Did literary censorship exist in the GDr? transformations and bureaucratic-organisational position of the office for the controll of literature in the GDR

Abstract

In communist countries censorship offices were the final link in the entire process of control of a given literary text before its publication. The Polish Central Office for the Control of Press, Publications and Performances of the ideological and political control of the manuscripts submitted. The [formulation of the] publication schedule and monitoring its implementation was done by institutions answerable to the Ministry of Culture and Art. In the GDR right from the start attempts were made to concentrate the two forms of control in one institution, which ultimately took place in 1963 after the establishment of the Central Board of Publishing Houses and Book Trade (Hauptverwaltung Verlage und Buchhandel). This institution held logistical and economic control of publishing houses, supervising from day one the publication schedules and monitoring the books prepared for issue as to their ideological and political content. It also made the final decision as to whether given books can come out and on what conditions, or whether their publication should be prevented.