• Introduction
  

Introduction

In the spring of 2000, the International Association of Labour History Institutions published the
Socialist Internationals - A Bibliography. Publications of the Social-Democratic and Socialist Internationals 1914-2000. Compiled by Gerd Callesen.

In it, materials published by 39 Internationals are documented. Out of these 39 Internationals, 12 are still issuing their publications to-day. A total of 200 periodicals and approximately 1800 monographs are documented.

Many of the periodicals only saw the light of day in a few issues, and some only in one. We must assume that some titles have been lost altogether - this, in particular, applies to the late 1930s.

None of the major IALHI institutions has anything like a complete collection. As a matter of interest, the largest gaps are not found in connection with the „old" publications: Rather the publications issued in the context of European co-operation in Brussels, Luxembourg, and Strasbourg have not been collected consistently by any IALHI institution.

In view of the large gaps concerning this material, it made good sense not only to record the material in a single bibliography but also to keep it available at low costs to all IALHI-affiliates, and to future generations, through a joint microfilming project. Consequently, the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Library applied to the Erich-Brost-Foundation for funding for this project.

What exactly is the Erich-Brost-Foundations? Erich Brost was born in 1903 in Elbing in East-Prussia. He published the Social-Democratic daily, the Danziger Volksstimme, and was a member of the Danzig diet in the 1930s. He had to flee Danzig, to-day’s Gdansk, in 1936 as he was an outspoken opponent of National Socialism. He made his way as an emigrant in Poland, Finland, Sweden and, finally, Great Britain. Back in Germany, in 1948, he founded the Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung (WAZ) which gradually became the German newspaper enjoying the highest subscription figure. The Foundation that bears his name was established one year after his death in 1996. It is the objective of the foundation to promote projects aimed at improving German-Polish relations, and to bring Poland closer to the European Union.

In January 2000, the Advisory Board of the Erich-Brost-Foundation approved the IALHI microfilming project and provided initial funding. As one of the beneficiaries of the project, a newcomer to IALHI-membership, the Polish Sejm Library’s Department of Social History Collection, will receive free copies of all these microfilms.

The Co-ordination Committee of the IALHI decided not to contract out the microfilming to a commercial firm, but rather have the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung execute the work. Work will be carried out internationally and in a decentralized manner. The matrix-copies of the microfilms will be kept at the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Library in Bonn, and the microfilms will be distributed by the Microfilm Archives of the German Language Press (MFA). The MFA, located in Dortmund, is a non-profit-organization operating on a co-operative basis; any income generated by this project will be invested in the production of other microfilms. MFA charges 30 Euro per diazo microfilm roll whereas direct positive silver films cost 20 per cent more.

In the present documentation, the titles of the microfilms are presented in alphabetical order. The structure of the entries are in keeping with the rules of German libraries. An index of the relevant organizations facilitates access.

Each title is accompanied by an indication of the number of microfilm rolls concerned. Many of the microfilm rolls include several different titles. Only full microfilm rolls can be purchased.