Die Weltbühne
Encyclopedia
Die Weltbühne was a German
weekly magazine focused on politics, art, and business. The Weltbühne was founded in Berlin
on 7 September 1905 by Siegfried Jacobsohn
and was originally created strictly as a theater magazine under the title Die Schaubühne. It was renamed Die Weltbühne on 4 April 1918. After Jacobson's death in December 1926, Kurt Tucholsky
took over the leadership of the magazine, which he turned over to Carl von Ossietzky
in May 1927. The Nazis banned the publication after the Reichstag fire
, and its last edition appeared on 7 March 1933. In exile the magazine was published under the title Die neue Weltbühne ("The New World Stage"). After the end of World War II
, it appeared again under its original name in East Berlin
, where it endured until 1993. In 1997 the magazines Ossietzky and Das Blättchen appeared, following the model of Die Weltbühne.
With its famed small, red booklet, it was the key forum of expression for leftist, socialist intellectuals during the Weimar Republic
. More than 2600 authors wrote for the paper between 1905 and 1933. In addition to Jacobsohn, Tucholsky, and Ossietzky, the contributors included prominent writers and journalists like Erich Kästner
, Alfred Polgar
, Arnold Zweig
, Manfred George
, Lion Feuchtwanger
, and Else Lasker-Schüler
. Other regular contributors included Julius Bab
, Erich Dombrowski, Axel Eggebrecht
, Herbert Eulenberg
, Hellmut von Gerlach
, Moritz Heimann, Kurt Hiller
, Erich Mühsam
, Rudolf Arnheim, Richard Lewinsohn, Fritz Sternberg and Heinrich Ströbel.
Even at its high point, Die Weltbühne had a relatively low printing of 15,000 copies. It still had several journalistic coups including the discovery of the Veim murders
in the Schwarze Reichswehr paramilitary groups as well as reports about the secret rearmament of the military, which later led to the so-called Weltbühne trial. The printing of Tucholsky's famous sentence "Soldiers are murderers" also led to charges against the publisher Ossietzky.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
weekly magazine focused on politics, art, and business. The Weltbühne was founded in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
on 7 September 1905 by Siegfried Jacobsohn
Siegfried Jacobsohn
Siegfried Jacobsohn was a German writer and influential theatre critic.- Life :Born in Berlin into a Jewish family, Jacobsohn decided at the age of 15 to become a theatre critic. In October 1897 he left school without gaining any diplomas and began studying at Friedrich-Wilhelm-University as it...
and was originally created strictly as a theater magazine under the title Die Schaubühne. It was renamed Die Weltbühne on 4 April 1918. After Jacobson's death in December 1926, Kurt Tucholsky
Kurt Tucholsky
Kurt Tucholsky was a German-Jewish journalist, satirist and writer. He also wrote under the pseudonyms Kaspar Hauser, Peter Panter, Theobald Tiger and Ignaz Wrobel. Born in Berlin-Moabit, he moved to Paris in 1924 and then to Sweden in 1930.Tucholsky was one of the most important journalists of...
took over the leadership of the magazine, which he turned over to Carl von Ossietzky
Carl von Ossietzky
Carl von Ossietzky was a German pacifist and the recipient of the 1935 Nobel Peace Prize. He was convicted of high treason and espionage in 1931 after publishing details of Germany's alleged violation of the Treaty of Versailles by rebuilding an air force, the predecessor of the Luftwaffe, and...
in May 1927. The Nazis banned the publication after the Reichstag fire
Reichstag fire
The Reichstag fire was an arson attack on the Reichstag building in Berlin on 27 February 1933. The event is seen as pivotal in the establishment of Nazi Germany....
, and its last edition appeared on 7 March 1933. In exile the magazine was published under the title Die neue Weltbühne ("The New World Stage"). After the end of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, it appeared again under its original name in East Berlin
East Berlin
East Berlin was the name given to the eastern part of Berlin between 1949 and 1990. It consisted of the Soviet sector of Berlin that was established in 1945. The American, British and French sectors became West Berlin, a part strongly associated with West Germany but a free city...
, where it endured until 1993. In 1997 the magazines Ossietzky and Das Blättchen appeared, following the model of Die Weltbühne.
Weimar Republic
The Weimar Republic is the name given by historians to the parliamentary republic established in 1919 in Germany to replace the imperial form of government...
. More than 2600 authors wrote for the paper between 1905 and 1933. In addition to Jacobsohn, Tucholsky, and Ossietzky, the contributors included prominent writers and journalists like Erich Kästner
Erich Kästner
Emil Erich Kästner was a German author, poet, screenwriter and satirist, known for his humorous, socially astute poetry and children's literature.-Dresden 1899–1919:...
