Attention, this thinker takes “his explanations from every branch of science”, as Friedrich Engels knew. This is exactly why there is the mega that even survived the GDR and the USSR.
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“The first volume of Marxschen› capital ‹is general property, as far as translations into other languages affect,” Friedrich Engels proudly and generally stated. Then to scold against the translation of a certain John Broadhouse: “I expressly say that it is very far away from being a loyal text reproduction, and this because Mr. Broadhouse does not have any of the skills demanded by a Marx translator.” The outrage, if not in hearty trapatton manner A good knowledge of German literary language alone. Marx likes to use everyday expressions and dialect phrases; He shapes new words, he takes his explanations from every branch of science, his allusions from the literatures of a dozen spoke; In order to understand him, someone must actually be a master of the German language in words and writing and must also know something from German life. «
The title of the Engel text cited here is “how to not translate Marx”. Under this heading, the Berlin Association invites you to promote the edition of the Marx-Engels-Kutchenktung (MEGA) in autumn for a conference in the German capital. Rolf Hecker informed about this from the board at his anniversary celebration in the domicile of the Hellen Panke in Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg, which not only offered reviews, but also views.
35 years ago, at a time of the “confusion”, the association was founded to preserve and explore the works of Marx and Engels, especially to continue the (second) Marx-Engels-Tre-Treicht edition that started in the GDR in the 1970s. Their future seemed to be uncertain with the upheavals in the turning point of ’89, the Institute for Marxism-Leninism (IML) in Berlin, which soon renamed the Institute for History of the Labor Movement (IFGA). Especially in view of the approaching German “association”.
After a club law for the (still) GDR had been issued on February 21, 1990, Carl-Erich says, it was quickly taken to act. First of all, an account was set up (capitalist necessities threw their shadows ahead) and on April 9, an event was held for the foundation of a support association of the Mega, on which a statute was already decided. The official entry as an association was made in May, and the charitable status was recognized.
A first donation came from the Marx and Engels in East German left in the form of the PDS: 55 million marks of the GDR. Fully counted: “When I picked up the check from the bank, my knees shot my knees. Outside I counted the zeros again. ”Yes, it was a considerable amount that, of course, halved after the monetary union and which – worse – was then collected by the so -called independent commission to check the assets of the parties and mass organizations of the GDR.
The bad news was not an end. The Charlottenburg district court responsible for all of Berlin after October 3, 1990 could not or did not want to confirm an entry in the register of associations. Vollgraf held up the certificate at the anniversary event to prove to the audience that an entry had been confirmed. Around the mega; However, the West Berlin authority has given concerns that no documents could be found. When moving from the Eastern to West Berlin office, some boxes were probably lost. Vollgraf’s bitter remark was acknowledged with the laughter -saturated laughter and said that it was a concerted action; Other East German clubs founded at the time had suffered similar experiences. Vollgraf did not want to confirm this in turn because it was not provable.
In short, the brave warriors of the mega, who had been sitting, deciphered, translated, background and contexts researched, deciphered, deciphered, translated, and contexts did not give up. They had allies, fellow campaigners in the Karl Marx House in Trier and the Friedrich Ebert Foundation of the SPD as well as with the Moscow colleagues, who were, however, were in the Bredouille, since the Soviet Union was in foreseeable her and thus also highest uncertainty in the scientific company.
In November 1990 it was founded by the international Marx-Engels Foundation (IMES) in Amsterdam, an important support for the ambitious edition project. And at the Academy of Sciences of the GDR (ADW), a mega commission had been formed before the GDR had joined the GDR, the continued work of which had to be defended in view of the handling of the AdW and the re-establishment of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences (BBAW). Against the new administrators about research and teaching in East Germans, among which there were quite a few, which were the same view as the Federal Minister of Labor Norbert Norbert Blüm from the CDU, who cheered in 1989: “Marx is dead, Jesus lives.”
On March 27, 1991, the Berlin Association for the Promotion of the Mega Edition was registered in a register of associations for a second time, “properly” in Charlottenburger. “It was true that we drove two tracks,” says Vollgraf. So to secure institutional structures to continue the mega as well as alert the international public. “Some said we shouldn’t make such a shouting.” But they were and are not quiet, the Marx Engels researchers. A stately number of prominent names, from Moscow to Montreal, from Boston to Beijing, from Tokyo to Turku, whether politically left, liberal or conservatively located scientists, the Federal Government promised the promise not to let the mega² die. The edition has been continued since 1998 “based on revised edition guidelines”. The IMES operates as the editor, and the mega workplace at the BBAW is responsible for the practical implementation. It bundles from work from all over the world. And the mega is also present in all major libraries in the world.
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The mammoth project should actually be complete this year. It should be doubted whether this will have succeeded in five years if the MEGA is renewed again. But Hecker sees “light at the end of the tunnel” and is firmly convinced: “The mega is completed.” Although with a few drawbacks. Of the 114 planned volumes, 65 volumes have been published to date. The classic book edition is supplemented by digital text, apparatus and register cumulations, formerly also in print. However, digitization enables more comfortable research options. The association for promoting the Mega also offers the same on its homepage, as Hecker proudly announced. There are now all articles and essays of the publications published by the association until 1991. A literature overview of publications on Marx and Engels since the 1970s can also be found there. Work is still being carried out on a year at the life and work of the two two those interested in the Hecker.
The heroic struggle of the association for 35 years has been completely unselfish, its commitment as “ideal supplier” to the mega, including with its series of publications, the “Contributions to Marx-Engels research” and “scientific communications”, is on a voluntary basis. Of the once over 100 scientists who held a safe job at institutions in Berlin, Leipzig, Halle and Erfurt at the time of the GDR, almost a dozen in their calling after 1990. Nevertheless, many continued to research, the ongoing volumes, which were precisely the four departments of the edition: works, articles, designs; the “capital” and preparatory work; Correspondence; Excounted, notes and marginalia. This year the last volume for the “Neue Rheinische Zeitung” will be completed, the life’s work of Françoise Melis, born in Toulouse in 1942 as the son of German Résance fighters and of course a member of the club.
In any case, as many non -mentioned colleagues, they should meet Engel’s expectations of a transcription of Marxen’s texts. Board member Michael Heinrich praised a translation of the “capital” that was published by Princeton University Press last year. Paul Reiterter has been chosen by the Goethe Institute for the Helen-and-Kurt-Wolff translator price 2025. According to Heinrich, the “capital” in particular has experienced numerous new translations around the globe in the past ten years.
Speaking of: The Berlin Association receives a particularly large number of inquiries to promote the mega edition from the Chinese colleagues; They affect the letter definitions in particular. In China, 60 volumes of the Marx-Engels-Vasive Edition are to appear, so far there are 36. There is still a lot to do, also for the Berlin friends of Marx and Engels.
Marxforschung-Berlin Association for the Promotion of the Mega-Edition eV
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