FORVM
Encyclopedia
FORVM was an Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

n cultural and political magazine, published in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

 from 1954 till 1995, founded by Friedrich Hansen-Loeve, Felix Hubalek, Alexander Lernet-Holenia
Alexander Lernet-Holenia
Alexander Lernet-Holenia was an Austrian poet, novelist, dramaturgist and writer of screenplays and historical studies who produced a heterogeneous literary opus that included poesy, psychological novels describing the intrusion of otherworldly or unreal experiences into reality, and recreational...

 und Friedrich Torberg
Friedrich Torberg
Friedrich Torberg is the pen-name of Friedrich Kantor, an Austrian writer.- Biography :...

 with the financial and logistical support of the Congress for Cultural Freedom (CCF). In 1966 Günther Nenning
Günther Nenning
DDr. Günther Nenning was a famous Austrian journalist, author and political activist.Günther Nenning was born in Vienna, Austria. After an excellent performance in high school, Nenning served from 1940 to 1945 in the German Wehrmacht...

 took over as editor, in 1986 Gerhard Oberschlick
Gerhard Oberschlick
Gerhard Fritz Oberschlick is an Austrian essayist. From 1985 to 1995 he was the editor of the political and cultural magazine FORVM. Today he serves as the literary executor of Günther Anders.- Life and career :...

.

The magazine was distríbuted internationally and instigated some heavy ideological debates. In 1995 the magazine closed down due to lack of financial means. In 2004 a complete reprint has been published and there is still a modest website, edited by the last editor.

Editor Friedrich Torberg (1954–1965)

Only thirteen years after the foundation of FORVM it became public, thanks to Ramparts
Ramparts (magazine)
Ramparts was an American political and literary magazine, published from 1962 through 1975.-History:Founded by Edward M. Keating as a Catholic literary quarterly, the magazine became closely associated with the New Left after executive editor Warren Hinckle hired Robert Scheer as managing editor...

 und Saturday Evening Post, that the financial sources derived from the CIA
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...

 with the aim to undermine liberal und leftist groups of intellectuals all over the world in order to position them against communism
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...

 in the age of the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...

. The CIA web site states that "[t]he Congress for Cultural Freedom is widely considered one of the CIA's more daring and effective Cold War covert operations." Other magazines funded by the CCF were Der Monat in Western Berlin, Preuves in Paris, Tempo presente in Italy, Cuadernos in Madrid, Encounter
Encounter (magazine)
Encounter was a literary magazine, founded in 1953 by poet Stephen Spender and early neoconservative author Irving Kristol. The magazine ceased publication in 1991...

in London, as well as Freedom First in Bombay, Solidarity in the Philippines, Quadrant
Quadrant
Quadrant may refer to:* A sector equal to one quarter of a circle, or half a semicircle, see Circular sector* The sectors of a two-dimensional cartesian coordinate system, see Cartesian coordinate system#Quadrants and octants...

in Australia and Examen in Mexico.

FORVM was never an easy partner to its sponsors. Already its first issue caused troubles, as it printed a controversy between Friedrich Heer
Friedrich Heer
Friedrich Heer was a historian born in Vienna. He received a PhD at the University in Vienna in 1938. Even as a student he came into conflict with pan-German thinking historians as a staunch opponent of National Socialism....

 and editor Friedrich Torberg, called „Conversation with the Enemy“ about the legitimity of discourse with eastern communists. Heer was for, Torberg against any contact with the enemy
Enemy
An enemy or foe is a being that is seen as forcefully adverse or threatening. The term is usually used within the greater context of war, to denote an opposing group as a threat.Enemy or Enemies may refer to:-Literature:...

 - Torberg „loosing on points, hopelessly“. Nevertheless Torberg succeded - using FORVM as an ardent weapon, with active help from Hans Weigel
Hans Weigel
Julius Hans Weigel was an Austrian Jewish writer and a theater critic . He lived in Vienna, except during the period between 1938 and 1945, when he lived in exile in Switzerland. He was a lifetime companion of the Austrian actress Elfriede Ott.- Biography :During the time before the Anschluss of...

, against Günther Nenning – to force all major theatres of Austria to boycott the plays of Bertolt Brecht
Bertolt Brecht
Bertolt Brecht was a German poet, playwright, and theatre director.An influential theatre practitioner of the 20th century, Brecht made equally significant contributions to dramaturgy and theatrical production, the latter particularly through the seismic impact of the tours undertaken by the...

