| Tarantel | |
| Editor: | Heinrich Bär |
| Editor Title: | Editor-in-chief |
| Frequency: | Monthly |
| Category: | Satirical magazine |
| Founder: | Heinrich Bär |
| Founded: | 1950 |
| Finaldate: | 1962 |
| Country: | West Germany |
| Language: | German |
Tarantel (tr|Tarantula) was a German monthly satirical magazine in Berlin, West Germany, which was in circulation between 1950 and 1962. Being a propaganda publication it was started to address the readers in East Germany and was funded by the American intelligence organization CIA.
Tarantel was launched in West Berlin in 1950.[1] [2] Its founder was the German journalist Heinz Wenzel, known as Heinrich Bär, who also edited the magazine.[2] [3] [4] The magazine was first published by Freiheitsverlag Leipzig in a miniature format on a monthly basis.[1] [5] Later Heinrich Bär Verlag became the publisher of the magazine.[6] The company employed Tarantel as part of its propaganda war against East Germany which was ridiculed by the magazine.[6] It also mocked the establishment of the Soviet Union, the Communist Party of East Germany and East German government officials.[2] [3]
Christian F. Ostermann argues that the Kampfgruppe gegen Unmenschlichkeit (KgU) (German: Combat Group against Inhumanity) was behind the magazine.[7] As of 1952 the magazine was among six German organizations which were financed by the US as tools of psychological manipulation in East Germany.[8] Tarantel was funded by the Central Intelligence Agency of the US.[9] The magazine was illegally circulated in East Germany, and possession of it was strictly banned by the East German government.[5] In the late 1950s it sold 250,000-300,000 copies in West Berlin.[2] The magazine folded in 1962.[5]