Abstract

In June 1945, the Soviet military administration in the Soviet occupation zone founded the “Cultural League for the Democratic Renewal of Germany” [Kulturbund zur demokratischen Erneuerung Deutschlands]. At first, the league did not advocate overtly party-political positions; rather, it was generally opposed to fascism and was supposed to be open to artists and intellectuals from all zones. Until 1958, it published the influential cultural magazine Aufbau. Later, it developed into the GDR’s central mass organization for culture.

From the 69th Program of the “Cultural League for the Democratic Renewal of Germany” (June 1945)

Source

Destruction of Nazi ideology in all areas of life and knowledge. Battle against the spiritual perpetrators of Nazi crimes and war crimes. Battle against all reactionary, militaristic ideas. Purging and keeping public life free from their influence.

Creation of a national unity front of German intellectual workers. Creation of an unbreakable unity between the intelligentsia and the people. With confidence in the viability of our people and its power to change: a rebirth of the German spirit under the banner of a militant democratic Weltanschauung. Collaboration with all ideological, religious, and church movements, and with groups with a democratic orientation.

[…]

Source: Der Kulturbund in Berlin. Berlin, 1948, p. 5 ff.

Translation: Thomas Dunlap

Recommended Citation

From the 69th Program of the “Cultural League for the Democratic Renewal of Germany” (June 1945), published in: German History in Documents and Images, <https://germanhistorydocs.org/en/occupation-and-the-emergence-of-two-states-1945-1961/ghdi:document-4491> [December 22, 2024].