. This lasted until February 23, 1963 when the Wiener Volkstheater dared to play Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder. Although the magazine led by Torberg emphasized mainly on theatre and literature, FORVM also printed notable dialogues between church and state, discorses between the dominating ideologies of the time, as well as fundamental texts from the social sciences in view of the upcoming revolts. But the rigid and fierceful anti-communism
Anti-communism
Anti-communism is opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed in reaction to the rise of communism, especially after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia and the beginning of the Cold War in 1947.-Objections to communist theory:...

 of Torberg increasingly became a problem to the sponsors, who repeatedly warned the editor, then limited their funding in 1961, then finally stopped the support interely in 1964. When the new financier of FORVM, Hans Deutsch, also drew back in 1965, Torberg decided to give up his position as well. Nenning, who had served as editor-in-chief since 1958, became the new owner and editor.

Editor Günther Nenning (1966–1986)

Günther Nenning declared hinself as a „christian und socialist“ and opened FORVM to leftist thoughts and ideas. As Torberg opposed this change, Nenning had to rename the magazine as „NEUES FORVM“ (New Forvm) until Torberg died in 1979. Nenning raised the circulation from 2.700 to nearly 30.000. When the magazine - in 1970 - published de Sades Philosophy in the Bedroom
Philosophy in the Bedroom
Philosophy in the Bedroom is a 1795 erotic book by the Marquis de Sade written in the form of a dramatic dialogue. Though initially considered a work of pornography, the book has come to be considered a socio-political drama...

 (with an ample commentary by Michael Siegert), the Ministry of the Interior reacted harshly with confiscation of the magazine and prohibition of the placard. Lateron this step was declared unconstitutional, therefore FORVM ended the era of 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...

 in Austria. The Nenning years were domiated by heartly discussions about the constitution
Constitution
A constitution is a set of fundamental principles or established precedents according to which a state or other organization is governed. These rules together make up, i.e. constitute, what the entity is...

 and the neutrality of Austria, the law of nature
Natural law
Natural law, or the law of nature , is any system of law which is purportedly determined by nature, and thus universal. Classically, natural law refers to the use of reason to analyze human nature and deduce binding rules of moral behavior. Natural law is contrasted with the positive law Natural...

, Vergangenheitsbewältigung
Vergangenheitsbewältigung
Vergangenheitsbewältigung is a composite German word that describes processes of dealing with the past , which is perhaps best rendered in English as "struggle to come to terms with the past"...

, the sexual revolution
Sexual revolution
The sexual revolution was a social movement that challenged traditional codes of behavior related to sexuality and interpersonal relationships throughout the Western world from the 1960s into the 1980s...

, Viennese Actionism
Viennese Actionism
The term Viennese Actionism describes a short and violent movement in 20th century art that can be regarded as part of the many independent efforts of the 1960s to develop "action art" . Its main participants were Günter Brus, Otto Mühl, Hermann Nitsch and Rudolf Schwarzkogler. As "actionists",...

 and terrorism
Terrorism
Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...

.

From 1973 to 1982 Michael Siegert served as editor-in-chief. Even more then Torberg or Nenning before him – he adapted the articles and therefore angered some authors. Nenning formally kept his position as owner and editor, but from 1973 on the magazine was officially published by an association of the journalists and employees. In 1982 Gerhard Oberschlick took over as editor-in-chief, but was dismissed by Nenning already in 1984 - because of insubordinate behaviour. The main points of controversy were Nennings cooperation with conservative publicists and politicians, as well as the secret funding of the Konrad Lorenz Referendum
Konrad Lorenz
Konrad Zacharias Lorenz was an Austrian zoologist, ethologist, and ornithologist. He shared the 1973 Nobel Prize with Nikolaas Tinbergen and Karl von Frisch...

 by Hans Dichand
Hans Dichand
Hans Dichand was an Austrian journalist, writer, and media businessman. He published the tabloid newspaper Kronen Zeitung, Austria's largest newspaper in terms of readership, in which at the time of his death he held a 50% stake...

 and his Kronen Zeitung
Kronen Zeitung
The Kronen Zeitung, commonly known as the Krone, is Austria's largest newspaper. According to a Österreichische Media-Analyse study, the average daily readership is 2,970,000 , which corresponds to 43,7% of all newspaper readers...

