Deutsche Volkszeitung ('German People's Newspaper', abbreviated DVZ) was a newspaper published daily from Berlin, Germany between 1945–1946. It was the organ of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD).
Foundation The first issue was published on 13 June 1945.. Deutsche Volkszeitung was the first "working-class newspaper" to emerge in Berlin after the Second World War.. Its circulation at this point was 100,000 copies.
Wandel's editorship Paul Wandel, who had returned from exile in Moscow on 10 June 1945, was named editor-in-chief of the newspaper. According to a 1989 interview with Wandel, the decision to launch Deutsche Volkszeitung had been taken during a conversation between Joseph Stalin and German communist leaders just a few days earlier. Wandel had been proposed by Walter Ulbricht as the editor-in-chief of the new publication.Pike, David. The Politics of Culture in Soviet-Occupied Germany: 1945-1949. Stanford, Calif: Stanford Univ. Press, 1992. pp. 72-73 During this period Deutsche Volkszeitung was the sole newspaper published in the Soviet occupation zone not subject to SMAD censorship.Pike, David. The Politics of Culture in Soviet-Occupied Germany: 1945-1949. Stanford, Calif: Stanford Univ. Press, 1992. p. 41 Wandel withdrew from the post on 24 July 1945.Strunk, Peter. Zensur und Zensoren: Medienkontrolle und Propagandapolitik unter sowjetischer Besatzungsherrschaft in Deutschland. Berlin: Akad.-Verl, 1996. p. 66 became the new editor-in-chief of the newspaper.Ciesla, Burghard, and Dirk Külow. Zwischen den Zeilen: Geschichte der Zeitung >Neues Deutschland<. Berlin: Das Neue Berlin, 2008. pp. 18, 23
Siemens controversy In the summer of 1945 Deutsche Volkszeitung ran a number of articles about anti-fascist resistance in the concentration camps during the war.Epstein, Catherine. The Last Revolutionaries German Communists and Their Century. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2003. p. 132 An article in the 5 August 1945 issue of the newspaper claimed that Siemens had produced and installed the crematoria and gas chambers at Auschwitz. Siemens denied the claim, contracted a lawyer and threatened legal actions against the newspaper. Deutsche Volkszeitung repeated the claim in its 22 August 1945 issue. Siemens Chairman then responded by writing to Lewis Lyne, Commandant of the British Sector in Berlin, asking him to take action against the newspaper. Witzleben was arrested twice by Allied troops following the Deutsche Volkszeitung articles.Wiesen, S. Jonathan. West German Industry and the Challenge of the Nazi Past, 1945-1955. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2001. pp. 21, 45-46
Merger with Das Volk By October 1946 the newspaper reached a daily circulation of 350,000 copies. The final issue of Deutsche Volkszeitung was published on 21 April 1946. On 23 April 1946, the newspaper was replaced by Neues Deutschland (organ of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany, SED), founded as a result of the merger of Deutsche Volkszeitung and the SPD organ Das Volk.Strunk, Peter. Zensur und Zensoren: Medienkontrolle und Propagandapolitik unter sowjetischer Besatzungsherrschaft in Deutschland. Berlin: Akad.-Verl, 1996. pp. 70-71Felbick, Dieter. Schlagwörter der Nachkriegszeit: 1945 - 1949. Berlin: de Gruyter, 2003. p. 78Trost, Catharina. Judisches Leben in Der Sbz/ Ddr Am Beispiel Der Berliner Und Dresdner. [S.l.]: Grin Verlag, 2013. p. 16 During the merger talks between SPD and KPD the idea of making Deutsche Volkszeitung as the 'national organ' of SED had been discussed (whilst making Das Volk the Berlin local organ of the party). On 25 April 1946 the SED leadership named Sepp Schwab co-editor-in-chief of Neues Deutschland.Benning, Kristen. Die Geschichte des SED-Zentralorgans "Neues Deutschland" von 1946 bis 1949: die Waffenlieferanten "im Kampfe gegen die Reaktion und ihre Verwirrungsmanöver". Münster: Lit, 1997. p. 66
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