Freie Presse: a weekly against Hitler

On the occasion of World Press Freedom Day, commemorated on 3 May 2008, the IISH wishes to call attention to Freie Presse, a magazine published by German socialists during their exile in Amsterdam in 1933. Free press was prohibited in Germany as soon as Hitler came to power. Freie Presse aimed to counteract Nazi propaganda and inform German speakers outside the Third Reich. But the paper was also spread illegally in Germany.

This site contains background information on Freie Presse including literature and sources, as well as the complete digital version of the weekly.

May 3 was declared World Press Freedom Day by the UN General Assembly in 1993, and was intended to commemorate the need for a free, pluralistic, and independent press as an essential component for any democratic society. The idea stemmed from the UNESCO General Conference in 1991.

Previous 3 May contributions

• 2007: The Alexander Herzen Foundation against censorship in the Soviet Union
• 2006: Press Now. The early years - Independent media and Yugoslavia
• 2005: A Dozen Press Freedom Posters
• 2004: The Banishment of Brandsteder from the Dutch East Indies
• 2003: Koos Koster in El Salvador

See also: Press Freedom Links