14 The Linguist Vol/58 No/3 2019
ciol.org.uk/tl
FEATURES
East Germany were Russian, versus only 2% in West
Germany; conversely, only 5.5% of translated titles in
East
Germany were American/British works compared
with 55% in West Germany.
5
HIGHBROW ENTERTAINMENT
While Russian titles predominated in the Soviet zone in
the immediate post-war period, American writing
prevailed in the western zones, as exemplified by
Rowohlt's Ro-Ro-Ro (Rowohlt Rotations Romane) series,
established in Hamburg in December 1946. The first
ever German paperbacks, these were large-format
novels printed on cheap newspaper stock, which sold at
no more than 50 pfennig apiece, thus securing Rowohlt's
position as the leading German publisher by early 1947.
In line with Rowohlt's values, the Ro-Ro-Ro
programme focused on émigré, previously forbidden
and new works in German, as well as works by foreign
authors that would help young German readers to think
in a wider European context again. The programme was
welcomed by the British, who granted the publisher
sufficient paper to produce 10,000 copies of each
book – double the usual run of 5,000.
As the first four Ro-Ro-Ros show, a strong emphasis
was placed on western modernism: Ernest Hemingway's
In Another Country was followed by Kurt Tucholsky's
Schloβ
Gripsholm, Joseph Conrad's Typhoon and Alain-
Fournier's Le Grand Meaulnes. These were published
prior to the currency reform of June 1948, after which
books had to vie, often unsuccessfully, with other forms
of culture and entertainment.
The series was also supposed to feature foreign authors
who appeared in Rowohlt's influential Pinguin magazine
aimed
at 15-30-year-olds, including Thomas Wolfe, Albert
Camus, Mark Twain, Simone de Beauvoir, John Steinbeck,
Jean-Paul Sartre and Graham Greene. However, these
plans were not all realised due to severe paper shortages
from the beginning of 1948, as well as copyright issues.
6
The Ro-Ro-Ros, then, could not be characterised as
literature aimed at educating toward democracy or
denazification. They constituted highbrow entertainment,
which also prevailed in the Soviet zone. Thus, to borrow
the title of the first Ro-Ro-Ro, German readers and opinion
makers in all zones were living "in another country".
This article is based on Anne Stokes's 2018 presentation
for CIOL's Scottish Society; ciol.org.uk/scottish-society.
Notes
1 Hench, J (2010) Books as Weapons: Propaganda,
publishing, and the battle for global markets in the era of
World War II, Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1
2 See ibid. for further information
3 During a speech at the opening of the first book exhibition
in Bielefeld in February 1947
4 Ernst Rowohlt in interview, December 1946
5 See Wurm, C (2015) Gestern. Heute. Aufbau: 70 Jahre
Aufbauverlag 1945-2015, Berlin: Aufbau
6 See Oels, D (2013) Rowohlts Rotationsroutine:
Markterfolge und Modernisierung eines Buchverlags vom
Ender der Weimarer Republik bis in die fünfziger Jahre,
Essen: Klartext Verlag
LITERARY
PROGRAMME
General Eisenhower
(centre) and
commanders of the
Supreme Headquarters
Allied Expeditionary
Force (SHAEF), which
coordinated the book
distribution programme
