FORVM

FORVM was an Austrian cultural and political magazine, published in Vienna from 1954 till 1995, founded by Friedrich Hansen-Loeve, Felix Hubalek, Alexander Lernet-Holenia und Friedrich Torberg with the financial and logistical support of the CIA-funded Congress for Cultural Freedom (CCF). In 1966 Günther Nenning took over as editor, in 1986 Gerhard Oberschlick.

The magazine was distributed internationally and instigated some heavy ideological debates. In 1995 the magazine closed down due to lack of financial means. In 2004 a complete reprint has been published and there is still a modest website, edited by the last editor.

Only thirteen years after the foundation of FORVM it became public, thanks to Ramparts and Saturday Evening Post, that the financial sources derived from the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) with the aim to undermine liberal und leftist groups of intellectuals all over the world in order to position them against communism in the age of the Cold War. The CIA web site states that "[t]he Congress for Cultural Freedom is widely considered one of the CIA's more daring and effective Cold War covert operations." Other magazines funded by the CCF were Der Monat in Western Berlin, Preuves in Paris, Tempo presente in Italy, Cuadernos in Madrid, Encounter in London, as well as Freedom First in Bombay, Solidarity in the Philippines, Quadrant in Australia and Examen in Mexico.

FORVM was never an easy partner to its sponsors. Already its first issue caused troubles, as it printed a controversy between Friedrich Heer and editor Friedrich Torberg, called "Conversation with the Enemy" about the legitimacy of discourse with eastern communists. Heer was for, Torberg against any contact with the enemy - Torberg "losing on points, hopelessly"“. Nevertheless Torberg succeeded - using FORVM as an ardent weapon, with active help from Hans Weigel, against Günther Nenning – to force all major theatres of Austria to boycott the plays of Bertolt Brecht. This lasted until February 23, 1963 when the Wiener Volkstheater dared to play Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder. Although the magazine led by Torberg emphasized mainly on theatre and literature, FORVM also printed notable dialogues between church and state, discourses between the dominating ideologies of the time, as well as fundamental texts from the social sciences in view of the upcoming revolts. But the rigid and fierce anti-communism of Torberg increasingly became a problem to the sponsors, who repeatedly warned the editor, then limited their funding in 1961, then finally stopped the support entirely in 1964. When the new financier of FORVM, Hans Deutsch, also drew back in 1965, Torberg decided to give up his position as well. Nenning, who had served as editor-in-chief since 1958, became the new owner and editor.

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