''Deutsche Volkszeitung'' ('German People's Newspaper', abbreviated DVZ) was a newspaper published daily from

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

between 1945–1946.Vogt, Timothy R.
Denazification in Soviet-Occupied Germany: Brandenburg, 1945-1948
'. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 2000. p. 265Stern, Leo.
Archivalische Forschungen zur Geschichte der deutschen Arbeiterbewegung
', Vol. 6, Eds. 4. Topos Verlag AG, 1969. p. 1838 It was the organ of the

Central Committee Central committee is the common designation of a standing administrative body of Communist party, communist parties, analogous to a board of directors, of both ruling and nonruling parties of former and existing socialist states. In such party org ...

of the

Communist Party of Germany The Communist Party of Germany (german: Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands, , KPD ) was a major political party in the Weimar Republic between 1918 and 1933, an underground resistance movement in Nazi Germany, and a minor party in West German ...

(KPD).

Foundation

The first issue was published on 13 June 1945.Strunk, Peter.
Zensur und Zensoren: Medienkontrolle und Propagandapolitik unter sowjetischer Besatzungsherrschaft in Deutschland
'. Berlin: Akad.-Verl, 1996. p. 17 ''Deutsche Volkszeitung'' was the first working class-newspaper to emerge in Berlin after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

.Dusiska, Emil.
Historical Development of Media Systems: German Democratic Republic
'. Paris (France): Unesco, 1979. p. 6 The circulation at this point was 100,000 copies.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. 33

Wandel's editorship

Paul Wandel, who had returned from exile in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

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 Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secreta ...

and German communist leaders just a few days earlier. Wandel had been proposed by

Walter Ulbricht Walter Ernst Paul Ulbricht (; 30 June 18931 August 1973) was a German communist politician. Ulbricht played a leading role in the creation of the Weimar-era Communist Party of Germany (KPD) and later (after spending the years of Nazi rule in ...

as the editor-in-chief of the new publication. During this period ''Deutsche Volkszeitung'' was the sole newspaper published in the

Soviet occupation zone The Soviet Occupation Zone ( or german: Ostzone, label=none, "East Zone"; , ''Sovetskaya okkupatsionnaya zona Germanii'', "Soviet Occupation Zone of Germany") was an area of Germany in Central Europe that was occupied by the Soviet Union as a c ...

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 Sepp Schwab became the new editor-in-chief of the newspaper.

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. An article in the 5 August 1945 issue of the newspaper claimed that

Siemens Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational conglomerate corporation and the largest industrial manufacturing company in Europe headquartered in Munich with branch offices abroad. The principal divisions of the corporation are ''Industry'', '' ...

had produced and installed the crematoria and gas chambers at

Auschwitz Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...

. 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. The Siemens chairman Wolf-Dietrich von Witzleben then responded by writing to

Lewis Lyne Major-General Lewis Owen Lyne CB DSO (21 August 1899 – 4 November 1970) was a British Army officer who served before and during the Second World War. He saw distinguished active service in command of the 169th Brigade in action in North Afri ...

, 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 ''Neues Deutschland'' (''nd''; en, New Germany, sometimes stylized in lowercase letters) is a left-wing German daily newspaper, headquartered in Berlin. For 43 years it was the official party newspaper of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany ...

'' (organ of the

Socialist Unity Party of Germany The Socialist Unity Party of Germany (german: Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands, ; SED, ), often known in English as the East German Communist Party, was the founding and ruling party of the German Democratic Republic (GDR; East German ...

, SED), founded as a result of the merger of ''Deutsche Volkszeitung'' and the

SPD The Social Democratic Party of Germany (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, ; SPD, ) is a centre-left social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been the ...

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. 78 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

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Deutsche Volkszeitung (1945) 1945 establishments in Germany 1946 disestablishments in Germany Communist Party of Germany Daily newspapers published in Germany Defunct newspapers published in Germany German-language communist newspapers Newspapers published in Berlin Newspapers established in 1945 Publications disestablished in 1946