''PACO'' was the name of the official

Mondpaca Esperantista Movado Mondpaca Esperantista Movado (MEM; World Peace Esperantist Movement) was an Esperanto association founded in 1953 in St. Pölten, Austria, by . Its aim was "utiligi Esperanton serve al paco kaj reciproka kompreno inter la popoloj" (to use Esperan ...

(MEM) magazine.

History

The Mondpaca Esperantista Movado (World Peace Esperantist Movement), founded in 1953 in

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

, had great significance for the reorganizing of the

Esperanto Esperanto ( or ) is the world's most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Created by the Warsaw-based ophthalmologist L. L. Zamenhof in 1887, it was intended to be a universal second language for international communi ...

movement in European socialist countries. The movement published a monthly journal called ''PACO''. The magazine was published every month in a different country, sometimes behind the

Iron Curtain The Iron Curtain was the political boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991. The term symbolizes the efforts by the Soviet Union (USSR) to block itself and its s ...

. The January issue might have been edited by the

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

ese MEM section, the February issue by the French section, the March issue by the

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

n section, etc. Also, the

German Democratic Republic German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

's MEM section published several issues of PACO.

National editions

German Democratic Republic

Even before the formalization of the Esperantist movement in the GDR, there had already appeared a ten-page 1960 Esperanto booklet published by the German Peace Council. Edited by Ludwig Schödl (

Neuruppin Neuruppin (; North Brandenburgisch: ''Reppin'') is a town in Brandenburg, Germany, the administrative seat of Ostprignitz-Ruppin district. It is the birthplace of the novelist Theodor Fontane (1819–1898) and therefore also referred to as ''Fonta ...

) and

Karl Maier Karl Maier (1901 – 25 July 2000) was a German Esperantist and member of the Universala Esperanto Asocio, for more than 50 years. Maier learned Esperanto in 1924. After emigration from Germany in 1930, he was living with Esperanto enthusiasts am ...

(

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 ...

), it had a circulation of 6,000 copies. After the foundation of the

cultural association Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups.Tyl ...

''Centra Laborrondo de Esperanto-Amikoj'' ("Central Workers' Circle of Friends of Esperanto", known since 1981 as the Esperanto Association (Cultural Association) of the GDR), this organization became the GDR's MEM section, and from 1966 to 1989 it published regularly the annual special edition of ''PACO''. The edition of 1966 had 32 pages, those from 1967 and 1968 had 36 pages, and the rest had 40 pages. There was a regular bimonthly series, printed with better-quality paper. In addition, the annual special issue from the GDR brought more content and had better design. These editions of ''PACO'' contained material about international political problems and multiple cultural articles, as well as notes on

interlinguistics Interlinguistics, as the science of planned languages, has existed for more than a century as a specific branch of linguistics for the study of various aspects of linguistic communication. Interlinguistics is a discipline formalized by Otto Jespers ...

esperantology Esperantology, or Esperanto studies, is a special Esperanto linguistics whose subjects are word construction, word assembly, word introduction and transcription of umbrella terms and proper names. Esperantology principles of word construction are ...

and studies of the advance of the Esperantist movement in East Germany and abroad. To be of a similar standard to widely circulated publications, it had the collaboration of professional graphic artists from the

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...

editorial office of

Zeit im Bild ''Zeit im Bild (ZiB)'' is the name for the television news broadcasts of ORF, running since December 1955. History The first ''Zeit im Bild'' was broadcast on December 5, 1955; two editions were broadcast that day, at 5pm and 7:30pm. The form ...

. This way the magazine was richly illustrated and presented in the A4 format. The print run was generally from 5,000 to 6,000 copies. MEM distributed the magazine not only inside the GDR but worldwide. Cumulatively, the 24 issues published totalled 944 pages. Issue 162 of '' Der Esperantist'' (1990) contained a cumulative index of articles.'' Der Esperantist'', Centra Laborrondo de Esperanto-Amikoj, no. 162, 1990. pp. 90–93. The chief editors (at least formally) were Eugen Menger, from 1966 to 1971, and

Detlev Blanke Detlev Blanke (30 May 1941 – 20 August 2016) was a German Esperantist. He was an interlinguistics lecturer at the Humboldt University of Berlin. He was one of Germany's most active Esperanto philologists and was from 1991 to 2016 both the chair ...

, from 1972 to 1989.

History

National editions

German Democratic Republic

References

Further reading