German Television pioneers and the conflict between Public Programming and Wonder Weapons

Abstract

This article illuminates the position from which researchers in East Germany on the history of television have reconstructed the early development of German television [1]. It focuses on the struggle of television's pioneers for a progressive, socially conscious use of this audio-visual broadcast medium, and on their stand for the preservation and restoration of peace. In this portrayal, figures such as Ardenne, Bronnen, Dressler-Andress, Hatschek, Karolus, Kruckow, Loewe and many others, as well as those who worked against them, are seen in a new light. This treatment of the topic is based on primary sources located and preserved in archives of the German Democratic Republic (GDR). Among these is photographic material of the Reich's broadcasting companies (Reichs-Rundfunk-Gesellschaft and the Reichssender Deutscher Fernseh-Rundfunk), files of the Reich's security agency and of the National Socialist's Supreme Court, as well as series of documents of the Reichspostministerium and the Reichsministerium für Volksaufklärung und Propaganda (Ministry of Post and the Ministry of People's Information and Propaganda of the German Reich) published by the author over the past 20 years. Also deserving mention are the estates of Ernst Augustin and Horst Dressler-Andress, as well as records on the memories of contributors to the early development of German television who live in the GDR, such as Professor Dr h. c. mult. Manfred von Ardenne.