Die Aktion

Die Aktion ("The Action") was a German literary and political magazine, edited by Franz Pfemfert and published between 1911 and 1932 in Berlin-Wilmersdorf; it promoted literary Expressionism and stood for left-wing politics. To begin with, Die Aktion was published weekly, after 1919 every two weeks, and only sporadically beginning from 1926.

Publication of Die Aktion was resumed in 1981 by the Edition Nautilus publishing house. Issues appear irregularly.

In 1904 Pfemfert became an editor of the anarchist magazine Der Kampf, under the direction of Senna Hoy. There he came into contact with many modern writers and artists, as well as with political opposition groups. One of his early collaborators was Herwarth Walden, future editor of Der Sturm.

After leaving his position at Der Kampf, Pfemfert worked for the magazines Das Blaubuch and Demokrat (becoming the latter's co-editor in 1910). In the radical left-wing Demokrat magazine, which he co-edited with Georg Zepler (1859–1925), he published texts by numerous writers who would later become contributors to Die Aktion. In early 1911 Pfemfert's arrangement with Zepler ended when Zepler, without consulting Pfemfert, dropped a planned article by Kurt Hiller from the list of scheduled contributions. Pfemfert decided that he needed his own magazine; thus was born Die Aktion.

The first issue of Die Aktion was published 2 February 1911, with the subheading "Magazine for liberal politics and literature". In 1912 the subheading became "Weekly periodical for politics, literature and art".

Through Pfemfert's contact with Hiller and Hiller's friends in Der Neue Club, who organized evenings of readings with Expressionist artists under the heading "neo-dramatic club", Die Aktion quickly became the leading medium of the new movement. As Pfemfert succeeded in making many writers famous over short periods of time, and formed relations with such publishing houses as Ernst Rowohlt and Samuel Fischer, he received a steady influx of quality contributions (despite the fact that he would not pay any royalties to the writers).

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