation, the foundations of which were cultural transformations and the frustrations of the students and graduates in search of jobs, as well as a naive anarchism, this last being a reaction to prosperity, order and the absence of more serious problems.

These manifestations and the transformation in morality were negatively appraised in the Polish media The pressing matter was purely one of creating a picture of a repressive system, quelling any and every opposition by violent means. It was only due to the attempted assassination of Rudi Dutschke that separate copies were devoted to Germany.

Brief mention was also made of Benno Ohnesorg, a student who was shot by a policeman, Karl Heinz Kurras, on 2nd June , during a demonstration against the state visit of the Shah of Iran, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi. It should be emphasised that in the nineteen daily paper titles analysed only one photo of the Socialist German Student Union leader was found.

Meanwhile, the disturbances persisted throughout Germany. At the time, though, the attention of the Polish media was once again riveted on events in the United States and France. In , the FRG turned up in the Polish press in one other context, that is, in connection with the gathering menace in Czechoslovakia. As it could be expected, close attention was paid in Poland to the events taking place in its southern neighbour. The diverse outlooks were emphasised, but so was the ability to reach a harmonious standpoint.

These items of news were reported without adhering to an alarmist tone. It was pointed out that the imperative of curtailing and combating antisocialist forces had been underrated in Czechoslovakia. The KSC had not acted as the instigator of transformation, but had permitted discussion on the establishment of opposition parties. The anti-party forces had not been given enough serious consideration because the KSC was too strongly rooted in the traditions of acting within the existing law, as had been the case in the interwar years.

It was not inured against sabotage and provocation. In July the news of the abolition of censorship came. The reports, which were later denied, concerned the removal of the security barrier on the Czech side of the border with the FRG. Even so, the number of caricatures and cartoons connected with the Germans which appeared in the columns of the Polish press in was impressive. The best evidence of this is the fact that, in that year, the satirical weekly, Szpilki, devoted as many as four of its front covers to the subject of Germany.

It was far more rare for references to be made to other associations linked with that nationality and these, too, were very simple i. This was particularly so in the s, when caricatures of the Germans were most frequently published and were highly aggressive. In subsequent years, they appeared somewhat more rarely, though they were still fairly plentiful.

The caricatures gradually became milder and milder; nonetheless, the usual associations continued to relate to the Nazi era. It was no different in Photographs of the aforementioned Szpilki covers focusing upon Germany have been included in this volume. References in the Polish press to the events of in Germany As elucidated in the foregoing section, the events of in Germany were not to enjoy much interest on the part of the Polish media.

It was no different in the years that followed. Even then, though, if they are referred to at all, it is to a minor extent and in passing, with seldom more substantial analysis nor conclusions. Hence the ready reporting of anything at all which might damage the image of the Western states in the eyes of Polish society; economic problems, aggressive foreign policies, social unrest, assassinations, murders, disasters and so forth. Whenever circumstances allowed, the problems of other Western states were also eagerly summoned into play. All of these added to the moral collapse of the Western world Youth subcultures such as the mods, the hippies, the serious heavy-metal fans, the punks and the skinheads received a very poor press The source of all these negative manifestations was perceived in a multitude of factors, including, of course, the events of in the West and their consequences, since those events were held to have brought about profound and negatively evaluated transformations to the consciousness of Western societies, with the students becoming the social and political or academic elite in their countries, something of which no good could come.

What draws the attention in this presentation of the problem is a certain inconsistency in the assessment of both the events of and their outcome. However, at the same time, they were censured for their behaviour. The RAF was supported by Palestinian terrorists, who hijacked a German passenger plane which was then recaptured by an anti-terrorist unit. A left-wing terrorist organisation with ideological links to Maoism, Marxism, anarchism and the New Left, the RAF had launched its activities prior to However, until that year, by and large, news of the organisation and its operations had not appeared in the Polish press.

Single reports were published following the Heidelberg incident in May , when the faction bombed the headquarters of the U. Army in Europe, with the loss of three American soldiers. The situation changed in the autumn of that year. On 5th September, members of the RAF kidnapped Hanns-Martin Schleyer, and, having held him captive for forty-one days, proceeded to murder him. From the outset, the topic was fairly widely reported in Poland; in fact, news appeared on a daily basis with regard to the abducted man, the actions taken by the German authorities in attempting to secure his release, the demands of the kidnappers, the reactions of individual German politicians to acts of terror and so forth On the one hand, the focus was turned toward the crisis being faced by that state during the German Autumn, since this concurred with the guidelines laid down for the media, while, on the other hand, there was a growing interest in terrorism itself and the underlying causes thereof, with endeavours being made to analyse what had occurred in Germany and, indeed, why it had happened in that particular country It was pointed out that the group had sprung from the waves of youth and student unrest which had occurred in Da irrte die Komintern.

