Armeerundschau

From 1956 to 1990, Armeerundschau or “AR” (English: Army Panorama) was a monthly soldier’s magazine for members of the East German National People’s Army (German: Nationale Volksarmee or NVA).

Armeerundschau sought to represent the Army in an everyday, entertaining way, and was aimed at young people and women soldiers.

It was the magazine equivalent of the more politically oriented military weekly newspaper Volksarmee (English: People’s Army) published by the Ministry of National Defense.

In his book, Fallen Elites; The Military Other in Post-Unification Germany, Andrew Bickford indicates that the purpose of Armeerundschau was to promote the virtue and glory of the military, the ruling political regime and the nation as a whole.

Bickford’s quote from the chief editor of the magazine, Karl-Heinz Freitag, sums up this purpose: