‘The Radio Today Is Our History’: Greta Kuckhoff’s Radio Broadcasts and Speeches

Abstract

The broadcast Kuckhoff refers to was for the Soviet-controlled station, the Berliner Rundfunk [Berlin Radio], in 1946 entitled ‘Adam Kuckhoff zum Gedenken’ [In Memory of Adam Kuckhoff]. It was initiated when Kuckhoff wrote to the radio station offering a programme with extracts from her husband’s works.2 Commemoration of her husband and the members of the ‘Red Orchestra’ was at the heart of her public speaking and the subject of key broadcasts in the immediate postwar period. However, her topics also ranged far beyond that. Over the course of the next two years, Kuckhoff wrote and presented regular economics programmes entitled ‘Commentary of the Day’, as well as broadcasts on denazification, democracy and gender equality. These topics were also the subjects of many public lectures she gave in the immediate postwar period. This chapter explores her commemoration of antifascist activities on the radio within the context of these other public appearances prioritizing the spoken word. Using archival sources, it explores the ways in which Kuckhoff negotiated key issues of legitimacy (that is, having the right to speak), authenticity and familiarity in order create and maintain an audience.3 It examines the significance not only of the texts themselves but also of Kuckhoff’s involvement in emerging national institutions. As such, the chapter considers how the speeches and broadcasts were a part of Kuckhoff’s agenda of practical antifascism, how she considered each aspect of this work ‘ein Stein zum Denkmal fur unsere Toten’ [a stone in the monument for our dead].4