Eastern Bloc information dissemination
Encyclopedia
Eastern Bloc
information dissemination was controlled directly by each country's Communist party
, which controlled the state media
, censorship
and propaganda
organs. State and party ownership of print, television and radio media served as an important manner in which to control information and society in light of Eastern Bloc leaderships viewing even marginal groups of opposition intellectuals as a potential threat to the bases underlying Communist power therein.
Circumvention of dissemination controls occurred to some degree through samizdat
and limited reception of western radio and television broadcasts. In addition, some regimes heavily restricted the flow of information from their countries to outside of the Eastern Bloc by heavily regulating the travel of foreigners and segregating approved travellers from the domestic population.
Bolsheviks took power following the Russian Revolution of 1917
. During the Russian Civil War
that followed, coinciding with the Red Army
's entry into Minsk
in 1919, Belarus was declared the Socialist Soviet Republic of Byelorussia
. After more conflict, the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic was declared in 1920. With the defeat of the Ukraine
in the Polish-Ukrainian War
, after the March 1921 Peace of Riga
following the Polish-Soviet War
, central and eastern Ukraine were annexed into the Soviet Union as the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. In 1922, the Russian SFSR, Ukraine SSR, Byelorussian SSR
and Transcaucasian SFSR
were officially merged
as republics creating the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, or Soviet Union
.
At the end of World War II
, all eastern and central European capitals were controlled by the Soviet Union. During the final stages of the war, the Soviet Union
began the creation of the Eastern Bloc
by occupying several countries as Soviet Socialist Republics that were originally effectively ceded to it by Nazi Germany in the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
. These included eastern Poland
(incorporated into two different SSRs), Latvia
(became Latvia SSR), Estonia
(became Estonian SSR), Lithuania
(became Lithuania SSR), part of eastern Finland
(became Karelo-Finnish SSR
) and northeastern Romania
(became the Moldavian SSR
).
By 1945, these additional annexed countries totaled approximately 180,000 further square miles, or slightly more than the area of West Germany, East Germany and Austria combined. Other nations were converted into Soviet Satellite
states, such as the People's Republic of Poland
, the People's Republic of Hungary
, the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic
, the People's Republic of Romania, the People's Republic of Albania, and later East Germany from the Soviet zone of German occupation. The Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia was also considered part of the Bloc, though a Tito-Stalin split
occurred in 1948 followed by the formation of the Non-Aligned Movement
.
Throughout the Eastern Bloc, both in the Soviet Socialist Republic and elsewhere, Russia was given prominence, and referred to as the naibolee vydajuščajasja nacija (the most prominent nation) and the rukovodjaščij narod (the leading people). The Soviets encouraged the admiration of everything Russian and the reproduction of their own Communist structural hierarchies in each of the Bloc states.
The defining characteristic of Communism as implemented in the Eastern Bloc
was the unique symbiosis of the state with society and the economy, resulting in politics and economics losing their distinctive features as autonomous and distinguishable spheres. Initially, Stalin directed systems that rejected Western institutional characteristics of market economies
, democratic governance (dubbed "bourgeois democracy" in Soviet parlance) and the rule of law subduing discretional intervention by the state. The Soviets mandated expropriation and etatization of private property.
The Soviet-style "replica regimes" that arose in the Bloc not only reproduced Soviet command economies, but also adopted the methods employed by Joseph Stalin
and Soviet secret police to suppress real and potential opposition. Communist regimes in the Eastern Bloc saw even marginal groups of opposition intellectuals as a potential threat because of the basis underlying Communist power. The suppression of dissidence and opposition was a central prerequisite for the security of Communist power within the Eastern Bloc, though the degree of opposition and dissident suppression varied by country and period.
While over 15 million Eastern Bloc residents migrated westward from 1945 to 1949, emigration was effectively halted in the early 1950s, with the Soviet approach to controlling national movement emulated by most of the rest of the Eastern Bloc. Furthermore, the Eastern Bloc experienced economic mis-development by central planners resulting in those countries following a path of extensive rather than intensive development, and thus lagging far behind their western European counterparts in per capita Gross Domestic Product.
, the state owned and operated the means of mass communication. The ruling authorities viewed media as a propaganda tool, and widely practiced censorship to exercise almost full control over the information dissemination. The press in Communist countries was an organ of, and completely reliant on, the state. Until the late 1980s, all Eastern Bloc radio and television organizations were state-owned (and tightly controlled), while print media was usually owned by political organizations, mostly by the local Communist party.
Youth newspapers and magazines were owned by youth organizations affiliated with the communist party. The governing body in the Soviet Union was "USSR State Committee for Television and Radio Broadcasting", or USSR Gosteleradio (Государственный комитет по телевидению и радиовещанию СССР, Гостелерадио СССР), which was in charge both of Soviet TV and Radio in the Soviet Union
.
The Communist party exercised control over the media and was responsible for censorship. Media served as an important form of control over information and thus of society. Eastern Bloc authorities viewed the dissemination and portrayal of knowledge as vital to the survival of Communism and thus stifled alternative concepts and critiques. Several state Communist Party newspapers were published. Radio was initially the dominant medium, with television being considered low on the priority list when compiling Five-year plans during the industrialisation
of the 1950s.
. Censorship institutions in the countries of the Bloc were organized differently. For example, censorship in Poland
was clearly identified whereas it was loosely structured, but no less efficient, in Hungary
. Strict censorship was introduced in the People's Republic of Albania and Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia as early as 1944, though it was somewhat relaxed in Yugoslavia after the Tito-Stalin split
of 1948. Unlike the rest of the Eastern Bloc, relative freedom existed for three years in Czechoslovakia
until Soviet-style censorship was fully applied in 1948, along with the Czechoslovak coup d'état of 1948
.
Throughout the Bloc, the various ministries of culture held a tight rein on writers. Cultural products reflected the propaganda needs of the state and Party-approved censors exercised strict control in the early years. During the Stalinist period, even the weather forecasts were changed if they would have otherwise suggested that the sun might not shine on May Day
. Under Nicolae Ceauşescu
in Romania, weather reports were doctored so that the temperatures were not seen to rise above or fall below the levels which dictated that work must stop.
In each country, leading bodies of the ruling Communist Part exercised hierarchical control of the censorship system. Each Communist Party maintained a department of its Central Committee
apparatus to supervise media. Censors employed auxiliary tools such as: the power to launch or close down any newspaper, radio or television station, licensing of journalists through unions and the power of appointment. Party bureaucrats held all leading editorial positions. One or two representatives of censorship agencies modeled on the Soviet GLAVLIT (Main Administration for the Protection of Official and Military Secrets) worked directly in all editorial offices. No story could be printed or broadcast without their explicit approval.
Initially, East Germany presented unique issues because of rules for the occupying powers in the divided Germany (e.g. regarding media control) that prevented the outright seizure of all media outlets. The Soviet occupation administration (SVAG) directed propaganda and censorship policies to East German censorship organs through its "sector for propaganda and censorship". While the initial SVAG policies did not appear to differ greatly from those in the western occupation zones governing denazification
, censorship became one of the most overt instruments used to manipulated political, intellectual and cultural developments in East Germany. Art societies and associations that had existed prior to World War II were dissolved and all new theatres an art societies had to register with SVAG. Art exhibits were put under a blanket ban unless censorship organs approved them in advance.
After East Germany's official establishment, while the original constitution provided that "censorship of the media is not to occur", both official and unofficial censorship occurred, although to a lesser extent during its later years. Thereafter, official East German censorship was supervised and carried out by two governmental organizations, the Head office for publishing companies and bookselling trade (Hauptverwaltung Verlage und Buchhandel, HV), and the Bureau for Copyright (Büro für Urheberrechte). The HV determined the degree of censorship and the method of publishing and marketing works. The Bureau for Copyright appraised the work, then decided if it or another publication was permitted to be published in East Germany or in foreign country. For theatres, a "repertory commission" was created that consisted of the Ministerium für Volksbildung (MfV), the ruling SED
party, the applicable theatre union and the East German office for theatrical affairs.
No play could be accepted, rehearsed, or performed without prior ministerial approval. After a long visa procurement process, western visitors driving over the West German border to East Germany had their car strip-searched for prohibited Western "propaganda material." Nevertheless the East German authorities found it extremely difficult to prevent their citizens listening to Western radio stations and Western TV
was available across most of the GDR. Technical and diplomatic considerations meant attempts at jamming
Western Stations were (unlike in other Eastern bloc countries) soon abandoned.
In the Soviet Union
, in accordance with the official ideology and politics of the Communist Party, Goskomizdat
censored all printed matter, Goskino
supervised all cinema
, Gosteleradio controlled radio
and television
broadcasting
and the First Department
in many agencies and institutions, such as the State Statistical Committee (Goskomstat
), was responsible for assuring that state secrets and other sensitive information only reached authorized hands. The Soviets destroyed pre-revolutionary and foreign material from libraries, leaving only "special collections" (spetskhran
), accessible by special permit from the KGB
. The Soviet Union also censored images
, included removing repressed persons from texts, posters, paintings and photographs.
