A Greeting from the Editorial Team!
[Der Weg 1948-12] An original translation of „Ein Gruß der Schriftleitung!“
Title: A Greeting from the Editorial Team! [de: Ein Gruß der Schriftleitung!]
Author: Eberhard Fritsch
“Der Weg” Issue: Year 02, Issue 12 (December 1948)
Page(s): 842-843
Dan Rouse’s Note(s):
Der Weg - El Sendero is a German and Spanish language magazine published by Dürer-Verlag in Buenos-Aires, Argentina by Germans with connections to the defeated Third Reich.
Der Weg ran monthly issues from 1947 to 1957, with official sanction from Juan Perón’s Government until his overthrow in September 1955.
Eberhard Fritsch’s editorial in Der Weg opens with a reflective greeting, marking the magazine’s third year with a proud, ceremonial tone that invites readers into shared introspection while subtly honoring the editorial team’s role. The piece expresses heartfelt gratitude to the unsung production staff—setters, printers, and binders—whose tireless craftsmanship overcomes post-war challenges, and extends thanks to a wide community of supporters, contributors, and friends, weaving a detailed, appreciative tribute that underscores the magazine’s collective foundation. Philosophically, Fritsch pivots to reject despair, drawing inspiration from a quote equating Der Weg with Germany itself, and commits to a mission of reconstruction with clarity and conviction, explicitly distancing the endeavor from Oswald Spengler’s Decline of the West. The editorial concludes on a celebratory note, rejoicing in a growing readership, issuing an ambitious call for continuous improvement and reader participation, and offering warm, festive wishes that echo traditional year-end camaraderie.
Source Document(s):
[LINK] Scans of 1948 Der Weg Issues (archive.org)
A Greeting from the Editorial Team!
As we step into the third volume of our magazine, let this milestone inspire us to share reflections that many of you may already hold in your hearts.
Let gratitude lead our words. It belongs first to those rarely remembered, whose personal dedication and technical mastery ensure Der Weg appears without fail: the typesetters, printers, bookbinders, and plate makers. Who truly grasps the sheer effort poured into each issue of our Der Weg, the thousand obstacles so often overcome again and again, the barriers broken, the last-minute plans reshaped, the ingenious solutions devised! Who understands—unless from their own witness—the scale of labor, the overtime, the unpaid zeal packed into every edition! Which reader pauses to consider the scarcity of paper, the sleepless nights, the missed deadlines, the tangled calculations, the editorial judgments, the sifting of manuscripts, the wrangling with authors; who even faintly guesses at the flood of letters streaming daily through our editorial doors, the hundreds of pressing phone calls, the dozens of rushed journeys, the marathon negotiations, the hours refining style with so little to work with; who comprehends what it means not merely to assemble Der Weg, but to envision and forge it! Thus, our thanks go to all the steadfast souls who, often selfless and spurred by pride in fine work, give far more than duty demands or wages could ever repay.
Yet our gratitude extends just as fully to all who have stood by us with unwavering loyalty, becoming tireless champions of our cause; to the vast circle of our editorial team, especially the many eminent European authors whose readiness lends such cultural and intellectual depth to our pages; to our advertisers, whose robust financial support sustains us; to our distributors, who labor with model devotion to spread Der Weg far and wide; and, at last, to our countless unnamed friends and comrades of Der Weg, whose selfless efforts, eager collaboration, and precious ideas and insights share in the triumph of this work—which, as all this makes plain, stands as a clear testament to our collective spirit.
A distinguished European writer recently declared: “Whether I speak of Germany or your Der Weg, it’s one and the same!” These words warmed us deeply, yet they bind us even more. It’s our devotion to a higher, grander purpose that keeps exhaustion at bay, igniting the vibrant will behind all we do. We serve a mighty reconstruction, claiming our every effort, and we know this cannot be done with hollow bluster or querulous moans, nor with furious cries of blame or belittling bias, but solely with focused resolve, candid clarity, a reverent embrace of life, a sense of worth, and dignity. We reject belief in the Decline of the West—for if we held it, why speak at all?—yet we see the toxic tides that might sweep us there; we deny the might of irrationality—else we’d fall mute—but we mark its bold grasp for power; we refuse to credit a triumph of decay and denial over history’s and spirit’s treasures—lest we surrender; nor do we think the divide of “victors and vanquished” will long endure, for we sense already the shadow of dire events looming, poised to lay bare the full folly and recklessness of Germany’s total ruin in all its grim stages.