.
Nenning consequently established FORVM as the voice of the fundamental green movement, the circulation dropped dramatically (to 1.700), FORVM was close to bancrupcy. In 1985 Nenning was expelled from the union und the socialist party
SPO
- Technology :SPO: Microsoft SharePoint Online, Microsoft Cloud Computing, Office 365. See Microsoft Online Services-Economics:* Secondary Public Offering, an equity capital market instrument...

. In 1986 he sold the magazine to Gerhard Oberschlick.

Editor Gerhard Oberschlick (1986–1995)

The new editor quickly had to reposition the magazine. Rule of law
Rule of law
The rule of law, sometimes called supremacy of law, is a legal maxim that says that governmental decisions should be made by applying known principles or laws with minimal discretion in their application...

 and 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...

 became central issues, Günther Anders
Günther Anders
Günther Anders was a Jewish philosopher and journalist who developed a philosophical anthropology for the age of technology, focusing on such themes as the effects of mass media on our emotional and ethical existence, the nuclear threat, the Shoah and the question of being a philosopher.- Biography...

 the most prominent author. The circulation gained ground and reached up to 25.000. The presidency of Kurt Waldheim
Kurt Waldheim
Kurt Josef Waldheim was an Austrian diplomat and politician. Waldheim was the fourth Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1972 to 1981, and the ninth President of Austria, from 1986 to 1992...

 and the constant flirting of Jörg Haider
Jörg Haider
Jörg Haider was an Austrian politician. He was Governor of Carinthia on two occasions, the long-time leader of the Austrian Freedom Party and later Chairman of the Alliance for the Future of Austria , a breakaway party from the FPÖ.Haider was controversial within Austria and abroad for comments...

 with Nazi ideology opened a wide field of discussion and controversy. FORVM served as a stable lighthouse of anti-fascism
Anti-fascism
Anti-fascism is the opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals, such as that of the resistance movements during World War II. The related term antifa derives from Antifaschismus, which is German for anti-fascism; it refers to individuals and groups on the left of the political...

, avidly opposing any kind of racism
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...

 and xenophobia
Xenophobia
Xenophobia is defined as "an unreasonable fear of foreigners or strangers or of that which is foreign or strange". It comes from the Greek words ξένος , meaning "stranger," "foreigner" and φόβος , meaning "fear."...

. In 1992 Hans Lebert
received the Grillparzer Award, donated by German Alfred Toepfer
Alfred Toepfer
Dr. Alfred Carl Toepfer was a German entrepreneur, owner of the company Toepfer International and founder of the Alfred Toepfer Foundation...

 in German Marks. Although ill and not able to participate in the ceremony, Lebert wrote an ardent speech, red by actor Wolfgang Gasser, famous for his performance in a play by Thomas Bernhard
Thomas Bernhard
Thomas Bernhard was an Austrian novelist, playwright and poet. Bernhard, whose body of work has been called "the most significant literary achievement since World War II," is widely considered to be one of the most important German-speaking authors of the postwar era.- Life :Thomas Bernhard was...

 at the Burgtheater
Burgtheater
The Burgtheater , originally known as K.K. Theater an der Burg, then until 1918 as the K.K. Hofburgtheater, is the Austrian National Theatre in Vienna and one of the most important German language theatres in the world.The Burgtheater was created in 1741 and has become known as "die Burg" by the...

. In it Lebert warned against the attemps of a new Anschluss
Anschluss
The Anschluss , also known as the ', was the occupation and annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany in 1938....

, culminatinating in the exclaim: „Austrians, save your country yourselves!“ The speech caused a scandal, the German ambassador Philipp Jenninger
Philipp Jenninger
Philipp Jenninger is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union and diplomat. He served as Member of the German Parliament, the Bundestag , Minister of State at the German Chancellery , President of the Bundestag , German Ambassador to Austria and German Ambassador to the Holy See...

 was upset and left early, and Oberschlick, who had printed the speech secretly, had it distributed - as a special issue of FORVM - at the end of the ceremony at the University of Vienna
University of Vienna
The University of Vienna is a public university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world...

.

Relevant authors of FORVM

  • Theodor W. Adorno
    Theodor W. Adorno
    Theodor W. Adorno was a German sociologist, philosopher, and musicologist known for his critical theory of society....

  • Günther Anders
    Günther Anders
    Günther Anders was a Jewish philosopher and journalist who developed a philosophical anthropology for the age of technology, focusing on such themes as the effects of mass media on our emotional and ethical existence, the nuclear threat, the Shoah and the question of being a philosopher.- Biography...