Other artists, such as Geo Bogza
, used subtle imagery or allegories within their works to criticize regimes. This did not prevent state scrutiny, as with the case of Bogza coming under the scrutiny of the Securitate
.
was the central agency for collection and distribution of internal and international news for all Soviet newspapers, radio and television stations. TASS monopolized the supply of political news. It was frequently infiltrated by Soviet intelligence and security agencies, such as the NKVD
and GRU
. TASS had affiliates in 14 Soviet republics, including the Lithuanian SSR
, Latvian SSR
, Estonian SSR, Moldavian SSR
. Ukrainian SSR
and Byelorussian SSR
.
Despite outward similarities in press policy, large differences existed in the roles and functions of the mass media in Eastern Bloc countries. Where the press was allowed more freedom, such as in Poland, Hungary, and Yugoslavia, a national subtext and a significant element of entertainment flourished. In some cases, newspapers and magazines served as the most visible part of liberalizing forces, such as in Poland in 1956 and 1980–81, in Hungary in 1956, and in Czechoslovakia in 1968.
In many instances toward the end of the Eastern Bloc's existence, the ruling Communist parties' messages in the press increasingly diverged from reality, which contributed to the declining faith of the public in Communist rule. At the same time, some press in the Eastern Bloc became more open in the 1980s in countries such as Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia. In Yugoslavia, the press after Tito's reign turned increasingly nationalistic. Only in Romania and Albania did the press remain under tight dictatorial control right up until the end of the Eastern Bloc.
In East Germany, where initial control could be less overt because of shared allied occupation rules, the Soviet SVG set up the Deutsche Verwaltung für Volksbildung (DVV) in the fall of 1945. The SVAG and DVV controlled and approved all publication licenses needed to publish newspapers, books, journals and other materials. Those agencies also provided the top publishing priorities and would apportion paper used for printing to the various publications in accordance with those priorities. The SVAG initially licensed some private publishers which required the employment of a greater number of censors.
effectively sealed off outside access to the Soviet Socialist Republics (and until his death), effectively permitting no foreign travel inside the Soviet Union such that outsiders did not know of the political processes that had taken place therein. During this period, and even for 25 years after Stalin's death, the few diplomats and foreign correspondents that were permitted inside the Soviet Union were usually restricted to within a few miles of Moscow, their phones were tapped, their residences were restricted to foreigner-only locations and they were constantly followed by Soviet authorities. Dissenters who approached such foreigners were arrested. For many years after World War II, even the best informed foreigners did not know the number of arrest or executed Soviet citizens, or how poorly the Soviet economy had performed.
Similarly, the regimes in Romania carefully controlled foreign visitors in order to restrict the flow of information coming out of (and into) Romania. Accordingly, activities in Romania remained, until the late 1960s, largely unknown to the outside world. As a result, until 1990, very little information regarding labour camps and prisons in Romania appeared in the West. When such information appeared, it was usually in Romanian émigré publications. Romania's Securitate
secret police were able to suppress information leaking to the west about resistance to the regime. Stalinist Albania, which had become increasingly paranoid and isolated after de-Stalinization
and the death of Mao Tse Tung, restricted visitors to 6,000 per year, and segregated those few that traveled to Albania.
Communist Party documents reveal a more detailed classification of specific targets (workers, peasants, youth, women, etc.).
Because the Communist Party
was portrayed under Marxist-Leninist theory as the protagonist of history pushing toward the inevitable end result of historical materialism as a "vanguard of the working class", Party leaders were claimed to be as infallible and inevitable as the purported historical end itself. Propaganda often worked itself beyond agit prop plays into traditional productions, such as in Hungary
after the Tito-Stalin split
, where the director of the National Theatre produced a version of Macbeth in which the villainous king was revealed as none other than hated (in the Eatsern Bloc) Yugoslavian Leader Josip Broz Tito
. Regarding economic woes, debilitating wage cuts following economic stagnation were referred to as "blows in the face of imperialism", while forced loans were called "voluntary contributions to the building of socialism".
Communist theoretician Nikolai Bukharin
in his The ABC of Communism
wrote:
Some propaganda would "retell" the western news, such as the East German television program Der schwarze Kanal
("The Black Channel"), which contained bowdlerized
programs from West Germany with added Communist commentary. The name "Black channel" was a play on words deriving from the German language use of the term by plumbers to describe a sewer. The program was meant to counter ideas received by some from West German television because the geography of the divided Germany
meant that West German television signals (particularly ARD
) could be received in most of East Germany, except in parts of Eastern Saxony
around Dresden, which consequently earned the latter the nickname "valley of the clueless."
Eastern Bloc leaders, including even Joseph Stalin
, could become personally involved in dissemination. For example, in January 1948, the U.S. State Department
published a collection of documents titled Nazi-Soviet Relations, 1939–1941: Documents from the Archives of The German Foreign Office, which contained documents recovered from the Foreign Office of Nazi Germany
revealing Soviet conversations with Germany regarding the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
, including its secret protocol dividing eastern Europe, the 1939 German-Soviet Commercial Agreement, and discussions of the Soviet Union potentially becoming the fourth Axis Power
.
In response, one month later, the Soviet Information Bureau
published Falsifiers of History
. Stalin personally edited the book, rewriting entire chapters by hand. The book claimed, for instance, that American bankers and industrialists provided capital for the growth of German war industries, while deliberately encouraging Hitler to expand eastward. The book also included the claim that, during the Pact's operation, Stalin rejected Hitler's offer to share in a division of the world, without mentioning the Soviet offers to join the Axis
. Historical studies, official accounts, memoirs and textbooks published in the Soviet Union used that depiction of events until the Soviet Union's dissolution
.
The book referred to "the American falsifiers and their British and French associates", claimed "[a]s far back as in 1937 it became perfectly clear that a big war was being hatched by Hitler with the direct connivance of Great Britain and France", blasted "the claptrap of the slanderers" and stated "[n]aturally, the falsifiers of history and slanderers are called falsifiers and slanderers precisely because they do not entertain any respect for facts. They prefer to gossip and slander."
In East Germany, the Soviet SVAG and DVV initially controlled all publication prorities. In the initial months of 1946, the Soviets were unsure how to merge propaganda and censorship efforts in East Germany. The SVAG engaged in a broad propaganda campaign that moved beyond customary political propaganda to engage in the practice at unions, women's organizations and youth organizations.
was the clandestine copying and distribution of government-suppressed literature or other media in Eastern bloc
countries. Copies were often made in small quantities of handwritten or typed documents, while recipients were expected to make additional copies. Samizdat traders used underground literature for self-analysis and self-expression under the heavy censorship of the Eastern Bloc. The practice was fraught with danger as harsh punishments were meted out to people caught possessing or copying censored
materials. Former Soviet dissident Vladimir Bukovsky
defined it as follows: "I myself create it, edit it, censor it, publish it, distribute it, and [may] get imprisoned for it." One of the longest-running and well-known samizdat publications was the information bulletin "Хроника текущих событий" (Khronika Tekushchikh Sobitiy; Chronicle of Current Events), which contained anonymously published pieces dedicated to the defense of human rights
in the USSR. Several people were arrested in connection with the Chronicle, including Natalya Gorbanevskaya
, Yuri Shikhanovich, Pyotr Yakir, Victor Krasin
, Sergei Kovalev
, Alexander Lavut, Tatyana Velikanova, among others.
Magnitizdat
(in Russian магнитиздат) is a term used to describe the process of re-copying and self distributing live audio tape recordings in the Soviet Union that were not available commercially. The process of magnitizdat was less risky than publishing literature via samizdat, since any person in the USSR was permitted to own a private reel-to-reel tape recorder, while paper duplication equipment was under control of the state. "Tamizdat" refers to literature published abroad (там, tam, meaning "there"), often from smuggled manuscripts.
such signals. In 1947, VOA started broadcasting in Russian
with the intent to counter Soviet propaganda directed against American leaders and policies. These included Radio Free Europe
(RFE)), RIAS (Berlin)
the Voice of America
(VOA), Deutsche Welle
, Radio France International and the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). The Soviet Union responded by attempting aggressive, electronic jamming
of VOA (and some other Western) broadcasts om 1949. The BBC World Service
similarly broadcast language-specific programming to countries behind the Iron Curtain
.
