Editorial and Publishing Office of Der Sturm (1911–1912)

“DER STURM is the paper of independent thinkers. The culture and art of today are critically assessed. In this magazine, only personalities with their own thoughts and views express themselves. Any kind of journalism or feuilletonism is prohibited.” These were the words publisher Herwarth Walden used to advertise for subscribers to his newly founded magazine in the spring of 1910. It had eight pages and cost just ten pfennigs. Its contents included Expressionist poems, avant-garde short prose, essays on art and culture, but also satire.

Authors like Else Lasker-Schüler, Gottfried Benn and Alfred Döblin published their poems and stories here long before they appeared in book form. The visual arts also played a growing part, and works by modern artists found their way in. From 1911 to 1912, prints and drawings by the Brücke artists were regularly published in Der Sturm.

The avant-garde magazine also changed its publishing address several times during its existence (1910–1932). In the first two years, the editorial office was based in Walden and his wife Lasker-Schüler’s shared apartment on Katharinenstraße in Halensee. In February 1912 – the couple had separated by then – Walden moved to Potsdamer Straße 18. The new address served as the editorial office for about a year before Walden moved into larger premises a few blocks away at Potsdamer Strasse 134 a in 1913. From then on, not only were the apartment, publishing house and editorial office under the same roof, but Der Sturm also set up its own gallery. By that point, however, the works of the Brücke artists were no longer published in the magazine.

Isabel Fischer