, Alfred Polgar
Alfred Polgar
Alfred Polgar was an Austrian-born journalist, one of the renowned wits of the Vienna coffeehouses. He left Austria in 1938, and later worked in Hollywood.He was known as a drama critic, in Berlin 1925 to 1933, and an essayist...
, Arnold Zweig
Arnold Zweig
Arnold Zweig was a German writer and anti-war activist.He is best known for his World War I tetralogy.-Life and work:Zweig was born in Glogau, Silesia son of a Jewish saddler...
, Manfred George
Manfred George
Manfred George, born Manfred Georg Cohn, later shortened to Manfred Georg, was a German journalist, author and translator. He left Germany after the Nazis came to power, living in several different European countries and eventually emigrating penniless to the United States in 1939...
, Lion Feuchtwanger
Lion Feuchtwanger
Lion Feuchtwanger was a German-Jewish novelist and playwright. A prominent figure in the literary world of Weimar Germany, he influenced contemporaries including playwright Bertolt Brecht....
, and Else Lasker-Schüler
Else Lasker-Schüler
Else Lasker-Schüler was a Jewish German poet and playwright famous for her bohemian lifestyle in Berlin. She was one of the few women affiliated with the Expressionist movement. Lasker-Schüler fled Nazi Germany and lived out the rest of her life in Jerusalem.-Biography:Schüler was born in...
. Other regular contributors included Julius Bab
Julius Bab
Julius Bab was a German dramatist and theater critic.He was a cofounder of the Kulturbund Deutscher Juden. Bab was a close friend of journalist and theater critic Siegfried Jacobsohn and a key contributor to the early years of the magazine Schaubühne, the later Weltbühne.In 1939 he emigrated to...
, Erich Dombrowski, Axel Eggebrecht
Axel Eggebrecht
Axel Constantin August Eggebrecht was a German journalist and writer.-Life:Eggebrecht grew up in bourgeois surroundings in Leipzig until 1917 when he volunteered to serve in the First World War where he received a serious wound, the effects of which he would continue to feel for his entire life...
, Herbert Eulenberg
Herbert Eulenberg
Herbert Eulenberg was a German poet and author born in Cologne-Mülheim, Germany.-1920s:Eulenberg was the publisher of many books, for which he wrote the introductions. His speech on Schiller, which he wrote in 1909, generated heated debates...
, Hellmut von Gerlach
Hellmut von Gerlach
Hellmut Georg von Gerlach was a German journalist and politician.-Life:Hellmut von Gerlach, the son of landowner Max von Gerlach, was born in Mönchmotschelnitz in Silesia. He studied law at the universities of Gent, Strasbourg, Leipzig, and Berlin, and was a member of the Verein Deutscher Studenten...
, Moritz Heimann, Kurt Hiller
Kurt Hiller
Kurt Hiller also known as Keith Lurr and Klirr was a German essayist of high stylistic originality and a political journalist from a Jewish family. A socialist, he was deeply influenced by Immanuel Kant and Arthur Schopenhauer, despising the philosophy of G. W. F...
, Erich Mühsam
Erich Mühsam
Erich Mühsam was a German-Jewish anarchist essayist, poet and playwright. He emerged at the end of World War I as one of the leading agitators for a federated Bavarian Soviet Republic....
, Rudolf Arnheim, Richard Lewinsohn, Fritz Sternberg and Heinrich Ströbel.
Even at its high point, Die Weltbühne had a relatively low printing of 15,000 copies. It still had several journalistic coups including the discovery of the Veim murders
League of the Holy Court
The Vehmic courts, Vehmgericht, holy vehme, or just the Vehm, also spelt Feme, are names given to a "proto-vigilante" tribunal system of Westphalia active during the later Middle Ages, based on a fraternal organisation of lay judges called “free judges” . The principal seat of the courts was in...
in the Schwarze Reichswehr paramilitary groups as well as reports about the secret rearmament of the military, which later led to the so-called Weltbühne trial. The printing of Tucholsky's famous sentence "Soldiers are murderers" also led to charges against the publisher Ossietzky.
Reprints
- Die Schaubühne. Vollständiger Nachdruck der Jahrgänge 1905–1918. Athenäum Verlag, Königstein/Ts. 1978–1980
- Die Weltbühne. Vollständiger Nachdruck der Jahrgänge 1918–1933. Athenäum Verlag, Königstein/Ts. 1978
- Die Wiener Weltbühne. Nachdruck der Originalausgabe. 1. Jahrgang 1932. o.A.
- Die neue Weltbühne. Nachdruck der Originalausgabe. 2. Jahrgang der Wiener Weltbühne, 1. Halbjahr 1933. o.A.
- Die neue Weltbühne. Nachdruck der Originalausgabe Prag/Paris 4/1933–8/1939.