RFE was developed out of a belief that the Cold War would eventually be fought by political rather than military means. In January 1950, it obtained a transmitter base at Lampertheim
, West Germany
and on July 4 of the same year, RFE completed its first broadcast aimed at Czechoslovakia
Broadcasts were often banned in Eastern Europe and Communist authorities used sophisticated jamming
techniques in an attempt to prevent citizens from listening to them. In late 1950, RFE began to assemble a full-fledged foreign broadcast staff, and became more than just a "mouthpiece for exiles" who had fled Eastern Bloc countries. While RFE was cleared of charges that it gave Hungarian listeners false hope during the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, its Broadcast Analysis Division was established to ensure that broadcasts were accurate and professional while maintaining the journalists' former autonomy
.
A 1960 study concluded that RFE possessed considerably more listeners than the BBC or VOA. The study concluded that the BBC was regarded as the most objective and the VOA had suffered a notable decline since it stopped critical broadcasts on the communist world after the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, focusing instead on world news, American culture and jazz.
Eastern bloc
The term Eastern Bloc or Communist Bloc refers to the former communist states of Eastern and Central Europe, generally the Soviet Union and the countries of the Warsaw Pact...
information dissemination was controlled directly by each country's Communist party
Communist party
A political party described as a Communist party includes those that advocate the application of the social principles of communism through a communist form of government...
, which controlled the state media
Mass media
Mass media refers collectively to all media technologies which are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit their information electronically and comprise of television, film and radio, movies, CDs, DVDs and some other gadgets like cameras or video consoles...
, censorship
Censorship
thumb|[[Book burning]] following the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|1973 coup]] that installed the [[Military government of Chile |Pinochet regime]] in Chile...
and propaganda
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
organs. State and party ownership of print, television and radio media served as an important manner in which to control information and society in light of Eastern Bloc leaderships viewing even marginal groups of opposition intellectuals as a potential threat to the bases underlying Communist power therein.
Circumvention of dissemination controls occurred to some degree through samizdat
Samizdat
Samizdat was a key form of dissident activity across the Soviet bloc in which individuals reproduced censored publications by hand and passed the documents from reader to reader...
and limited reception of western radio and television broadcasts. In addition, some regimes heavily restricted the flow of information from their countries to outside of the Eastern Bloc by heavily regulating the travel of foreigners and segregating approved travellers from the domestic population.
Creation of the Eastern Bloc
Russian Revolution of 1917
The Russian Revolution is the collective term for a series of revolutions in Russia in 1917, which destroyed the Tsarist autocracy and led to the creation of the Soviet Union. The Tsar was deposed and replaced by a provisional government in the first revolution of February 1917...
. During the Russian Civil War
Russian Civil War
The Russian Civil War was a multi-party war that occurred within the former Russian Empire after the Russian provisional government collapsed to the Soviets, under the domination of the Bolshevik party. Soviet forces first assumed power in Petrograd The Russian Civil War (1917–1923) was a...
that followed, coinciding with the Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
's entry into Minsk
Minsk
- Ecological situation :The ecological situation is monitored by Republican Center of Radioactive and Environmental Control .During 2003–2008 the overall weight of contaminants increased from 186,000 to 247,400 tons. The change of gas as industrial fuel to mazut for financial reasons has worsened...
in 1919, Belarus was declared the Socialist Soviet Republic of Byelorussia
Socialist Soviet Republic of Byelorussia
The Socialist Soviet Republic of Byelorussia or Soviet Socialist Republic of Belarus was an early republic in the historical territory of Belarus after the collapse of the Russian Empire as a result of the October Revolution....
. After more conflict, the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic was declared in 1920. With the defeat of the Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
in the Polish-Ukrainian War
Polish-Ukrainian War
The Polish–Ukrainian War of 1918 and 1919 was a conflict between the forces of the Second Polish Republic and West Ukrainian People's Republic for the control over Eastern Galicia after the dissolution of Austria-Hungary.-Background:...
, after the March 1921 Peace of Riga
Peace of Riga
The Peace of Riga, also known as the Treaty of Riga; was signed in Riga on 18 March 1921, between Poland, Soviet Russia and Soviet Ukraine. The treaty ended the Polish-Soviet War....
following the Polish-Soviet War
Polish-Soviet War
The Polish–Soviet War was an armed conflict between Soviet Russia and Soviet Ukraine and the Second Polish Republic and the Ukrainian People's Republic—four states in post–World War I Europe...
, central and eastern Ukraine were annexed into the Soviet Union as the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. In 1922, the Russian SFSR, Ukraine SSR, Byelorussian SSR
Byelorussian SSR
The Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic was one of fifteen constituent republics of the Soviet Union. It was one of the four original founding members of the Soviet Union in 1922, together with the Ukrainian SSR, the Transcaucasian SFSR and the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic...
and Transcaucasian SFSR
Transcaucasian SFSR
The Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic , also known as the Transcaucasian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, the Transcaucasian SFSR and the TSFSR for short, was a short-lived republic of the Soviet Union, lasting from 1922 to 1936...
were officially merged
Treaty on the Creation of the USSR
The Treaty on the Creation of the USSR is a document that legalized the creation of a union of several Soviet republics in the form of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics...
as republics creating the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, or Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
.
At the end of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, all eastern and central European capitals were controlled by the Soviet Union. During the final stages of the war, the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
began the creation of the Eastern Bloc
Eastern bloc
The term Eastern Bloc or Communist Bloc refers to the former communist states of Eastern and Central Europe, generally the Soviet Union and the countries of the Warsaw Pact...
by occupying several countries as Soviet Socialist Republics that were originally effectively ceded to it by Nazi Germany in the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, named after the Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov and the German foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, was an agreement officially titled the Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Soviet Union and signed in Moscow in the late hours of 23 August 1939...
. These included eastern Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
(incorporated into two different SSRs), Latvia
Latvia
Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...
(became Latvia SSR), Estonia
Estonia
Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...
(became Estonian SSR), Lithuania
Lithuania
Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...
(became Lithuania SSR), part of eastern Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
(became Karelo-Finnish SSR
Karelo-Finnish SSR
The Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic was a short-lived republic that was a part of the former Soviet Union. The republic existed from 1940 until it was merged back into the Russian SFSR in 1956 ....
) and northeastern Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
(became the Moldavian SSR
Moldavian SSR
The Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic , commonly abbreviated to Moldavian SSR or MSSR, was one of the 15 republics of the Soviet Union...
).
By 1945, these additional annexed countries totaled approximately 180,000 further square miles, or slightly more than the area of West Germany, East Germany and Austria combined. Other nations were converted into Soviet Satellite
Satellite state
A satellite state is a political term that refers to a country that is formally independent, but under heavy political and economic influence or control by another country...
states, such as the People's Republic of Poland
People's Republic of Poland
The People's Republic of Poland was the official name of Poland from 1952 to 1990. Although the Soviet Union took control of the country immediately after the liberation from Nazi Germany in 1944, the name of the state was not changed until eight years later...
, the People's Republic of Hungary
People's Republic of Hungary
The People's Republic of Hungary or Hungarian People's Republic was the official state name of Hungary from 1949 to 1989 during its Communist period under the guidance of the Soviet Union. The state remained in existence until 1989 when opposition forces consolidated in forcing the regime to...
, the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic
Czechoslovak Socialist Republic
The Czechoslovak Socialist Republic was the official name of Czechoslovakia from 1960 until end of 1989 , a Soviet satellite state of the Eastern Bloc....
, the People's Republic of Romania, the People's Republic of Albania, and later East Germany from the Soviet zone of German occupation. The Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia was also considered part of the Bloc, though a Tito-Stalin split
Tito-Stalin Split
The Tito–Stalin Split was a conflict between the leaders of Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, which resulted in Yugoslavia's expulsion from the Communist Information Bureau in 1948...
occurred in 1948 followed by the formation of the Non-Aligned Movement
Non-Aligned Movement
The Non-Aligned Movement is a group of states considering themselves not aligned formally with or against any major power bloc. As of 2011, the movement had 120 members and 17 observer countries...
.
Conditions in the Eastern Bloc
Throughout the Eastern Bloc, both in the Soviet Socialist Republic and elsewhere, Russia was given prominence, and referred to as the naibolee vydajuščajasja nacija (the most prominent nation) and the rukovodjaščij narod (the leading people). The Soviets encouraged the admiration of everything Russian and the reproduction of their own Communist structural hierarchies in each of the Bloc states.
The defining characteristic of Communism as implemented in the Eastern Bloc
Eastern bloc
The term Eastern Bloc or Communist Bloc refers to the former communist states of Eastern and Central Europe, generally the Soviet Union and the countries of the Warsaw Pact...
was the unique symbiosis of the state with society and the economy, resulting in politics and economics losing their distinctive features as autonomous and distinguishable spheres. Initially, Stalin directed systems that rejected Western institutional characteristics of market economies
Market economy
A market economy is an economy in which the prices of goods and services are determined in a free price system. This is often contrasted with a state-directed or planned economy. Market economies can range from hypothetically pure laissez-faire variants to an assortment of real-world mixed...
