[AVANT-GARDE] Die Junge Garde. Molodaia gvardiia. Politiko-literaturnyj dvukhmesiachnik dlia iunoshestva na nemetskom iazyke [The young guard: a political and literary bimonthly for German youth]. No. 6.

Moscow: Gosudarstvennoe uchebno-pedagogicheskoe izd-vo, 1931. Octavo (24.5 × 17.5 cm). Original pictorial wrappers 38, [2] pp. with 41-47, [1] pp. With an 8-pp. dictionary supplement folded and laid in as issued. Illustrations throughout. Light soil to wrappers; some chipping to corners of wrappers; still about very good. Item #P5978

Intended for the Soviet youth learning German, this publication focused on the promotion of world communism, reflecting the Soviet foreign policy of its day. To this end the publication was “to assist in the learning of the German language and to enable the cooperation between the Soviet and German youth.” The magazine contained a section on political life (revolutionary calendar, political digest), a “Pereklichka” section of open letters between “Soviet youth and German and Austrian comrades,” as well as a literary section with participation of well-known German leftist authors. The German communist politician, and member of KPD Paul Dietrich (1889–1937) edited the journal with the help of Béla Illés (1895–1974), the Hungarian communist writer.

This issue contains a piece about the German military by Kurt Tucholsky, a pacifist writer and one of the most important journalists of the Weimar Republic, and an article about the lack of separation between the church and state in Germany by Berta Lask, a prominent left writer, playwright, and journalist. Written in simple German, and appended with an eight-page glossary, the magazine was intended for students with at least two years of German instruction. The magazine was a publication of the newly established (1930) State Educational and Pedagogical Publishing House (Uchgiz), which specialized in textbooks and educational literature. The expressionist wrapper design and illustrations were done by the “Third brigade of Uchgiz,” an internal design team of the new publishing house. Perhaps to avoid confusion with a German communist publication by the same name, the journal continued under the title “Zwei Welten” (Two worlds) starting in 1932. Despite the generous print run of 10000, as of January 2024, KVK and OCLC only show separate issues, not including this one, at Tübingen, and no holdings in North America.

Price: €450.00

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