"Signal" magazine"

[Metatron]

Did any foreign writers or photographers contribute to this magazine?
Who were they?
Interested in ANY writers/photographers for ANY WW2 German magazines

[R.M. Schultz]

I know of three books that are compilations of Signal Magazine's English edition:

Signal: Hitler's Wartime Picture Magazine, by S. L. Mayer, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1976, ISBN: 0138100519

Signal; Years of Triumph 1940-1942; Hitler's Wartime Picture Magazine, by S. L. Mayer, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1978, ISBN: 0138100101

Signal. Years of Retreat, 1943-44, by S. L. Mayer, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1979, ISBN: 0138100284

[waffen]

8) this site never fails to simply amaze us all.. i have never read of or heard of such detalied nazi wartime mags. 8) are they in colour ill bet they are,and another Example,of just how worried the allies were of nazi propaganda after the war. i feel the nazi propaganda machine was far ahead of anything the allies,russians,produced themselves or COPIED,during or after the war.........

[Alexander Zöller]

Metatron,

a number of foreign writers and photographers contributed to Signal. There were several articles published that had been penned by journalists from various Axis nations, including one written by a Japanese envoy to Berlin. I also know of one written by an American but cannot tell if it was published with the author's approval. Signal 'borrowed' material from the enemy's and neutral side more than once. I know of one case where they heavily altered an article by a Swiss journalist; when published the following complaint forced them to issue an apology in one of the subsequent issues.


Waffen,

every issue of Signal included color plates. Late during the war (1944/45), selected editions shipped to neutral countries had a total of twelve color pages. The typical standard was eight pages in color.

Regarding your note on the Allies being concerned about Axis propaganda, you are absolutely right. It's one of the few fields in which the Allies had serious reasons to be worried about throughout the war. If interested, I have uploaded a 1943 article from LIFE to my Signal website that is discussing this very subject: U.S. Is Loosing the War of Words.

Alexander

[Alexander Zöller]

Metatron has contacted me privately about propaganda periodicals distributed to the Eastern volunteer formations. I figure this may be of general interest, so I will post my findings here.

The magazine/newspaper names are transcribed using a number of special characters, so I hope this works out.

As far as illustrated magazines are concerned, we know for sure that the Russian-speaking volunteer formations were supplied with the Russian editions (codes "Ost" and "Rus") of Signal. The Russian issues differed significantly from the other editions of the magazine, i.e. they often included unique material about the Eastern volunteers and life in 'liberated' Russia.

In addition to Signal a number of weekly papers was distributed:

- "Novyi Put`" (New Path)
- "Novoe Slovo" (New Word)
- "Dobrovolec" (The Volunteer)
- "Kavkaz" (Caucasus)
- "Gazavat" (Holy War)
- "Svoboda. Eženedel`naja gazeta legionerov" (Freedom. Weekly Newspaper for the Legionnaires)

"Svoboda" was produced and distributed by the 162. (Turkistan) Infanterie-Division. When launched it had a print run of 4,000, which was increased to about 12,000 to 15,000 copies by the spring of 1943. Its contents mainly discussed events within the 162. ID such as flag parades, award ceremonies, etc. The 162. ID also distributed the other periodicals listed above to its units, as well as countless of leaflets, brochures, postcards and illustrations.

"Gazavat" was edited by the National Liberation Movement of the Northern Caucasus (Severo-Kavkazskogo Nacional-Oscoboditel’nago Dviženija) under the editorship of Manius Mansur. It was published in Russian but also included articles in other languages of the Northern Caucasus.

In addition to these publications there was a number of periodicals (mostly weekly papers, many illustrated) issued by the different national representations of the volunteers:

Turk languages:

- "Millî Türkistān" (The National Turkistan)
- "Yeni Türkistān" (The New Turkistan)
- "Millî Adabijat" (National Literature)
- "Idel`-Ural" (Volga-Ural)
- "Tatar Adabijat" (Tartar Literature)
- "Azerbaiçan" (Azerbaijan)

Russian for the Ugro-Finns:

- "Za Nacional`nuju Svobodu" (For National Freedom)

Georgian:

- "Sakharthwelo" (Georgia)

Armenian:

- "Hajastan" (Armenia)

These newspapers and magazines were edited by local journalists and only loosely controlled by the Germans. The responsible authorities for this were the East Ministry (Reichsministerium für die besetzten Ostgebiete / Dienststelle Fink) and OKW/WPr, the Wehrmacht's propaganda division (department: Schriftleitung der turkvölkischen und kaukasischen Freiwilligenzeitungen). Aside from this indirect control the local editorships were rather independent in their work but had to adhere to certain propagandistic guidelines of course.

Even though there was a considerable number of illiterates it has been argued that the majority of volunteers was able to read these periodicals; the educational system of the Soviet Union was better than its reputation.

Some further details: The Turkish National Committee (Millî Türkistān Birliği Komitasi) had its own propaganda unit with 27 correspondents. All in all there were 653 correspondents / propagandists working inside the Turkestan legions who contributed material for three different newspapers.

Primary source: Hoffmann, Joachim, Die Ostlegionen 1941-1943. Turktataren, Kaukasier und Wolgafinnen im deutschen Heer, Freiburg 1976 (Einzelschriften zur militärischen Geschichte des Zweiten Weltkrieges, hrsgg. v. Militärgeschichtlichen Forschungsamt, Rombach, ISBN 3-7930-178-4)

Archival material: the 162. ID's files on the distribution of magazines and newspapers (including Signal) are at BA-MA, RH 26-162.

Hope this helps

Alexander

[Metatron]

STUPENDOUS INFO!! Thank YOU VERY MUCH!!!!
As I write these lines I'm brimming over w/gratitude!
With all my heart THANK YOU!!!!
John Kahl (Metatron)