, democratic governance (dubbed "bourgeois democracy" in Soviet parlance) and the rule of law subduing discretional intervention by the state. The Soviets mandated expropriation and etatization of private property.
The Soviet-style "replica regimes" that arose in the Bloc not only reproduced Soviet command economies, but also adopted the methods employed by Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
and Soviet secret police to suppress real and potential opposition. Communist regimes in the Eastern Bloc saw even marginal groups of opposition intellectuals as a potential threat because of the basis underlying Communist power. The suppression of dissidence and opposition was a central prerequisite for the security of Communist power within the Eastern Bloc, though the degree of opposition and dissident suppression varied by country and period.
While over 15 million Eastern Bloc residents migrated westward from 1945 to 1949, emigration was effectively halted in the early 1950s, with the Soviet approach to controlling national movement emulated by most of the rest of the Eastern Bloc. Furthermore, the Eastern Bloc experienced economic mis-development by central planners resulting in those countries following a path of extensive rather than intensive development, and thus lagging far behind their western European counterparts in per capita Gross Domestic Product.
Media and information restrictions
Media and information control
In the Eastern BlocEastern bloc
The term Eastern Bloc or Communist Bloc refers to the former communist states of Eastern and Central Europe, generally the Soviet Union and the countries of the Warsaw Pact...
, the state owned and operated the means of mass communication. The ruling authorities viewed media as a propaganda tool, and widely practiced censorship to exercise almost full control over the information dissemination. The press in Communist countries was an organ of, and completely reliant on, the state. Until the late 1980s, all Eastern Bloc radio and television organizations were state-owned (and tightly controlled), while print media was usually owned by political organizations, mostly by the local Communist party.
Youth newspapers and magazines were owned by youth organizations affiliated with the communist party. The governing body in the Soviet Union was "USSR State Committee for Television and Radio Broadcasting", or USSR Gosteleradio (Государственный комитет по телевидению и радиовещанию СССР, Гостелерадио СССР), which was in charge both of Soviet TV and Radio in the Soviet Union
Radio in the Soviet Union
All-Union Radio was the radio broadcasting organisation for the USSR from 1924 until the dissolution of the USSR...
.
The Communist party exercised control over the media and was responsible for censorship. Media served as an important form of control over information and thus of society. Eastern Bloc authorities viewed the dissemination and portrayal of knowledge as vital to the survival of Communism and thus stifled alternative concepts and critiques. Several state Communist Party newspapers were published. Radio was initially the dominant medium, with television being considered low on the priority list when compiling Five-year plans during the industrialisation
Industrialisation
Industrialization is the process of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an industrial one...
of the 1950s.
Censorship and quashing of dissent
Strict censorship existed in the Eastern Bloc, though it was at times circumvented by those engaging in samizdatSamizdat
Samizdat was a key form of dissident activity across the Soviet bloc in which individuals reproduced censored publications by hand and passed the documents from reader to reader...
. Censorship institutions in the countries of the Bloc were organized differently. For example, censorship in Poland
People's Republic of Poland
The People's Republic of Poland was the official name of Poland from 1952 to 1990. Although the Soviet Union took control of the country immediately after the liberation from Nazi Germany in 1944, the name of the state was not changed until eight years later...
was clearly identified whereas it was loosely structured, but no less efficient, in Hungary
People's Republic of Hungary
The People's Republic of Hungary or Hungarian People's Republic was the official state name of Hungary from 1949 to 1989 during its Communist period under the guidance of the Soviet Union. The state remained in existence until 1989 when opposition forces consolidated in forcing the regime to...
. Strict censorship was introduced in the People's Republic of Albania and Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia as early as 1944, though it was somewhat relaxed in Yugoslavia after the Tito-Stalin split
Tito-Stalin Split
The Tito–Stalin Split was a conflict between the leaders of Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, which resulted in Yugoslavia's expulsion from the Communist Information Bureau in 1948...
of 1948. Unlike the rest of the Eastern Bloc, relative freedom existed for three years in Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovak Socialist Republic
The Czechoslovak Socialist Republic was the official name of Czechoslovakia from 1960 until end of 1989 , a Soviet satellite state of the Eastern Bloc....
until Soviet-style censorship was fully applied in 1948, along with the Czechoslovak coup d'état of 1948
Czechoslovak coup d'état of 1948
The Czechoslovak coup d'état of 1948 – in Communist historiography known as "Victorious February" – was an event late that February in which the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, with Soviet backing, assumed undisputed control over the government of Czechoslovakia, ushering in over four decades...
.
Throughout the Bloc, the various ministries of culture held a tight rein on writers. Cultural products reflected the propaganda needs of the state and Party-approved censors exercised strict control in the early years. During the Stalinist period, even the weather forecasts were changed if they would have otherwise suggested that the sun might not shine on May Day
May Day
May Day on May 1 is an ancient northern hemisphere spring festival and usually a public holiday; it is also a traditional spring holiday in many cultures....
. Under Nicolae Ceauşescu
Nicolae Ceausescu
Nicolae Ceaușescu was a Romanian Communist politician. He was General Secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 to 1989, and as such was the country's second and last Communist leader...
in Romania, weather reports were doctored so that the temperatures were not seen to rise above or fall below the levels which dictated that work must stop.
In each country, leading bodies of the ruling Communist Part exercised hierarchical control of the censorship system. Each Communist Party maintained a department of its Central Committee
Central Committee
Central Committee was the common designation of a standing administrative body of communist parties, analogous to a board of directors, whether ruling or non-ruling in the twentieth century and of the surviving, mostly Trotskyist, states in the early twenty first. In such party organizations the...
apparatus to supervise media. Censors employed auxiliary tools such as: the power to launch or close down any newspaper, radio or television station, licensing of journalists through unions and the power of appointment. Party bureaucrats held all leading editorial positions. One or two representatives of censorship agencies modeled on the Soviet GLAVLIT (Main Administration for the Protection of Official and Military Secrets) worked directly in all editorial offices. No story could be printed or broadcast without their explicit approval.
Initially, East Germany presented unique issues because of rules for the occupying powers in the divided Germany (e.g. regarding media control) that prevented the outright seizure of all media outlets. The Soviet occupation administration (SVAG) directed propaganda and censorship policies to East German censorship organs through its "sector for propaganda and censorship". While the initial SVAG policies did not appear to differ greatly from those in the western occupation zones governing denazification
Denazification
Denazification was an Allied initiative to rid German and Austrian society, culture, press, economy, judiciary, and politics of any remnants of the National Socialist ideology. It was carried out specifically by removing those involved from positions of influence and by disbanding or rendering...
, censorship became one of the most overt instruments used to manipulated political, intellectual and cultural developments in East Germany. Art societies and associations that had existed prior to World War II were dissolved and all new theatres an art societies had to register with SVAG. Art exhibits were put under a blanket ban unless censorship organs approved them in advance.
After East Germany's official establishment, while the original constitution provided that "censorship of the media is not to occur", both official and unofficial censorship occurred, although to a lesser extent during its later years. Thereafter, official East German censorship was supervised and carried out by two governmental organizations, the Head office for publishing companies and bookselling trade (Hauptverwaltung Verlage und Buchhandel, HV), and the Bureau for Copyright (Büro für Urheberrechte). The HV determined the degree of censorship and the method of publishing and marketing works. The Bureau for Copyright appraised the work, then decided if it or another publication was permitted to be published in East Germany or in foreign country. For theatres, a "repertory commission" was created that consisted of the Ministerium für Volksbildung (MfV), the ruling SED
Socialist Unity Party of Germany
The Socialist Unity Party of Germany was the governing party of the German Democratic Republic from its formation on 7 October 1949 until the elections of March 1990. The SED was a communist political party with a Marxist-Leninist ideology...
party, the applicable theatre union and the East German office for theatrical affairs.
No play could be accepted, rehearsed, or performed without prior ministerial approval. After a long visa procurement process, western visitors driving over the West German border to East Germany had their car strip-searched for prohibited Western "propaganda material." Nevertheless the East German authorities found it extremely difficult to prevent their citizens listening to Western radio stations and Western TV
ARD (broadcaster)
ARD is a joint organization of Germany's regional public-service broadcasters...
was available across most of the GDR. Technical and diplomatic considerations meant attempts at jamming
Radio jamming
Radio jamming is the transmission of radio signals that disrupt communications by decreasing the signal to noise ratio. Unintentional jamming occurs when an operator transmits on a busy frequency without first checking whether it is in use, or without being able to hear stations using the frequency...
Western Stations were (unlike in other Eastern bloc countries) soon abandoned.