  • Roland Barthes
    Roland Barthes
    Roland Gérard Barthes was a French literary theorist, philosopher, critic, and semiotician. Barthes' ideas explored a diverse range of fields and he influenced the development of schools of theory including structuralism, semiotics, existentialism, social theory, Marxism, anthropology and...

  • Simone de Beauvoir
    Simone de Beauvoir
    Simone-Ernestine-Lucie-Marie Bertrand de Beauvoir, often shortened to Simone de Beauvoir , was a French existentialist philosopher, public intellectual, and social theorist. She wrote novels, essays, biographies, an autobiography in several volumes, and monographs on philosophy, politics, and...

  • Heinrich Böll
    Heinrich Böll
    Heinrich Theodor Böll was one of Germany's foremost post-World War II writers. Böll was awarded the Georg Büchner Prize in 1967 and the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1972.- Biography :...

  • Christian Broda
    Christian Broda
    Christian Broda was an Austrian lawyer and politician of the Social Democratic Party of Austria. He served as Minister of Justice of Austria from 1960 to 1966 in the third cabinet of Julius Raab, and again as Minister of Justice in the cabinet of Bruno Kreisky from 1970 to 1983...

  • Rudolf Burger
  • Elias Canetti
    Elias Canetti
    Elias Canetti was a Bulgarian-born modernist novelist, playwright, memoirist, and non-fiction writer. He wrote in German and won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1981, "for writings marked by a broad outlook, a wealth of ideas and artistic power".-Life:...

 
  • Eldridge Cleaver
    Eldridge Cleaver
    Leroy Eldridge Cleaver better known as Eldridge Cleaver, was a leading member of the Black Panther Party and a writer...

  • Rudi Dutschke
    Rudi Dutschke
    Alfred Willi Rudi Dutschke was the most prominent spokesperson of the German student movement of the 1960s. He advocated 'a long march through the institutions' of power to create radical change from within government and society by becoming an integral part of the machinery...

  • Josef Dvorak
    Josef Dvorak
    Josef Dvorak is an Austrian therapist, Catholic theologian , author, and co-founder of the Viennese Actionism.- Work :...

  • Erich Fried
    Erich Fried
    Erich Fried , an Austrian poet who settled in England, was known for his political-minded poetry. He was also a broadcaster, translator and essayist....

  • Roger Garaudy
    Roger Garaudy
    Roger Garaudy or Ragaa Garaudy is a French philosopher. Formerly a prominent communist author, he has converted to Islam and written several books which have been controversial due to his anti-Zionist positions and denial of the Holocaust.-Early life, politics and religion:Born to Catholic and...

  • Jean Genet
    Jean Genet
    Jean Genet was a prominent and controversial French novelist, playwright, poet, essayist, and political activist. Early in his life he was a vagabond and petty criminal, but later took to writing...

  • Michael Guttenbrunner
  • Friedrich Heer
    Friedrich Heer
    Friedrich Heer was a historian born in Vienna. He received a PhD at the University in Vienna in 1938. Even as a student he came into conflict with pan-German thinking historians as a staunch opponent of National Socialism....

     
  •  
  • Adolf Holl
    Adolf Holl
    Adolf Holl is an Austrian Catholic writer and theologian of international reputation. He lives in Vienna, where he was Chaplain of the University of Vienna and a lecturer in its Department of Catholic Theology. Because of conflicts with Church authorities, he was suspended from his teaching and...

  • Ivan Illich
    Ivan Illich
    Ivan Illich was an Austrian philosopher, Roman Catholic priest, and "maverick social critic" of the institutions of contemporary western culture and their effects on the provenance and practice of education, medicine, work, energy use, transportation, and economic development.- Personal life...

  • Hans Kelsen
  • Elisabeth Kmölniger
  • Cardinal Franz König
    Franz König
    Franz König was an Austrian Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Vienna from 1956 to 1985, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1958...

  • Bruno Kreisky
    Bruno Kreisky
    Bruno Kreisky was an Austrian politician who served as Foreign Minister from 1959 to 1966 and as Chancellor from 1970 to 1983. Aged 72 at the end of his chancellorship, he was the oldest acting Chancellor after World War II....

  • Norbert Leser
    Norbert Leser
    Norbert Leser is an Austrian jurist, political scientist and social philosopher best known for his lifelong affiliation with, and critical work on, the Social Democratic Party of Austria and Austromarxism in particular.-Bibliography:...

