Pechel, Rudolf

(1882-1961)

   publicist; as editor of Deutsche Runds-chau, a strong neoconservative influence on Berlin's* intellectual life. Born in the Mecklenburg village of Güstrow, he took a doctorate in German studies before joining the staff of Weimar's Goethe- und Schiller-Archiv. After a sub-sequent posting with the Markisches Museum in Berlin, he began writing for the biweekly Literarisches Echo in 1912. He met Julius Rodenberg, publisher of Deutsche Rundschau, before the war; in April 1919 he became the journal's editor. Among Germany's oldest publications, Deutsche Rundschau was already a voice of German conservatism. But it was Pechel, remaining for almost twenty-three years, who transformed it into Germany's most respected neo-conservative publication.

   Resolved to exercise political influence, Pechel formed ties with several neo-conservative groups. A member of the Juni-Klub, a circle centered on Arthur Moeller* van den Bruck, he retained close contact with its successor, the Her-renklub.* Deutsche Rundschau promoted the antiparliamentary ideology of both groups. As president of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft fur die Interessen der Grenz-und Auslandsdeutschen (Alliance for the Interests of Border and Foreign Ger-mans), Pechel published the organization's nationalistic propaganda. In 1924 he assumed sole direction of the Deutsche Rundschau. Procuring clandestine data from industry and ministerial offices, he used the journal to influence govern-ment policy, especially foreign affairs. From the mid-1920s Deutsche Rundschau was a mouthpiece for the Munich Academy for Scientific Research and the Fostering of Germandom (Deutschtum).

   Suffering financially, Deutsche Rundschau was purchased in 1932 by the Norddeutsche Buchdruckerei und Verlagsanstalt. The next year Pechel was joined by two associate editors, Paul Fechter and Eugen Diesel, both close friends. He initially welcomed Hitler* and was prepared to cooperate with the NSDAP, but the June 1934 murder of Edgar Jung,* a friend, forced a reap-praisal. Through judicious articles on past tyrants, Pechel used Deutsche Runds-chau as a tool of disguised opposition. Linked with the resistance, he was arrested in 1942 and spent the remainder of the war at Sachsenhausen.

   REFERENCES:Benz and Graml, Biographisches Lexikon; Mauersberger, Rudolf Pechel; Pechel, Deutscher Widerstand; Von Klemperer, Germany's New Conservatism.