In the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, in accordance with the official ideology and politics of the Communist Party, Goskomizdat
Goskomizdat
Goskomizdat was the State Committee for Publishing in the Soviet Union.It had control over publishing houses, printing plants, book trade and was in charge of the ideological...
censored all printed matter, Goskino
Goskino
Goskino USSR is the abbreviated name for the USSR State Committee for Cinematography in the Soviet Union...
supervised all cinema
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
, Gosteleradio controlled radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
and television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
broadcasting
Broadcasting
Broadcasting is the distribution of audio and video content to a dispersed audience via any audio visual medium. Receiving parties may include the general public or a relatively large subset of thereof...
and the First Department
First Department
The First Department was in charge of secrecy and political security of the workplace of every enterprise or institution of the Soviet Union that dealt with any kind of technical or scientific information or had printing capabilities .Every branch of the Central Statistical Administration and its...
in many agencies and institutions, such as the State Statistical Committee (Goskomstat
Goskomstat
Goskomstat was the centralised agency dealing with statistics in the Soviet Union. Goskomstat was created in 1987 to replace the Central Statistical Administration. While maintaining the same basic functions in the collection, analysis, and publicationand distribution of state statistics,...
), was responsible for assuring that state secrets and other sensitive information only reached authorized hands. The Soviets destroyed pre-revolutionary and foreign material from libraries, leaving only "special collections" (spetskhran
Spetskhran
Spetskhran were limited access collections and archival reserves in libraries and archives of the Soviet Union, as part of the system of censorship in the Soviet Union....
), accessible by special permit from the KGB
KGB
The KGB was the commonly used acronym for the . It was the national security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 until 1991, and was the premier internal security, intelligence, and secret police organization during that time.The State Security Agency of the Republic of Belarus currently uses the...
. The Soviet Union also censored images
Censorship of images in the Soviet Union
After Joseph Stalin rose to power in the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and became Soviet leader, he initiated a number of purges that eliminated perceived enemies. At first, a purge meant expulsion from the Communist Party, but after the Great Purge in the 1930s members were arrested,...
, included removing repressed persons from texts, posters, paintings and photographs.
Prominent individuals
Throughout the Eastern Bloc, artists or those attempting to disseminate dissenting views were repressed, with a few of the more prominent victims including:- Gheorghe UrsuGheorghe UrsuGheorghe Emil Ursu was a Romanian construction engineer, poet, diarist and dissident. A left-wing activist and avant-garde intellectual who joined the Romanian Communist Party as a youth, he was soon after disillusioned with the Communist regime, and became one of its most outspoken critics...
- a Romanian poet who grew disillusioned with RomanianCommunist RomaniaCommunist Romania was the period in Romanian history when that country was a Soviet-aligned communist state in the Eastern Bloc, with the dominant role of Romanian Communist Party enshrined in its successive constitutions...
communist doctrine after 1949, and was repeatedly sanctioned for disobedience In 1985, after being beaten for weeks on end by the Romanian PoliceRomanian PoliceThe Romanian Police is the national police force and main civil law enforcement agency in Romania. It is subordinated to the Ministry of Interior and Administrative Reform.-Duties:The Romanian Police are responsible for:...
, he was transported to the JilavaJilavaJilava is a commune in Ilfov county, Romania, near Bucharest. It is composed of a single village, Jilava.The name derives from a Romanian word of Slavic origin meaning "humid place". Jilava was the location of a fort built by King Carol I of Romania, as part of the capital's defense system...
jail hospital, where he died of peritonitisPeritonitisPeritonitis is an inflammation of the peritoneum, the serous membrane that lines part of the abdominal cavity and viscera. Peritonitis may be localised or generalised, and may result from infection or from a non-infectious process.-Abdominal pain and tenderness:The main manifestations of...
later in the day. - Night of the Murdered PoetsNight of the Murdered PoetsOn August 12, 1952, thirteen Soviet Jews were executed in the Lubyanka Prison in Moscow, Russia as a result of charges of espionage based on forced, false confessions resulting from coercion and torture. This massacre is known as the Night of the Murdered Poets....
- thirteen writers, poets, artists, musicians and actors were secretly executed on orders from Joseph StalinJoseph StalinJoseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
. - Imre NagyImre NagyImre Nagy was a Hungarian communist politician who was appointed Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the People's Republic of Hungary on two occasions...
- former HungarianPeople's Republic of HungaryThe People's Republic of Hungary or Hungarian People's Republic was the official state name of Hungary from 1949 to 1989 during its Communist period under the guidance of the Soviet Union. The state remained in existence until 1989 when opposition forces consolidated in forcing the regime to...
Prime Minister who had supported Hungary's withdrawal from the Warsaw PactWarsaw PactThe Warsaw Treaty Organization of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance , or more commonly referred to as the Warsaw Pact, was a mutual defense treaty subscribed to by eight communist states in Eastern Europe...
during the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, was later arrested by Soviet authorities after leaving the YugoslaviaYugoslaviaYugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
n embassy, and then secretly tried, found guilty, sentenced to death and was executed by hanging in June, 1958. His trial and execution were made public only after the sentence was carried out. - Ion Valentin AnestinIon Valentin AnestinIon Valentin Anestin was a Romanian graphic artist, engraver, painter, sculptor, journalist and dramatist...
- His work centered on denouncing Stalin and the Soviet UnionSoviet UnionThe Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, in a series titled Măcelarul din Piaţa Roşie ("The Red SquareRed SquareRed Square is a city square in Moscow, Russia. The square separates the Kremlin, the former royal citadel and currently the official residence of the President of Russia, from a historic merchant quarter known as Kitai-gorod...
Butcher") published by the magazine Gluma. Following the start of Soviet occupation of RomaniaSoviet occupation of RomaniaThe Soviet occupation of Romania refers to the period from 1944 to August 1958, during which the Soviet Union maintained a significant military presence in Romania...
, Anestin was barred from publishing for a five-year period (1944–1949), and ultimately imprisoned. He died soon after his release. - Nikolai GetmanNikolai GetmanNikolai Getman , an artist, was born in 1917 in Kharkiv, Ukraine, and died at his home inOrel, Russia, in August 2004. He was a prisoner from 1946 to 1953 in forced labor camps in Siberia and Kolyma, where he survived as a result of his ability to sketch for the propaganda requirements of the...
- a UkrainianUkrainian SSRThe Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic or in short, the Ukrainian SSR was a sovereign Soviet Socialist state and one of the fifteen constituent republics of the Soviet Union lasting from its inception in 1922 to the breakup in 1991...
artist arrested in 1946 for possessing a caricature of Joseph Stalin his friend had drawn on a cigarette box, Getman was sent to Siberian GulagGulagThe Gulag was the government agency that administered the main Soviet forced labor camp systems. While the camps housed a wide range of convicts, from petty criminals to political prisoners, large numbers were convicted by simplified procedures, such as NKVD troikas and other instruments of...
camps. He is one of the few artists to record life in the GulagGulagThe Gulag was the government agency that administered the main Soviet forced labor camp systems. While the camps housed a wide range of convicts, from petty criminals to political prisoners, large numbers were convicted by simplified procedures, such as NKVD troikas and other instruments of...
, where he survived by sketching propagandaPropagandaPropaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
for the authorities. - Vasyl StusVasyl StusVasyl Semenovych Stus was a Ukrainian poet and publicist, one of the most active members of Ukrainian dissident movement. For his political convictions, his works were banned by the Soviet regime and he spent 23 years in detention...
- a UkrainianUkrainian SSRThe Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic or in short, the Ukrainian SSR was a sovereign Soviet Socialist state and one of the fifteen constituent republics of the Soviet Union lasting from its inception in 1922 to the breakup in 1991...
author and journalist who wrote a book that was rejected for discrepancies with Soviet ideology, was arrested in 1972, spent five years in prison, arrested again in 1980 for defending members of the Ukrainian Helsinki groupUkrainian Helsinki GroupThe Ukrainian Helsinki Group was founded in November 1976 to monitor human rights in Ukraine. The group was active until 1981 when all members were jailed....
, was sentenced to ten years more imprisonment and was subsequently beaten to death in a Soviet forced labor camp. - Vasile VoiculescuVasile VoiculescuVasile Voiculescu was a Romanian poet, short-story writer, playwright, and physician.-Early life and education:Voiculescu was born in Pârscov, Buzău County, Romania, to a family of wealthy peasants. He attended primary school in Pleşcoi, a village near his home, for a year, after which he was sent...
- A RomanianCommunist RomaniaCommunist Romania was the period in Romanian history when that country was a Soviet-aligned communist state in the Eastern Bloc, with the dominant role of Romanian Communist Party enshrined in its successive constitutions...
poet who was imprisoned in 1958, at the age of 74, spending four years in prison, where he became ill, and died of cancer a few months after his release. - Arno EschArno EschArno Esch was a German liberal politician of the late 1940s in the Soviet Occupation Zone. He was executed at the Lubyanka prison in Moscow in 1951 at the age of 23.- Biography :...
