Internationale Buchmessen als Außenkulturpolitik

Abstract

This article examines the cultural policy of the Bonn Foreign Office that determined the functions of Frankfurt Book Fair and other international book fairs from the mid-1960s to the end of the 1980 s. Firstly, it focusses on the role of the Frankfurt Book Fair in the New Ostpolitik, particularly with regard to the participation of Eastern European writers and publishers. Secondly, the cultural policy dimension of the ‘guest of honour’ of the Frankfurt Book Fair, a special literary programme initiated in 1976 is put under scrutiny. Thirdly, the participation of German publishers in the Warsaw Book Fair, which was supported by the Federal Foreign Office, is analysed. Finally, international book fairs in Jerusalem, Cairo and Moscow are studied in the perspective of cultural policy.