Yet we hold fast to a belief in the organic unfolding of world history, where those who keenly discern the laws of our era and strive to fulfill them will rise to prominence; we trust that—though evidence may seem to counter it—achievement, born of wisdom, character, vigor, and skill, alone decides a people’s worth; we affirm that a pure will for renewal and order, for deliberate rebuilding, fused with duty and readiness, will at last yield fruit; we believe no night lasts forever, none so black that light, warmth, and goodness fade to nothing; we hold that hatred, ruin’s urge, and blindness, fierce as they are, soon pass, and that high peaks are reached only through deep vales; we stand unshaken in our certainty that when spirit faces its shadow, building defies breaking, vision outstrips smallness, nobility thwarts spite, merit bests dabbling, and competence trumps failure, the first will prevail; we bow in awe to the Almighty’s laws, though we grasp them imperfectly, seeking to dignify hardship with meaning, to lift it as a path to redemption and a base for ascent—not through regret or penance, not in groveling self-blame, not with the cursed claim of “collective guilt,” but in a quest to know the core truths of our people’s, nation’s, and Western life, weighing what follows from owning a guilt shared equally by all sides, yet blindly spurned by the victors in fateful error. We cling to this faith despite our mad present, against any creeping nihilism it might breed, rooted in our sense of a vast, all-European calling that fills us with purpose.
With profound joy, we note today that a community has gathered round Der Weg, ever growing, ever eager to widen our readership and carve new markets for this magazine. The makeup of this readerly band is our sure gauge of the rightness of our chosen course and the weight of what we publish. We’ve never aimed to flatter our readers, but always to fill a spiritual void that’s formed, alarmingly vast. That we’ve managed this, and well, shines through in hundreds of letters from every corner of the earth, saying in essence: We all chase the new, and here we find the path to reach it. None can say how long or far we must travel, but isn’t it a great, great thing just to have a path at all? Everyone feels the age’s cultural and spiritual want, and thousands rise to meet it. Little good it’d do to offer catchwords, stale clichés, or vapid noise; the need is for clear, unmistakable speech. This isn’t defiance, but we must guard against the muddles, silences, and misreadings that—God knows, too often and too plainly—bring us wrong turns and ill deeds once more. Let whoever lacks the guts for candor and clarity pull a nightcap over his ears, snoring off-key and smug as progress strides past. And let him spare us his quibbles and gripes. We honor any view boldly and honestly held, just as we prize fair, well-meant critique; we’d gladly print any earnest, thoughtful stance in our Der Weg and wrestle with it openly, but we spurn the chronic dullards whose smooth-brained toil yields only odd, clumsy whines. Some brand us “one hundred fifty percent Nazis,” others “vile defamers of the Third Reich”; some caution against jabbing Eastern creeds, others chide us as England’s pals; some urge us to back Wall Street blindly, some deem us papal pawns for “never striking” him, others say we should echo Germany’s top party; to some our jests are too raw, to others too tame—and on it goes, endlessly.
To those in earnest, we point to Albrecht Dürer’s fine engraving: Knight, Death, and the Devil; for those who’d only peck and pry, we’ve a sharper quote in store. We align with open hearts bound by honor, with those “of good will,” who, with their character’s deep decency and proud sense of a Western mission, seek the seeds of a new dawn—ever poised to leap in and labor, ever watchful, sharp-eared, and clear-eyed, ever bold and affirming, not just sensing the new but summoning it by their being, bearers of both heritage and tomorrow. We long to share with our readers the hundreds of letters that reach us from across the globe. It’s often shattering to read the words of German youth, expellees from the East, former soldiers and officers, poets and writers—all free to roam yet spiritually captive, their pages brimming with joy that things are named rightly once more, the vital made plain.
From our readers’ fidelity and attachment, and from our clear, firm aims, springs our duty to ever expand Der Weg, to shape it more beautifully, enrich and diversify it, striving ceaselessly for its perfection: its joys should deepen, its gifts grow truer, its readers multiply, its vision stretch wider, its sparked thoughts bear richer fruit, its community bind tighter. We’ll make no rash vows, but rest assured, all our care and tireless zeal fuel this growth, and the new year of 1949 will bring planned enrichments aplenty. Yet we ask our readers to keep spreading the word, winning new subscribers, proving their stake with ideas and submissions, trusting each new reader aids our finer crafting. May we all—readers and staff—aim in the year ahead to double our circulation once more, as we did this year precisely. Our deepest delight would be if you, our readers, seize and fulfill this hope.
We wish our friends, our team, and our readers a warm Christmas and hearty blessings for the New Year! May this saying guide us all in the year to come:
Sieg oder Niederlage ruht in Gottes Hand, der Ehre sind wir selber Herr und König!
Victory or defeat rests in God’s hand,
Of honor, we ourselves are lord and king!