- An East German political writer who was imprisoned by the Soviet NKVDNKVDThe People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....
in 1949, sentenced to death for "counterrevolutionary activities" and executed at the Lubyanka (KGB)Lubyanka (KGB)The Lubyanka is the popular name for the headquarters of the KGB and affiliated prison on Lubyanka Square in Moscow. It is a large building with a facade of yellow brick, designed by Alexander V...
prison in 1951. - Lena ConstanteLena ConstanteLena Constante was a Romanian artist, essayist and memoirist, known for her work in stage design and tapestry. A family friend of Communist Party politician Lucreţiu Pătrăşcanu, she was arrested by the Communist regime following the conflict between Pătrăşcanu and Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej...
- During repeated interrogations by the SecuritateSecuritateThe Securitate was the secret police agency of Communist Romania. Previously, the Romanian secret police was called Siguranţa Statului. Founded on August 30, 1948, with help from the Soviet NKVD, the Securitate was abolished in December 1989, shortly after President Nicolae Ceaușescu was...
, Constante tried to fend off false accusations of "TitoismTitoismTitoism is a variant of Marxism–Leninism named after Josip Broz Tito, leader of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, primarily used to describe the specific socialist system built in Yugoslavia after its refusal of the 1948 Resolution of the Cominform, when the Communist Party of...
" and "treasonTreasonIn law, treason is the crime that covers some of the more extreme acts against one's sovereign or nation. Historically, treason also covered the murder of specific social superiors, such as the murder of a husband by his wife. Treason against the king was known as high treason and treason against a...
", but, the victim of constant beatings and torture (much of her hair was torn from the roots), and confronted with Zilber's testimony — which implicated her —, she eventually gave in and admitted to the charges. - József DudásJózsef DudásJózsef Dudás , a Romanian/Hungarian politician and resistance fighter, was born in Marosvásárhely in Austria-Hungary ....
- A Hungarian political activist who spoke of a 25 point program ending Soviet repression in HungaryPeople's Republic of HungaryThe People's Republic of Hungary or Hungarian People's Republic was the official state name of Hungary from 1949 to 1989 during its Communist period under the guidance of the Soviet Union. The state remained in existence until 1989 when opposition forces consolidated in forcing the regime to...
to a crowd during the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, and was executed the next year. - Enn TartoEnn TartoEnn Tarto is an Estonian politician who was a leading dissident during the Soviet occupation of Estonia. He was imprisoned from 1956 to 1960, 1962 to 1967, and again from 1983 to 1988 for anti-Soviet activity....
- An EstoniaEstoniaEstonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...
n dissident who was imprisoned from 1956 to 1960, 1962 to 1967, and again from 1983 to 1988 for anti-Soviet activityArticle 58 (RSFSR Penal Code)Article 58 of the Russian SFSR Penal Code was put in force on 25 February 1927 to arrest those suspected of counter-revolutionary activities. It was revised several times...
. - Anton DurcoviciAnton DurcoviciAnton Durcovici was an Austro-Hungarian-born Romanian Roman Catholic clergyman, a victim of the Communist regime.-Biography:...
- A Romania clergyman openly critical of the Communist regime, Durcovici was placed under surveillance in 1947, arrested by the SecuritateSecuritateThe Securitate was the secret police agency of Communist Romania. Previously, the Romanian secret police was called Siguranţa Statului. Founded on August 30, 1948, with help from the Soviet NKVD, the Securitate was abolished in December 1989, shortly after President Nicolae Ceaușescu was...
in 1949 during a congregation visit, died from torture and prison deprivation and was buried in an unmarked grave. Communist authorities subsequently attempted to erase all evidence of his stay in prison, and most documents were destroyed. - Valeriy MarchenkoValeriy MarchenkoValeriy Marchenko was a poet, journalist, translator, and member of the Ukrainian Helsinki Group.Marchenko was born into an educated family. His grandfather, Mykhaylo Marchenko, was the first Soviet dean of the University of Lviv....
- a UkrainianUkrainian SSRThe Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic or in short, the Ukrainian SSR was a sovereign Soviet Socialist state and one of the fifteen constituent republics of the Soviet Union lasting from its inception in 1922 to the breakup in 1991...
poet who was arrested in 1973 and charged with Anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda, jailed for six years with two years exile, jailed again in 1983 for violating Article 62 of the Soviet penal code, Anti-Soviet Agitation and Propaganda and sentenced to ten years imprisonment and five years of exile, after which he became ill, was moved to a hospital after international pressure, where he died. - Jüri JaaksonJüri JaaksonJüri Jaakson VR III/1 was an Estonian businessman and politician....
- An Estonian businessman and former politician critical of Soviet rule who was executed by the Soviet Union in 1941. - Mečislovas ReinysMecislovas ReinysMečislovas Reinys was the Lithuanian Roman Catholic bishop, a professor at Vytautas Magnus University, a Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs, and a social activist who publicly condemned racism and national hatred...
- A LithuanianLithuanian SSRThe Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic , also known as the Lithuanian SSR, was one of the republics that made up the former Soviet Union...
archbishop critical of Bolshveism who was arrested in 1947 and sentenced to eight years in a Soviet prison, where he died in 1953. - Metropolitan Ioann (Vasiliy Bodnarchuk)Metropolitan Ioann (Vasiliy Bodnarchuk)Metropolitan Ioann was an Orthodox priest born in the Ternopil area of Western Ukraine, which at that time was a territory of Poland....
- A UkrainianUkrainian SSRThe Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic or in short, the Ukrainian SSR was a sovereign Soviet Socialist state and one of the fifteen constituent republics of the Soviet Union lasting from its inception in 1922 to the breakup in 1991...
arrested in 1949 for purported Ukrainian nationalist rhetoric and sentenced to 20 years of hard labor in copper mines.
Other artists, such as Geo Bogza
Geo Bogza
Geo Bogza was a Romanian avant-garde theorist, poet, and journalist, known for his left-wing and communist political convictions. As a young man in the interwar period, he was known as a rebel and was one of the most influential Romanian Surrealists...
, used subtle imagery or allegories within their works to criticize regimes. This did not prevent state scrutiny, as with the case of Bogza coming under the scrutiny of the Securitate
Securitate
The Securitate was the secret police agency of Communist Romania. Previously, the Romanian secret police was called Siguranţa Statului. Founded on August 30, 1948, with help from the Soviet NKVD, the Securitate was abolished in December 1989, shortly after President Nicolae Ceaușescu was...
.
Media entities
The major newspapers were traditionally the daily official publications of the Communist Party. Newspapers served as the main party organs of record and provided official political roadmaps for officials and other readers who needed to be informed. In some countries, the press provided a significant source of income for the ruling Communist parties. Radio and television was controlled by the state. The Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union (TASS)Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union
The Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union , was the central agency for collection and distribution of internal and international news for all Soviet newspapers, radio and television stations...
was the central agency for collection and distribution of internal and international news for all Soviet newspapers, radio and television stations. TASS monopolized the supply of political news. It was frequently infiltrated by Soviet intelligence and security agencies, such as the NKVD
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....
and GRU
GRU
GRU or Glavnoye Razvedyvatel'noye Upravleniye is the foreign military intelligence directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation...
. TASS had affiliates in 14 Soviet republics, including the Lithuanian SSR
Lithuanian SSR
The Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic , also known as the Lithuanian SSR, was one of the republics that made up the former Soviet Union...
, Latvian SSR
Latvian SSR
The Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic , also known as the Latvian SSR for short, was one of the republics that made up the Soviet Union. Established on 21 July 1940 as a puppet state during World War II in the territory of the previously independent Republic of Latvia after it had been occupied by...
, Estonian SSR, Moldavian SSR
Moldavian SSR
The Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic , commonly abbreviated to Moldavian SSR or MSSR, was one of the 15 republics of the Soviet Union...
. Ukrainian SSR
Ukrainian SSR
The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic or in short, the Ukrainian SSR was a sovereign Soviet Socialist state and one of the fifteen constituent republics of the Soviet Union lasting from its inception in 1922 to the breakup in 1991...
and Byelorussian SSR
Byelorussian SSR
The Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic was one of fifteen constituent republics of the Soviet Union. It was one of the four original founding members of the Soviet Union in 1922, together with the Ukrainian SSR, the Transcaucasian SFSR and the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic...
.
Despite outward similarities in press policy, large differences existed in the roles and functions of the mass media in Eastern Bloc countries. Where the press was allowed more freedom, such as in Poland, Hungary, and Yugoslavia, a national subtext and a significant element of entertainment flourished. In some cases, newspapers and magazines served as the most visible part of liberalizing forces, such as in Poland in 1956 and 1980–81, in Hungary in 1956, and in Czechoslovakia in 1968.
