''Die Wandlung'' was a monthly magazine published in

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

between November 1945 and Autumn 1949. "Die Wandlung" has no direct equivalent in English, but the gerund "The Changing" conveys the meaning sufficiently.

History and profile

''Die Wandlung'' was founded by the philosophers

Karl Jaspers Karl Theodor Jaspers (, ; 23 February 1883 – 26 February 1969) was a German-Swiss psychiatrist and philosopher who had a strong influence on modern theology, psychiatry, and philosophy. After being trained in and practicing psychiatry, Jasper ...

and

Dolf Sternberger Dolf Sternberger (originally ''Adolf Sternberger''; 28 July 1907 in Wiesbaden – 27 July 1989 in Frankfurt/Main) was a German philosopher and political scientist at the University of Heidelberg. Dolf Sternberger is known for his concept of cit ...

, the linguist-culturalist

Werner Krauss Werner Johannes Krauss (''Krauß'' in German; 23 June 1884 – 20 October 1959) was a German stage and film actor. Krauss dominated the German stage of the early 20th century. However, his participation in the antisemitic propaganda film ''Jud S ...

and the sociologist-economist

Alfred Weber Alfred Weber (; 30 July 1868 – 2 May 1958) was a German economist, geographer, sociologist and theoretician of culture whose work was influential in the development of modern economic geography. Life Alfred Weber, younger brother of the ...

. Appearing directly after the twelve Nazi years, the publication aspired to feed a spiritual renewal for Germans, both in the

western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

and

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 ...

took on the role of managing editor. Along with the journal's founders, contributors included

Hannah Arendt Hannah Arendt (, , ; 14 October 1906 – 4 December 1975) was a political philosopher, author, and Holocaust survivor. She is widely considered to be one of the most influential political theorists of the 20th century. Arendt was born ...

T. S. Eliot Thomas Stearns Eliot (26 September 18884 January 1965) was a poet, essayist, publisher, playwright, literary critic and editor.Bush, Ronald. "T. S. Eliot's Life and Career", in John A Garraty and Mark C. Carnes (eds), ''American National Biogr ...

Marie Luise Kaschnitz Marie Luise Kaschnitz (born Marie Luise von Holzing-Berslett; 31 January 1901 – 10 October 1974) was a German short story writer, novelist, essayist and poet. She is considered to be one of the leading post-war German poets. She was born in Ka ...

Gerhard Storz Gerhard Storz (19 August 1898 – 30 August 1983) was the son of a Lutheran pastor from Württemberg who at various stages distinguished himself in theatre productions, as a scholar, an educationalist, a politician and an author-journalist, someti ...

, Wilhelm E. Süskind and

Viktor von Weizsäcker Viktor Freiherr von Weizsäcker (21 April 1886, in Stuttgart – 9 January 1957, in Heidelberg) was a German physician and physiologist. He was the brother of Ernst von Weizsäcker, and uncle to Richard von Weizsäcker and Carl Friedrich von Weizs� ...

. Also included were documents relating to contemporary history, and in particular

National Socialism Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hit ...

. In the lead article of the first edition Karl Jaspers wrote that, after National Socialism, there were no longer any valid universal standards left. He would dare to take responsibility to try to find a way through this monstrous moral lacuna. For that, memories could not suffice. He wanted to base the focus of the new journal not on history but on the present and the future. After undergoing the Nazi experience, Jaspers stressed: "We do not come with a programme". Key concepts were moral renewal, responsibility, liberty and humanism.Die Wandlung: Geleitwort (lead article): Volume 1, Nov 1945, pages 1-6 In 1957 twenty-eight definitional contributions from Sternberger, Storz and Süskind were collected and published in a volume under the title "Aus dem Wörterbuch des Unmenschen" (''"From the Dictionary of Inhumanity"''). Words and phrases identified were those from the propaganda and euphemisms of Nazi period that, in the eyes of the authors, should be consigned to oblivion, but ten years after being identified in "Die Wandlung" were still in common usage. By the time the third edition appeared this "dictionary" had stretched to 33 "definitions".

References

1945 establishments in Germany 1949 disestablishments in West Germany Defunct political magazines published in Germany Monthly magazines published in Germany German-language magazines Magazines established in 1945 Magazines disestablished in 1949 Mass media in Heidelberg {{italic title