Hans G. Helms
Encyclopedia
Hans G Helms is a German
experimental writer, composer, and social and economic analyst and critic.
Based upon a translation from the German Wikipedia, with additions and modifications drawn in part from New Grove
and Berlin
. He received his first musical education whilst young, learning the piano and theory from an immigrant from Byelorussia. During the Nazi era he became acquainted with Swing and jazz
from secretly listening to “enemy transmitters”.
In the years immediately after the Second World War, Helms studied tenor saxophone
with a member of the US army and appeared in 1950-52 in Sweden as a jazz musician. He played with, amongst others, Charlie Parker
and Gene Krupa
, and also in 1953 in Vienna with Hans Kollar. As well as being preoccupied with new music
(Charles Ives
, Henry Cowell
, Alban Berg
and the Second Viennese School
) Helms, working at the Viennese radio station “Rot-Weiß-Rot” (RWR), created with, amongst others, Ingeborg Bachmann
, the radio genre Jazz & Lyrik.
In Göttingen
, where he lived from 1953 onwards, Helms first made the acquaintance of the philosopher and sociologist Helmuth Plessner
, then later with Theodor W. Adorno
. His social and cultural critiques were significantly influenced by the Frankfurt school
and critical theory
. He also studied comparative linguistics
with Roman Jakobson
and philosophy and social theory with Max Horkheimer
and Siegfried Kracauer
; however, Helms describes the Marxist economist Jürgen Kuczynski as his most important teacher.
In 1955, the self-taught Helms began to compose. From 1957 onwards he made his base in Cologne, where he worked together with the composer Gottfried Michael Koenig
at the buildings of the Studios für Elektronische Musik at Westdeutscher Rundfunk
(WDR). He directed phonetic experiments together with the physicist and communications researcher Werner Meyer Eppler, who also advised Herbert Eimert
and Karlheinz Stockhausen
at the same time. This work consisted of speech and sound analyses as well as linguistic and cybernetic studies.
Helms made contacts with Stockhausen, Pierre Boulez
and John Cage
through the Donaueschinger Musiktage and the Darmstädter Ferienkurse (where Helms visited and sometimes lectured from 1957–1970); he was especially drawn to Cage's music using radio broadcasts and writings. In Helms' abode a circle was formed, which included, as well as Koenig, also Mauricio Kagel
and the musicicologist Heinz-Klaus Metzger
; a central preoccupation was James Joyce
's Finnegans Wake
. From this influence, Helms' developed two 'language-music compositions' (Sprach-Musik-Kompositionen), Fa:m Ahniesgwow and daidalos; later, in collaboration with Hans Otte
, came GOLEM and KONSTRUKTIONEN. His Text for Bruno Maderna
(1959), a work consisting entirely of phonemes, was used by Maderna in his stagework Hyperion (1964). Helms would apply principles to language which derived from musical techniques of serialism
, organising phonemes and morphemes to create new linguistic constructions in such a manner. This work paralleled that of other contemporaries of the time, in particular Dieter Schnebel
.
During the 1960s, when Helms became a private pupil of Adorno
, he studied the Critical theory (Frankfurt School) and its roots in Marxism
. Thereby he discovered Max Stirner
, whose work Der Einzige und sein Eigentum (The Ego and Its Own)
had provoked a violent critique from Marx, which led in consequence to his basic concept of Historical Materialism
. Helms worked for many years upon this work of Stirner and its reception, producing his literary opus magnum
, the 600-page Die Ideologie der anonymen Gesellschaft in 1966.
Helms saw himself, with his critique of Stirner, in the tradition from both Marx
and some contemporary Marxists, who had already recognised 'the suppurative focus' and Stirner's 'current danger'. In his work, Helms presented the view that Stirner created 'the first consistent formulation ... of the ideology of the middle class' and further that Hitler
articulated a specifically middle-class ideology and that Stirner-ism and National Socialism are both variations upon the same fascist demons. 'Because this demon lives on in West Germany
, controlled by the middle classes, he has written this book to fight it'.
Afterwards he stopped composing in order to concentrate on producing music broadcasts and films (including works on Ives, Boulez and Stockhausen), believing radio and television as the more effective media for presenting social critique. He concluded his studies in sociology with a doctorate at the University of Bremen
in 1974; as well as travelling to European and North African countries, he held a Guest Professorship between 1976-78 at the University of Illinois
. In 1978, he moved to the U.S.