Sie fand ihn "sehr offen, sehr freundschaftlich, sehr in Richtung Einheitsfront" mit den Sozialdemokraten. Wehner bedient sich ihrer als Kurier zu "Verwandten" nach Berlin. Erst bekam er einmal die Erlaubnis, mit seiner Frau einen Moskauer Friedhof zu besuchen. T uchatschewski wurde im Juni hingerichtet. Sie kam im Lager um. Beide hatten den Fall Wehner bearbeitet.

Schehr aber wurde erschossen. Wehner glaubte ihnen das nicht: Die Gestapo habe das Archiv des Kippenberger-Apparats gefunden, aus dem sich die Rolle der beiden klar ergab. Das habe ihm "Leo Flieg, der Gauner" damals verschwiegen. Das ging in enger Zusammenarbeit mit der sowjetischen Geheimpolizei vor sich. Moskau bis ". Rowohlt Verlag, Berlin; Seiten; 38 Mark. Gelesen Verschickt Gesehen 1. Heimlich das Kondom abgezogen: Wie der Weihnachtsmarkt zum Volksfest verkommt. The methods used by the Anti-Comintern indicate that the Nazi pro- paganda apparatus had studied Soviet propaganda, for the organization adopted both methods and narrative strategies used by the Bolsheviks and combined them with German traditions.

Mamillan, ; William J. Chase, Enemies within the Gates? Intellectual Friends of Communism New Haven: Aleksandr Etkind and Pavel Lysakov St. Evropeiskii uni- versitet; Moscow: For a philosophical interpretation, see also Michail Ryklin, Kommunismus als Religion: Die Intellektuellen und die Oktoberrevolution Frankfurt am Main: Verlag der Weltreligion, VOKS, the Soviet society for cultural ties abroad, officially an independent association but clearly an agency of the party-state, functioned in a similar manner. This is also evident in the formats used: Firsthand accounts of life under communism could appeal to a wide audience.

Thus was invented the anti-fellow-traveler. These travelogues may be roughly divided into two groups, which followed two different narratives. The campaign began by publishing the experiences of ordinary Germans under Soviet rule. He undermined the standards of Russian studies established in Weimar Germany by such scholars as Otto Hoetzsch. See, for example, Hermann Greife, Sowjetforschung Berlin: Nibelungen, ; Greife, Zwangsarbeit in der Sowjetunion Berlin: Ostforschung, another branch of ideologized social science under Nazism, did not extensively deal with Russia but with areas of German settlement in Eastern Europe.

Michael Burleigh, Germany Turns Eastwards: Droste, ; Ingo Haar and Michael Fahlbusch, eds.

Many pictures showed black mar- kets where people struggled to find food and clothing or sold their possessions. Apart from attempting to prove that the fellow-travelers were wrong, the book also highlighted repression in the USSR. Other articles accused the Soviet regime of persecuting religious believers, destroying churches, and undermining sexual morality. More interesting than these common tropes of anti-communism were the direct comparisons between Bolshevism and National Socialism.

Kulisse und Hintergrund Hamburg: The German public had long been alarmed by the situation in the Volga region, and the volume elaborated on the fate of the ethnic Germans who had settled there. The engineers writing for this anthology used technical lan- guage, a Fachsprache, which was supposed to give the book a matter-of-fact tone. The narrative was thus a blend of personal experience and technical language, but the main focus was on the suffering of the Russian people. The work of the engineers who had served the Soviet government was only partially described. Some stated that unemployment and the economic condi- tions of the Weimar Republic drove them out of the country.

But none of the au- thors admitted to having been a Communist or being fascinated by the immense opportunities that Soviet Russia seemed to offer during the First Five-Year Plan. The perspective and the language of Und Du siehst die Sowjets richtig could, however, easily be altered. Ein Buch aus dem bolschewistischen Bann Altona: He is brought to the Liubianka, questioned, imprisoned, and shipped to the camps of northern Russia, where he spends four years until he is released to his native Finland.

The Finnish protagonist stresses that he was not a Communist but had believed that a decent life was possible in the USSR. During his journey he loses this conviction, but he does not voice resentment of ordinary Russians. It is in their company that he learns his lesson about Soviet Russia. The most noteworthy aspect of the book is, however, the frank discussion of labor camps, their administration, and the value of slave labor.

It is remarkable that a book containing a detailed account of life in a concentration camp could be published in the Third Reich. The Ministry of Propaganda seems to have been confident that the reading public would make no connection with the situation in Nazi Germany. His account of life in the USSR is written in the third person and reads like a pulp- fiction novel. Ertl is portrayed as a young engineer who went to Soviet Russia to escape unemployment in his native Austria. It is also constructed as an account of the viciousness of Jewish rule in Russia.

The only ami- able Russian he describes is an old doctor who lectures him on the tragedy of Russian history. A History New York: Doubleday, ; and Oleg V. Khlevniuk, The History of the Gulag: Yale University Press, Stanford University Press, The language is riddled with Russian words: Although the Austrian engineer is not corrupted by these surroundings, he is denied a happy life. When the Ertls are able to escape from their ordeal after a German relative sends them money for train tickets, the family is ruined and exhausted.

