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Everything is censored!

Telegrams, films and images

In addition to the press, the Censorship Group within the War Monitoring Office also dealt with telegrams. This essentially involved two measures: “the closure of certain telegraph offices” (for instance in the broader area of the front) and “the monitoring and control of telegrams by what were known as Censorship Commissions”. The latter were set up in a number of cities of the monarchy (Vienna, Krakow, Lviv, Prague, Innsbruck, Graz, Trieste and Zadar) at the start of the war, and were under the control of the armed forces, with staff comprising military and telegraph officials.

 

The practical implementation of this telegram censorship involved the various telegraph offices working together with the Telegram Censorship Commissions. The former's function was to check the identity of the sender of the telegram and to pass on to the Commissions any suspicious telegrams and all telegrams sent abroad. The main function of the Telegram Censorship Commissions was to monitor telegrams sent to and coming from abroad. Telegrams to be "inhibited" (stopped) were passed on to the War Monitoring Office.

The censorship of photographs was above all intended to supplement press censorship. Photos to be published were first censored by “the Press Censorship Office or the Censorship Group of the War Monitoring Office”. Separate provisions applied to the photo-reporters of the War Press Headquarters. According to historian Gustav Spann, they were only to be assigned to the higher commands and from there allocated to a specific unit for a short period of time. Having completed their work at the front, the photo-reporters were required to return to the command centre to which they had previously been assigned. There they were permitted to develop the films, with each negative requiring detailed information: the place and time of the photograph, the details of the unit and whether the photograph was posed or not.

After the negative had been developed, “the command responsible carried out an immediate preliminary censorship”. Photos to be censored were kept back and passed on to the War Archive. According to Gustav Spann, 30 % of the pictorial material remaining was sent to the army administration. The photographer could use the remaining 70 % as he desired. However, these photos were checked a second time by the War Press Headquarters or the War Monitoring Office and only then released for publication.

Before the war, film censorship had been the responsibility of the Vienna Police Administration. Upon outbreak of the war, “an additional censorship office was set up for military films” – above all for those produced by the War Press Headquarters – which were censored by the War Archive. The censors were required to pay particular attention to ensuring that there were no ‘unpatriotic’ scenes in the films in question, and that no larger-scale “destruction and dramatic war scenes or the consequences of war” (for instance fallen soldiers) were shown. Nor should “enemy statesmen and military leaders” be shown in films.

Translation: David Wright

Bibliografie 

Mayer, Klaus: Die Organisation des Kriegspressequartiers beim k. u. k. AOK im Ersten Weltkrieg 1914-1918, Unveröffentlichte Dissertation, Universität Wien, Wien 1963

Spann, Gustav: Zensur in Österreich während des Ersten Weltkrieges 1914-1918, Unveröffentlichte Dissertation, Universität Wien 1972

 

Quotes:

„the closure of certain telegraph offices“: quoted from: Spann, Gustav: Zensur in Österreich während des Ersten Weltkrieges 1914-1918, Unveröffentlichte Dissertation, Universität Wien 1972, 155

„the monitoring and control of telegrams by ...“: quoted from: Spann, Gustav: Zensur in Österreich während des Ersten Weltkrieges 1914-1918, Unveröffentlichte Dissertation, Universität Wien 1972, 155

„The former's function was ...“: Spann, Gustav: Zensur in Österreich während des Ersten Weltkrieges 1914-1918, Unveröffentlichte Dissertation, Universität Wien 1972, 157

„the Press Censorship Office or...“: quoted from: Spann, Gustav: Zensur in Österreich während des Ersten Weltkrieges 1914-1918, Unveröffentlichte Dissertation, Universität Wien 1972, 163

„They were only to be assigned to the higher …“: Spann, Gustav: Zensur in Österreich während des Ersten Weltkrieges 1914-1918, Unveröffentlichte Dissertation, Universität Wien 1972, 163

„the place and time of the photograph …“: Spann, Gustav: Zensur in Österreich während des Ersten Weltkrieges 1914-1918, Unveröffentlichte Dissertation, Universität Wien 1972, 163

„the command responsible ...“: quoted from: Spann, Gustav: Zensur in Österreich während des Ersten Weltkrieges 1914-1918, Unveröffentlichte Dissertation, Universität Wien 1972, 163

„30 % of the pictorial material remaining …“: Spann, Gustav: Zensur in Österreich während des Ersten Weltkrieges 1914-1918, Unveröffentlichte Dissertation, Universität Wien 1972, 164

„The photographer could use the remaining 70 % …“: Spann, Gustav: Zensur in Österreich während des Ersten Weltkrieges 1914-1918, Unveröffentlichte Dissertation, Universität Wien 1972, 164

„censorship office was set up for military films“: quoted from: Spann, Gustav: Zensur in Österreich während des Ersten Weltkrieges 1914-1918, Unveröffentlichte Dissertation, Universität Wien 1972, 160

„destruction or dramatic war scenes ...“: quoted from: Spann, Gustav: Zensur in Österreich während des Ersten Weltkrieges 1914-1918, Unveröffentlichte Dissertation, Universität Wien 1972, 162

„‚enemy statesmen and military leaders“: quoted from: Spann, Gustav: Zensur in Österreich während des Ersten Weltkrieges 1914-1918, Unveröffentlichte Dissertation, Universität Wien 1972, 162

 

 

 

 

 

 

Contents related to this chapter

Aspects

  • Aspect

    Guiding the masses

    Guiding the mood of the masses was an important aspect of warfare during the First World War. Considerable information and communication work was carried out to persuade the population of the “true facts”. All areas of life were influenced by propaganda in a way that had not been seen hitherto: reports in the newspapers, posters on the walls, even teaching material in schools now communicated controlled information. What methods and media were used? How did the various warring nations attempt to influence public opinion? What was communicated and how effective was the propaganda?

Persons, Objects & Events

  • Object

    Media

    All Quiet on the Western Front was released in 1930. It was the film of Erich Maria Remarque’s novel of the same name about the experiences of a soldier during the First World War. Remarque’s book and the film adaptation are classic anti-war statements. Alongside the patriotic, glorified heroic epics and “authentic” documentation of service for the fatherland, this was just one way in which the First World War was portrayed in literature and films – a medium that had come into being only twenty years before the outbreak of war.

  • Object

    Monitoring & control

    Everyday life in the Habsburg Monarchy was characterised by propaganda, monitoring and control, as can be seen by the many blank spaces in the daily newspapers and deletions in private correspondence and telegrams. At the same time an attempt was made in texts and audio-visual media to whip up general enthusiasm for the war. Not even the youngest inhabitants of the empire remained untouched, and the influence of the state was also felt in the schools of the Monarchy.

  • Object

    Depicting the war

    The photo by Alexander Exax shows a scene in the trenches in Galicia in 1915. The title “im Feuer” [“under fire”] gives the impression that the picture has been taken in the middle of the action. Dynamic photos like this were typical of the pictorial iconography of the First World War. The illustrated weeklies were among the most important distribution media, but there were others: exhibitions and posters, picture postcards and cinemas collaborated with private picture agencies and the official propaganda to provide a visual depiction of the war.

Memories