{{Short description|German socialist newspaper (1932–33)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2020}} {{Infobox newspaper | name = Der Funke | logo = | image = Der Funke (ISK organ, Berlin) cover.gif | caption = | type = | format = | owners = | founder = | publisher = | president = | editor = | chief_editor = Willi Eichler | deputy_editor = | associate_editor = | managing_editor = | general_manager = | news_editor = | campus_editor = | campus_chief = | metro_editor = | metro_chief = | opinion_editor = | photo_editor = | staff_writers = | founded = January 1932 | political_position = Internationaler Sozialistischer Kampfbund | language = German | ceased_publication = February 1933 | relaunched = | headquarters = Insel Strasse, Berlin | circulation = | circulation_date = | sister_newspapers = | ISSN = | oclc = | RNI = | website = | free = | publishing_country = | publishing_city = Berlin }} '''''Der Funke''''' ({{IPA|de|deːɐ̯ ˈfʊŋkə|lang}}, {{Langx|en|The Spark}}) was a daily newspaper published from Berlin, Germany, from 1932 to 1933.<ref name="Sösemann2001">{{cite book|author=Bernd Sösemann|title=Fritz Eberhard: Rückblicke auf Biographie und Werk|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PVwh16_oCp0C&pg=PA8|year=2001|publisher=Franz Steiner Verlag|isbn=978-3-515-07881-8|pages=8, 15, 76, 126}}</ref> It was the national publication of the Internationaler Sozialistischer Kampfbund (ISK).<ref name="Sösemann2001"/> The ISK leader Willi Eichler was the editor-in-chief of ''Der Funke''.<ref name="Sösemann2001"/><ref name="RöderStrauss1980"/> It carried the slogan "''Der Funke'', Daily Paper for Rights, Freedom and Culture".<ref name="Sösemann2001"/> ''Der Funke'' argued for a united front against Nazism spanning from bourgeois liberals to communists.<ref name="Sösemann2001"/>
''Der Funke'' was founded in early January 1932.<ref name="Sösemann2001"/><ref name="Bonart2007">{{cite book|author=Paul Bonart|title=But We Said No|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L2tEshU5JmcC&pg=PA22|year=2007|publisher=Mark Backman|isbn=978-0-615-15957-7|page=22}}</ref><ref name="Wannenwetsch2010">{{cite book|author=Stefan Wannenwetsch|title=Unorthodoxe Sozialisten: zu den Sozialismuskonzeptionen der Gruppe um Otto Strasser und des Internationalen Sozialistischen Kampfbundes in der Weimarer Republik|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a-awFdeRX0UC&pg=PA24|year=2010|publisher=Peter Lang|isbn=978-3-631-61374-0|page=24}}</ref> The newspaper was sold by ISK members at streets, coffee shops, bars and cultural events.<ref name="Sösemann2001"/> Its office was located at Insel Strasse.<ref name="Saran1976">{{cite book|author=Mary Saran|title=Never Give Up: Memoirs|url=https://archive.org/details/nevergiveupmemoi0000sara|url-access=registration|year=1976|publisher=O. Wolff|isbn=978-0-85496-257-0|pages=[https://archive.org/details/nevergiveupmemoi0000sara/page/58 58]–59}}</ref> Helmuth von Rauschenplat was the economics editor of the newspaper.<ref name="Sösemann2001"/> Other people working with ''Der Funke'' included Grete Henry, Werner Hansen, Gustav Heckmann,<ref name="RöderStrauss1980">{{cite book|author1=Werner Röder|author2=Herbert A. Strauss|author2-link=Herbert A. Strauss|title=Politik, Wirtschaft, Öffentliches Leben.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Mt6c3oFVBz0C&pg=PA148|date=1 January 1980|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|isbn=978-3-11-097028-9|pages=148, 269, 277, 284}}</ref> and Ilse Barea-Kulcsar.<ref>Lugschitz, Renée. (2016) [https://journals.univie.ac.at/index.php/oezg/article/download/3525/3235 "Pressebüro und Zensur im Spanischen Bürger* innenkrieg: Reporterinnen zwischen Journalismus, Propaganda und Überwachung."] (In German) ''Österreichische Zeitschrift für Geschichtswissenschaften'' '''27'''.3: 160-171. Retrieved 17 January 2026.</ref>
In its 24 June 1932 issue ''Der Funke'' published the "Urgent Call for Unity" ahead of the July 1932 Reichstag election. The appeal called for a defence of personal and political freedoms in Germany.<ref name="Vorholt1998">{{cite book|author=Udo Vorholt|title=Die politische Theorie Leonard Nelsons: eine Fallstudie zum Verhältnis von philosophisch-politischer Theorie und konkret-politischer Praxis|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5DYQAQAAIAAJ|year=1998|publisher=Nomos-Verlag-Ges.|isbn=978-3-7890-5550-8|page=202}}</ref> The appeal argued for electoral unity between the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) against Hitler. Signatories of the appeal included Albert Einstein, Käthe Kollwitz, Franz Oppenheimer, Arnold Zweig, Heinrich Mann and Erich Kästner. However, neither SPD nor KPD agreed to the proposal.<ref name="Bailey2013">{{cite book|author=Christian Bailey|title=Between Yesterday and Tomorrow: German Visions of Europe, 1926-1950|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZesiAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA94|date=15 October 2013|publisher=Berghahn Books|isbn=978-1-78238-140-2|page=94}}</ref>
The newspaper was banned for four weeks in November and December 1932, following the publication of an editorial labelling president Paul von Hindenburg as the "Protector of Fascism".<ref name="Saran1976"/> The newspaper was finally banned in February 1933.<ref name="Sösemann2001"/><ref name="Saran1976"/>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *[http://library.fes.de/inhalt/digital/funke/funke.html ''Der Funke'' archive]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Funke}} Category:1932 establishments in Germany Category:1933 disestablishments in Germany Category:Defunct newspapers published in Germany Category:German-language newspapers Category:Newspapers published in Berlin Category:Daily newspapers published in Germany Category:Newspapers established in 1932 Category:Newspapers disestablished in 1933 Category:Socialist newspapers Category:Defunct daily newspapers