''Die Neue Welt'' ('The New World') was a newspaper issued from

Alsace Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. It was founded in the end of January 1921 by Charles Hueber, a local leader of the

French Communist Party The French Communist Party (french: Parti communiste français, ''PCF'' ; ) is a political party in France which advocates the principles of communism. The PCF is a member of the Party of the European Left, and its MEPs sit in the European Unit ...

in Alsace. The newspaper was merged into the ''l'Humanité d'Alsace-Lorraine'', the regional edition of the party newspaper ''

l'Humanité ''L'Humanité'' (; ), is a French daily newspaper. It was previously an organ of the French Communist Party, and maintains links to the party. Its slogan is "In an ideal world, ''L'Humanité'' would not exist." History and profile Pre-World Wa ...

'', in 1923. ''Die Neue Welt'' was revived as a daily newspaper by a section of Alsatian communists in early July 1929. The revived newspaper carried the byline "''Deutschsprachigen Tagesorgan der Kommunistischen Partei Frankreichs. Region Elsaß-Lothringen''" ('German-language daily organ of the Communist Party of France, Region Alsace-Lorraine'). As ''Die Neue Welt'' effectively competed with the established party paper ''l'Humanité d'Alsace-Lorraine'', the launch of ''Die Neue Welt'' became a cause of expulsions from the Communist Party. Amongst those expelled was Georges Schreckler, the editor of ''Die Neue Welt''. ''Die Neue Welt'' became the organ of the Opposition Communist Party of Alsace-Lorraine (KPO). At this point, ''Die Neue Welt'' had around 1,300 subscribers. Between 1933 and 1934

Hans Mayer Hans Mayer (19 March 1907 in Cologne – 19 May 2001 in Tübingen; pseudonym: ''Martin Seiler'') was a German literary scholar. Mayer was also a jurist and social researcher and was internationally recognized as a critic, author and musicologist ...

, a German-Jewish refugee and cadre of the

Communist Party of Germany (Opposition) The Communist Party of Germany (Opposition) (german: Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands (Opposition)), generally abbreviated as KPO or KPD(O), was a communist opposition organisation established at the end of 1928 and maintaining its existence unt ...

, was an editor of ''Die Neue Welt''. During Mayer's editorship, the newspaper took a more

anti-fascist Anti-fascism is a political movement in opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals. Beginning in European countries in the 1920s, it was at its most significant shortly before and during World War II, where the Axis powers were ...

approach, at the expense of Alsatian autonomism. The newspaper labelled

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

as a 'Murder State', and in November 1934 it claimed that

Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and then ...

's public repudiation of territorial claims on Alsace-Lorraine was a sham. ''Die Neue Welt'' editor-in-chief Alfred Quiri called for the end of cooperation between KPO and pro-German clerical autonomists. With the increased influence of refugees in the editorial line of ''Die Neue Welt'', German authorities banned it from sales in Germany in April 1933. Whilst the Nazis had expressed objections to the

Marxist Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...

profile of the newspaper, it was primarily the attacks on Hitler's government that were cited as the reasons behind the ban. The editorial line in ''Die Neue Welt'' caused some rifts between the refugees and Alsatian KPO cadres, who were unwilling to give up their Alsatian automonist position for anti-Hitler politics. In 1934 the refugee group left the KPO.Goodfellow, Samuel.
From Communism to Nazism: The Transformation of Alsatian Communists
', in ''Journal of Contemporary History'', Vol. 27, No. 2 (Apr., 1992), pp. 231-258 By 1935 the newspaper claimed a circulation of between 2,800 and 3,500, but this claim was likely inflated. The newspaper was running with large deficits (estimated at 10,000

French francs The franc (, ; sign: F or Fr), also commonly distinguished as the (FF), was a currency of France. Between 1360 and 1641, it was the name of coins worth 1 livre tournois and it remained in common parlance as a term for this amount of money. It w ...

monthly), deficits covered by funds from Germany. ''Die Neue Welt'' became frequently quoted in German media, as expressing the feelings of the Alsatian people.Werth, Alexander.
Which Way France?
' Sl: Foreman Press, 2007. pp. 261-264 In April 1939, ''Die Neue Welt'' was merged with ''Elsaß-Lothringische Zeitung'' (the organ of the ''Landespartei'').Hülsen, Bernhard von.
Szenenwechsel im Elsass: Theater und Gesellschaft in Straßburg zwischen Deutschland und Frankreich : 1890 - 1944
'. Leipzig: Leipziger Univ.-Verl, 2003. pp. 170, 246, 264

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Neue Welt 1921 establishments in France 1929 establishments in France Defunct newspapers published in France German-language newspapers published in Alsace-Lorraine Newspapers established in 1921 Publications disestablished in 1939 Right Opposition