In many instances toward the end of the Eastern Bloc's existence, the ruling Communist parties' messages in the press increasingly diverged from reality, which contributed to the declining faith of the public in Communist rule. At the same time, some press in the Eastern Bloc became more open in the 1980s in countries such as Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia. In Yugoslavia, the press after Tito's reign turned increasingly nationalistic. Only in Romania and Albania did the press remain under tight dictatorial control right up until the end of the Eastern Bloc.
In East Germany, where initial control could be less overt because of shared allied occupation rules, the Soviet SVG set up the Deutsche Verwaltung für Volksbildung (DVV) in the fall of 1945. The SVAG and DVV controlled and approved all publication licenses needed to publish newspapers, books, journals and other materials. Those agencies also provided the top publishing priorities and would apportion paper used for printing to the various publications in accordance with those priorities. The SVAG initially licensed some private publishers which required the employment of a greater number of censors.
Eastern bloc The term Eastern Bloc or Communist Bloc refers to the former communist states of Eastern and Central Europe, generally the Soviet Union and the countries of the Warsaw Pact... |
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EWLINE
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Control of information flow out of the Eastern Bloc
Beginning in 1935, Joseph StalinJoseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
effectively sealed off outside access to the Soviet Socialist Republics (and until his death), effectively permitting no foreign travel inside the Soviet Union such that outsiders did not know of the political processes that had taken place therein. During this period, and even for 25 years after Stalin's death, the few diplomats and foreign correspondents that were permitted inside the Soviet Union were usually restricted to within a few miles of Moscow, their phones were tapped, their residences were restricted to foreigner-only locations and they were constantly followed by Soviet authorities. Dissenters who approached such foreigners were arrested. For many years after World War II, even the best informed foreigners did not know the number of arrest or executed Soviet citizens, or how poorly the Soviet economy had performed.
Similarly, the regimes in Romania carefully controlled foreign visitors in order to restrict the flow of information coming out of (and into) Romania. Accordingly, activities in Romania remained, until the late 1960s, largely unknown to the outside world. As a result, until 1990, very little information regarding labour camps and prisons in Romania appeared in the West. When such information appeared, it was usually in Romanian émigré publications. Romania's Securitate
Securitate
The Securitate was the secret police agency of Communist Romania. Previously, the Romanian secret police was called Siguranţa Statului. Founded on August 30, 1948, with help from the Soviet NKVD, the Securitate was abolished in December 1989, shortly after President Nicolae Ceaușescu was...
secret police were able to suppress information leaking to the west about resistance to the regime. Stalinist Albania, which had become increasingly paranoid and isolated after de-Stalinization
De-Stalinization
De-Stalinization refers to the process of eliminating the cult of personality, Stalinist political system and the Gulag labour-camp system created by Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. Stalin was succeeded by a collective leadership after his death in March 1953...
and the death of Mao Tse Tung, restricted visitors to 6,000 per year, and segregated those few that traveled to Albania.
Propaganda efforts
Communist leaders in the Eastern Bloc openly discussed the existence of propaganda efforts. Communist propaganda goals and techniques were tuned according to the target audience. The most broad classification of targets was:- Domestic propaganda
- External propaganda
- Propaganda of Communist supporters outside the Communist states
Communist Party documents reveal a more detailed classification of specific targets (workers, peasants, youth, women, etc.).
Because the Communist Party
Communist party
A political party described as a Communist party includes those that advocate the application of the social principles of communism through a communist form of government...
was portrayed under Marxist-Leninist theory as the protagonist of history pushing toward the inevitable end result of historical materialism as a "vanguard of the working class", Party leaders were claimed to be as infallible and inevitable as the purported historical end itself. Propaganda often worked itself beyond agit prop plays into traditional productions, such as in Hungary
People's Republic of Hungary
The People's Republic of Hungary or Hungarian People's Republic was the official state name of Hungary from 1949 to 1989 during its Communist period under the guidance of the Soviet Union. The state remained in existence until 1989 when opposition forces consolidated in forcing the regime to...
after the Tito-Stalin split
Tito-Stalin Split
The Tito–Stalin Split was a conflict between the leaders of Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, which resulted in Yugoslavia's expulsion from the Communist Information Bureau in 1948...
, where the director of the National Theatre produced a version of Macbeth in which the villainous king was revealed as none other than hated (in the Eatsern Bloc) Yugoslavian Leader Josip Broz Tito
Josip Broz Tito
Marshal Josip Broz Tito – 4 May 1980) was a Yugoslav revolutionary and statesman. While his presidency has been criticized as authoritarian, Tito was a popular public figure both in Yugoslavia and abroad, viewed as a unifying symbol for the nations of the Yugoslav federation...
. Regarding economic woes, debilitating wage cuts following economic stagnation were referred to as "blows in the face of imperialism", while forced loans were called "voluntary contributions to the building of socialism".
Communist theoretician Nikolai Bukharin
Nikolai Bukharin
Nikolai Ivanovich Bukharin , was a Russian Marxist, Bolshevik revolutionary, and Soviet politician. He was a member of the Politburo and Central Committee , chairman of the Communist International , and the editor in chief of Pravda , the journal Bolshevik , Izvestia , and the Great Soviet...
in his The ABC of Communism
The ABC of Communism
The ABC of Communism is a book written by Nikolai Bukharin and Yevgeni Preobrazhensky in 1920 during the Russian Civil War. Originally written to convince the proletariat of Russia to support the Bolsheviks, it became "an elementary textbook of communist knowledge"...
wrote:
The State propaganda of communism becomes in the long run a means for the eradication of the last traces of bourgeois propaganda dating from the old régime; and it is a powerful instrument for the creation of a new ideology, of new modes of thought, of a new outlook on the world.
Der schwarze Kanal
Der schwarze Kanal was a series of political propaganda programmes broadcast weekly between 1960 and 1989 by East German television. Each edition was made up of recorded extracts from recent West German television programmes re-edited to include a Communist commentary.The programme was hosted by...
("The Black Channel"), which contained bowdlerized
Thomas Bowdler
Thomas Bowdler was an English physician who published an expurgated edition of William Shakespeare's work, edited by his sister Harriet, intended to be more appropriate for 19th century women and children than the original....
programs from West Germany with added Communist commentary. The name "Black channel" was a play on words deriving from the German language use of the term by plumbers to describe a sewer. The program was meant to counter ideas received by some from West German television because the geography of the divided Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
meant that West German television signals (particularly ARD
ARD (broadcaster)
ARD is a joint organization of Germany's regional public-service broadcasters...
) could be received in most of East Germany, except in parts of Eastern Saxony
Saxony
The Free State of Saxony is a landlocked state of Germany, contingent with Brandenburg, Saxony Anhalt, Thuringia, Bavaria, the Czech Republic and Poland. It is the tenth-largest German state in area, with of Germany's sixteen states....
around Dresden, which consequently earned the latter the nickname "valley of the clueless."
Eastern Bloc leaders, including even Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
, could become personally involved in dissemination. For example, in January 1948, the U.S. State Department
United States Department of State
The United States Department of State , is the United States federal executive department responsible for international relations of the United States, equivalent to the foreign ministries of other countries...
published a collection of documents titled Nazi-Soviet Relations, 1939–1941: Documents from the Archives of The German Foreign Office, which contained documents recovered from the Foreign Office of Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
revealing Soviet conversations with Germany regarding the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact negotiations
The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact was an August 23, 1939 agreement between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany colloquially named after Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov and German foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop. The treaty renounced warfare between the two countries...
, including its secret protocol dividing eastern Europe, the 1939 German-Soviet Commercial Agreement, and discussions of the Soviet Union potentially becoming the fourth Axis Power
German–Soviet Axis talks
In October and November 1940, German–Soviet Axis talks occurred concerning the Soviet Union's potential entry as a fourth Axis Power. The negotiations included a two day Berlin conference between Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov, Adolf Hitler and German Foreign Minister Joachim von...
.
In response, one month later, the Soviet Information Bureau
Soviet Information Bureau
Soviet Information Bureau , commonly known as Sovinformburo ) was a leading Soviet news agency in 1941 - 1961. It was established on June 24, 1941, shortly after the opening of the Eastern Front of World War II by a directive of Sovnarkom and the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the...
published Falsifiers of History
Falsifiers of History
Falsifiers of History is a book published by the Soviet Information Bureau, edited and partially re-written by Joseph Stalin, in response to documents made public in January 1948 regarding German–Soviet relations before and after the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact.-Background on Nazi–Soviet Relations...
. Stalin personally edited the book, rewriting entire chapters by hand. The book claimed, for instance, that American bankers and industrialists provided capital for the growth of German war industries, while deliberately encouraging Hitler to expand eastward. The book also included the claim that, during the Pact's operation, Stalin rejected Hitler's offer to share in a division of the world, without mentioning the Soviet offers to join the Axis
German–Soviet Axis talks
In October and November 1940, German–Soviet Axis talks occurred concerning the Soviet Union's potential entry as a fourth Axis Power. The negotiations included a two day Berlin conference between Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov, Adolf Hitler and German Foreign Minister Joachim von...
