The visit of Alexej Adshubej, "Izvestia" chief editor and son-in-law of Nikita Khrushchev, to West Germany in July 1964 has been the subject of much speculation. Taking place before the proposed summit meeting between Krushchev and Chancellor Ludwig Erhard, it appeared to mark the beginning of German rapprochement with the communists in an attempt to seek German unification, prevented only by Krushchev's fall in October 1964. New sources now available in both West and East German archives prove this assumption as completely unfounded. Neither the West nor the USSR was willing to endanger its prevailing interest in detente by taking the initiative in tackling the German question. Indeed, neither the Western Alliance nor the East European communist governments supported the idea of German unity. Adshubej's mission was a personal move by Khrushchev meant to give his policy of co-existence a decisive boost. Instead, this action only reenforced opposition at home and caused discord within the Eastern camp and in East Berlin. (Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte / FUB)
Als Begleitbuch zur gleichnamigen Ausstellung konzipiert bietet der Titel eine umfassende, reich bebilderte Darstellung zum Wesen und zur Geschichte des politischen Humors seit 1949 in Deutschland. Historiker, Politikwissenschaftler, Germanisten und Kabarettisten beleuchten verschiedene Aspekte von Kabarett und Satire. Abgerundet durch Kurzbiografien der Autoren und ein ausführliches Literaturverzeichnis. Neben T. Glodek: "Politisches Kabarett und Satire" (2007, hier nicht besprochen), vor J. McNally: "Hundert Jahre Kabarett" (ID 6/04). (2 S)