Maria de Smeth, a Dutch woman, was abducted by Soviet coast guards off the Crimean coast. She faces a test of character in her GPU interrogations when offered work for the Soviet side. Odyssee einer Frau im Frauen in der NS-Volksgemeinschaft, ed. Having observed great antipathy among the differ- ent peoples of the USSR, she explains to her readers who is most despised: It seems likely that either Maria de Smeth, a staunch supporter of Nazism since the early s, knew his work or her book was edited by someone familiar with it.

They were clearly written for different audiences. Whereas the anthology of es- says by experts seems aimed at professionals, the biographical accounts of life in the USSR were clearly constructed to appeal to the emotions of the average reader. They told stories of ordinary people and their suffering to which people could be expected to relate.

Other aspects of these stories were connected to a classic critique of communism: Implicitly, they often defended such notions as individual liberty or the rule of law. But clearly most narratives also included the core beliefs of Alfred Rosenberg about Russia. This can be observed in their obsession with the ethnic origin of anyone holding a position of power. The privileged, the powerful, and the ruthless people that these authors encountered in Bolshevik Russia are usually identified as Jewish.

Especially in the books of Ertl and de Smeth, Jews are portrayed as the profiteers of the Revolution while the Russian people are the victims suffering under their yoke. Although some point to the abundance of resources in Russia, the country is not portrayed as a livable place. Russia, here, was simply the ideal environment in which to become an anti-Bolshevik. These books by Russian authors all contain an antisemitic interpreta- tion of the Russian Revolution.

The Russian protagonists, their families, and their people were, however, the group with which the German public was supposed to sympathize. During the s, aviation was one of the core themes of Soviet propaganda, and pilots were singled out as popular heroes. As young Soviet men, the authors had been thrilled by the prospect of becoming air-force pilots. To them, aviation served as a symbol for the modernization of Russian society.

Kravetz was accepted at an air-force academy and enjoyed the privileged life of a Soviet cadet. He was, however, annoyed early on by the non-professional political instruction which was, of course, given by Jewish commissars: In these Nazi narratives, Jews were bureaucrats, not fighters. Even his summer vacation does nothing to cheer up the young pilot.

On the contrary, Kravetz is alarmed when he travels home in the summer of and witnesses how the rest of the population is suffering as a result of collectivization. As his training continues, he becomes increasingly aware of the deficiencies of the Soviet air force. According to Kravetz, there are many accidents in his unit and flying Soviet airplanes is generally unsafe. John McCannon, Red Arctic: Celebrations in the Time of Stalin Bloomington: In , Kravetz discovers his interest in National Socialism and the new German regime.

The pilot claims that he and many of his comrades are attracted to Nazism be- cause of the negative coverage it receives in the Soviet press: The discharge accelerates his break with Bolshevism.

In increasing conflict with the regime, Kravetz takes a job with the postal service as an airmail pilot and escapes to Latvia. His career as a fighter pilot is ruined and he has trouble finding a new position. When he manages to find work as a pilot again through personal connections, Unischewski escapes to Estonia. In these accounts of Soviet pilots, however, Soviet institutions were run in a similar way: Both books about pilots seem to be aimed at a male audience; they take place in a military environment and portray their protagonists as good soldiers.

The narratives of the Russian nobility Gorjanowa , the Russian peasant Nikolajew , and the Russian Germans Kraft differed from the anti-Bolshevik Bildungsroman of the German engineer or the Soviet pilot. There is no development of the protagonists into anti-Bolsheviks that could be recounted. Their stories, rather, follow the lines of a passion play.

These books begin with memories of the Russian Revolution and the Civil War as a time of unprecedented suffering and injustice. The Blutrevolution of serves only as a prelude to ever greater woes experienced under Bolshevik rule. All include antisemitic passages where the suffering of the protagonists and their families are linked to a perceived Jewish rise to power. Both women, Gorjanowa and Kraft, are finally rescued from the USSR because they marry foreigners and receive permission to leave the country.

Thus they are redeemed through the love of foreign men. Nikolajew, the peasant, has to find his own escape route and flees through the wilderness to Finland. Leidensjahre einer deutschen Frau in der Sowjet-Union Berlin: Nibelungen, ; Natascha Gorjanowa, Russische Passion: They seem to appeal to female readers who could identify with the fate of the protagonists.

With the exception of the Soviet pilots, books by Russian authors stress that the suffering began in ; they lack even a hint of fascination with the Bol- shevik project. Bolshevism to them was doomed from the begin- ning, and postrevolutionary life was unending suffering. The fascination with Bolshevism may thus be seen as a German sentiment in these publications.

It also becomes clear that the Anti-Comintern had no consistent interpretation of the Russian Revolution: Der verratene Sozialismus became the most popular reading that the Third Reich offered about its communist adversary. He was the highest-ranking communist defector to collaborate with the Ministry of Propaganda in its anti-Soviet campaign.

The metamorphosis of a former leading Bolshevik into a bestselling author in Nazi Germany seems like an unlikely scenario.