  • György Ligeti
    György Ligeti
    György Sándor Ligeti was a composer of contemporary classical music. Born in a Hungarian Jewish family in Transylvania, Romania, he briefly lived in Hungary before becoming an Austrian citizen.-Early life:...

  •  
  • Georg Lukács
    Georg Lukács
    György Lukács was a Hungarian Marxist philosopher and literary critic. He is a founder of the tradition of Western Marxism. He contributed the concept of reification to Marxist philosophy and theory and expanded Karl Marx's theory of class consciousness. Lukács' was also an influential literary...

  • Herbert Marcuse
    Herbert Marcuse
    Herbert Marcuse was a German Jewish philosopher, sociologist and political theorist, associated with the Frankfurt School of critical theory...

  • Robert Menasse
    Robert Menasse
    Robert Menasse is an Austrian writer.As an undergraduate, Menasse studied in Vienna, Salzburg and Messina. In 1980 he completed his PhD thesis "Der Typus des Außenseiters im Literaturbetrieb...

  • Christian Michelides
    Christian Michelides
    Christian Michelides is an Austrian psychotherapist. He is the director of Lighthouse Wien.-Life and Career:In 1973 Michelides started to work as an opera critic of a provincial newspaper called Südost Tagespost. He earned his high school diploma in 1978...

  • Ladislav Mňačko
    Ladislav Mňačko
    Ladislav Mňačko was a Slovak writer and journalist. He took part in the partisan movement in Slovakia during World War II. After the war, he was at first a staunch supporter of the Czechoslovak Communist regime and one of its most prominent journalists...

  • Manfred Nowak
    Manfred Nowak
    Manfred Nowak is an Austrian human rights lawyer.Nowak was a student of Felix Ermacora, and cooperated with him until Ermacora's death in 1995. They co-founded the Ludwig Boltzmann Institut für Menschenrechte in 1992...

  • Olof Palme
    Olof Palme
    Sven Olof Joachim Palme was a Swedish politician. A long-time protegé of Prime Minister Tage Erlander, Palme led the Swedish Social Democratic Party from 1969 to his assassination, and was a two-term Prime Minister of Sweden, heading a Privy Council Government from 1969 to 1976 and a cabinet...

  • Heidi Pataki 
  •  
  • Erwin Ringel
    Erwin Ringel
    Erwin Ringel was an Austrian psychiatrist and neurologist who dedicated his life to suicide prevention and who, in 1960, defined the presuicidal syndrome....

  • Ota Šik
    Ota Šik
    Ota Šik was a Czech economist and politician. He was the man behind the New Economic Model and was one of the key figures in the Prague Spring.-Early years:...

  • Ignazio Silone
    Ignazio Silone
    Ignazio Silone was the pseudonym of Secondino Tranquilli, an Italian author and politician.-Early life and career:...

  • Manès Sperber
    Manès Sperber
    Manès Sperber was an Austrian-French novelist, essayist and psychologist. He also wrote under the pseudonyms Jan Heger and N.A. Menlos....

  • Peter Turrini
    Peter Turrini
    Peter Turrini is an Austrian leftist playwright.Born in Carinthia, Turrini has been writing since 1971, when his play Rozznjogd premiered at the Volkstheater, Vienna. A versatile author, he has written plays, screenplays, poems, and essays...

  • Oswald Wiener
  • Simon Wiesenthal
    Simon Wiesenthal
    Simon Wiesenthal KBE was an Austrian Holocaust survivor who became famous after World War II for his work as a Nazi hunter....

  • Carl Zuckmayer
    Carl Zuckmayer
    Carl Zuckmayer was a German writer and playwright.-Biography:Born in Nackenheim in Rheinhessen, he was four years old when his family moved to Mainz. With the outbreak of World War I, he finished school with a facilitated "emergency"-Abitur and volunteered for military service...


  • Publications

    • Reprint FORVM 1954-1995. Ueberreuter, Wien 2001-2004, 28 volumes plus registry, ISBN 3-8000-3834-X, AU 0568 (complete edition)
    • Wissenschaft und Freiheit [Science and Freedom]. Edited by the Congress for Cultural Freedom. International Congress in Hamburg, July 23−26, 1953, in cooperation with Universität Hamburg. Grunewald, Berlin 1954.
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