. Historical studies, official accounts, memoirs and textbooks published in the Soviet Union used that depiction of events until the Soviet Union's dissolution
Dissolution of the Soviet Union
The dissolution of the Soviet Union was the disintegration of the federal political structures and central government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , resulting in the independence of all fifteen republics of the Soviet Union between March 11, 1990 and December 25, 1991...
.
The book referred to "the American falsifiers and their British and French associates", claimed "[a]s far back as in 1937 it became perfectly clear that a big war was being hatched by Hitler with the direct connivance of Great Britain and France", blasted "the claptrap of the slanderers" and stated "[n]aturally, the falsifiers of history and slanderers are called falsifiers and slanderers precisely because they do not entertain any respect for facts. They prefer to gossip and slander."
In East Germany, the Soviet SVAG and DVV initially controlled all publication prorities. In the initial months of 1946, the Soviets were unsure how to merge propaganda and censorship efforts in East Germany. The SVAG engaged in a broad propaganda campaign that moved beyond customary political propaganda to engage in the practice at unions, women's organizations and youth organizations.
Clandestine information passing
SamizdatSamizdat
Samizdat was a key form of dissident activity across the Soviet bloc in which individuals reproduced censored publications by hand and passed the documents from reader to reader...
was the clandestine copying and distribution of government-suppressed literature or other media in Eastern bloc
Eastern bloc
The term Eastern Bloc or Communist Bloc refers to the former communist states of Eastern and Central Europe, generally the Soviet Union and the countries of the Warsaw Pact...
countries. Copies were often made in small quantities of handwritten or typed documents, while recipients were expected to make additional copies. Samizdat traders used underground literature for self-analysis and self-expression under the heavy censorship of the Eastern Bloc. The practice was fraught with danger as harsh punishments were meted out to people caught possessing or copying censored
Censorship
thumb|[[Book burning]] following the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|1973 coup]] that installed the [[Military government of Chile |Pinochet regime]] in Chile...
materials. Former Soviet dissident Vladimir Bukovsky
Vladimir Bukovsky
Vladimir Konstantinovich Bukovsky is a leading member of the dissident movement of the 1960s and 1970s, writer, neurophysiologist, and political activist....
defined it as follows: "I myself create it, edit it, censor it, publish it, distribute it, and [may] get imprisoned for it." One of the longest-running and well-known samizdat publications was the information bulletin "Хроника текущих событий" (Khronika Tekushchikh Sobitiy; Chronicle of Current Events), which contained anonymously published pieces dedicated to the defense of human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
in the USSR. Several people were arrested in connection with the Chronicle, including Natalya Gorbanevskaya
Natalya Gorbanevskaya
Natalya Yevgenyevna Gorbanevskaya is a Russian poet, translator of Polish literature and civil rights activist. She is also a citizen of Poland.- Life :Gorbanevskaya graduated from Leningrad University in 1964 and became a technical editor and translator...
, Yuri Shikhanovich, Pyotr Yakir, Victor Krasin
Victor Krasin
Victor Krasin is a Russian human rights activist, economist, a former Soviet dissident and a political prisoner. Krasin is currently a US citizen...
, Sergei Kovalev
Sergei Kovalev
Sergei Kovalev is a Russian human rights activist and politician and a former Soviet dissident and political prisoner.- Early career and arrest :...
, Alexander Lavut, Tatyana Velikanova, among others.
Magnitizdat
Magnitizdat
Magnitizdat is a term used to describe the process of re-copying and self distributing live audio tape recordings in the Soviet Union that were not available commercially...
(in Russian магнитиздат) is a term used to describe the process of re-copying and self distributing live audio tape recordings in the Soviet Union that were not available commercially. The process of magnitizdat was less risky than publishing literature via samizdat, since any person in the USSR was permitted to own a private reel-to-reel tape recorder, while paper duplication equipment was under control of the state. "Tamizdat" refers to literature published abroad (там, tam, meaning "there"), often from smuggled manuscripts.
Western media broadcasts
Western countries invested heavily in powerful transmitters which enabled broadcasters to be heard in the Eastern Bloc, despite attempts by authorities to jamRadio jamming
Radio jamming is the transmission of radio signals that disrupt communications by decreasing the signal to noise ratio. Unintentional jamming occurs when an operator transmits on a busy frequency without first checking whether it is in use, or without being able to hear stations using the frequency...
such signals. In 1947, VOA started broadcasting in Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
with the intent to counter Soviet propaganda directed against American leaders and policies. These included Radio Free Europe
Radio Free Europe
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty is a broadcaster funded by the U.S. Congress that provides news, information, and analysis to countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and the Middle East "where the free flow of information is either banned by government authorities or not fully developed"...
(RFE)), RIAS (Berlin)
Rundfunk im amerikanischen Sektor
RIAS was a radio and television station in the American Sector of Berlin during the Cold War. It was founded by the US occupational authorities after World War II in 1946 to provide the German population in and around Berlin with news and political reporting and was initially only broadcast on...
the Voice of America
Voice of America
Voice of America is the official external broadcast institution of the United States federal government. It is one of five civilian U.S. international broadcasters working under the umbrella of the Broadcasting Board of Governors . VOA provides a wide range of programming for broadcast on radio...
(VOA), Deutsche Welle
Deutsche Welle
Deutsche Welle or DW, is Germany's international broadcaster. The service is aimed at the overseas market. It broadcasts news and information on shortwave, Internet and satellite radio on 98.7 DZFE in 30 languages . It has a satellite television service , that is available in four languages, and...
, Radio France International and the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). The Soviet Union responded by attempting aggressive, electronic jamming
Radio jamming
Radio jamming is the transmission of radio signals that disrupt communications by decreasing the signal to noise ratio. Unintentional jamming occurs when an operator transmits on a busy frequency without first checking whether it is in use, or without being able to hear stations using the frequency...
of VOA (and some other Western) broadcasts om 1949. The BBC World Service
BBC World Service
The BBC World Service is the world's largest international broadcaster, broadcasting in 27 languages to many parts of the world via analogue and digital shortwave, internet streaming and podcasting, satellite, FM and MW relays...
similarly broadcast language-specific programming to countries behind the Iron Curtain
Iron Curtain
The concept of the Iron Curtain symbolized the ideological fighting and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1989...
.
RFE was developed out of a belief that the Cold War would eventually be fought by political rather than military means. In January 1950, it obtained a transmitter base at Lampertheim
Lampertheim
Lampertheim is a town in the Bergstraße district in Hesse, Germany.-Location:Lampertheim lies in the southwest corner of Hesse in the Rhine rift at the Biedensand Conservation Area and borders on Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate...
, West Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
and on July 4 of the same year, RFE completed its first broadcast aimed at Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
Broadcasts were often banned in Eastern Europe and Communist authorities used sophisticated jamming
Radio jamming
Radio jamming is the transmission of radio signals that disrupt communications by decreasing the signal to noise ratio. Unintentional jamming occurs when an operator transmits on a busy frequency without first checking whether it is in use, or without being able to hear stations using the frequency...
techniques in an attempt to prevent citizens from listening to them. In late 1950, RFE began to assemble a full-fledged foreign broadcast staff, and became more than just a "mouthpiece for exiles" who had fled Eastern Bloc countries. While RFE was cleared of charges that it gave Hungarian listeners false hope during the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, its Broadcast Analysis Division was established to ensure that broadcasts were accurate and professional while maintaining the journalists' former autonomy
Autonomy
Autonomy is a concept found in moral, political and bioethical philosophy. Within these contexts, it is the capacity of a rational individual to make an informed, un-coerced decision...
.
A 1960 study concluded that RFE possessed considerably more listeners than the BBC or VOA. The study concluded that the BBC was regarded as the most objective and the VOA had suffered a notable decline since it stopped critical broadcasts on the communist world after the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, focusing instead on world news, American culture and jazz.
External links
- Research on the History of Television Programs of the GDR Library of Congress—The U.S. Naval Academy Collection of Soviet & Russian TV Russian Museum of Radio and TV website
- RFE Czechoslovak Unit Open Society Archives, Budapest
- Translations of propaganda materials from the GDR.
- Advice for East German propagandists on how to deal with the Solidarity movement
- CNN Cold War Knowledge Bank - comparison of articles on Cold War topics in TIME Magazine and Pravda between 1945 and 1991
- Censorship in the Soviet Union and its Cultural and Professional Results for Arts and Art Libraries
- Radio Berlin International final English broadcast - Part 1
- Radio Berlin International final English broadcast - Part 2
- GDR Censporship regarding Literature
- GDR Censorship of Literature