, and from 1982 lived in New York
.
Here Helms investigated the effects of the computer and telecommunications development on the field of employment, engaging in critiques of capitalism and globalization, as well as the social consequences of modern town planning. He predominantly made us of field research and interviews. He published his findings in political and scientific, music and literary magazines, trade union journals, and daily papers; and compiled radio and television productions for several ARD
broadcasting corporations.
In 1988, Helms returned to Germany, first living in Cologne
; in 2003 he moved to Berlin
. He adds to his studies work on the history of the Jews
in Eastern Europe
, as well as, separately, looking critically at the conditions of work of contemporary composers who use electronics
and computers.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
experimental writer, composer, and social and economic analyst and critic.
Based upon a translation from the German Wikipedia, with additions and modifications drawn in part from New Grove
Life
Hans G Helms was born into a Jewish family, who were able to escape the Holocaust by using falsified papers. He spent his childhood and youth in TeterowTeterow
Teterow is a town of Germany, in the district of Rostock, in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Population: 9,535 .The Teterower See is to the north-east of the town.-History:The Stadtkirche St. Peter und Paul Teterow is a town of Germany, in the district of Rostock, in Mecklenburg-Western...
and Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
. He received his first musical education whilst young, learning the piano and theory from an immigrant from Byelorussia. During the Nazi era he became acquainted with Swing and jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
from secretly listening to “enemy transmitters”.
In the years immediately after the Second World War, Helms studied tenor saxophone
Tenor saxophone
The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor, with the alto, are the two most common types of saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B, and written as a transposing instrument in the treble...
with a member of the US army and appeared in 1950-52 in Sweden as a jazz musician. He played with, amongst others, Charlie Parker
Charlie Parker
Charles Parker, Jr. , famously called Bird or Yardbird, was an American jazz saxophonist and composer....
and Gene Krupa
Gene Krupa
Gene Krupa was an American jazz and big band drummer and composer, known for his highly energetic and flamboyant style.-Biography:...
, and also in 1953 in Vienna with Hans Kollar. As well as being preoccupied with new music
Contemporary classical music
Contemporary classical music can be understood as belonging to the period that started in the mid-1970s with the retreat of modernism. However, the term may also be employed in a broader sense to refer to all post-1945 modern musical forms.-Categorization:...
(Charles Ives
Charles Ives
Charles Edward Ives was an American modernist composer. He is one of the first American composers of international renown, though Ives' music was largely ignored during his life, and many of his works went unperformed for many years. Over time, Ives came to be regarded as an "American Original"...
, Henry Cowell
Henry Cowell
Henry Cowell was an American composer, music theorist, pianist, teacher, publisher, and impresario. His contribution to the world of music was summed up by Virgil Thomson, writing in the early 1950s:...
, Alban Berg
Alban Berg
Alban Maria Johannes Berg was an Austrian composer. He was a member of the Second Viennese School with Arnold Schoenberg and Anton Webern, and produced compositions that combined Mahlerian Romanticism with a personal adaptation of Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique.-Early life:Berg was born in...
and the Second Viennese School
Second Viennese School
The Second Viennese School is the group of composers that comprised Arnold Schoenberg and his pupils and close associates in early 20th century Vienna, where he lived and taught, sporadically, between 1903 and 1925...
) Helms, working at the Viennese radio station “Rot-Weiß-Rot” (RWR), created with, amongst others, Ingeborg Bachmann
Ingeborg Bachmann
Ingeborg Bachmann was an Austrian poet and author.-Biography:Bachmann was born in Klagenfurt, in the Austrian state of Carinthia, the daughter of a headmaster. She studied philosophy, psychology, German philology, and law at the universities of Innsbruck, Graz, and Vienna...
, the radio genre Jazz & Lyrik.
In Göttingen
Göttingen
Göttingen is a university town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Göttingen. The Leine river runs through the town. In 2006 the population was 129,686.-General information:...
, where he lived from 1953 onwards, Helms first made the acquaintance of the philosopher and sociologist Helmuth Plessner
Helmuth Plessner
Helmuth Plessner was a German philosopher and sociologist, and a primary advocate of "philosophical anthropology" .He was Chairman from 1953-1959 of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Soziologie....
, then later with Theodor W. Adorno
Theodor W. Adorno
Theodor W. Adorno was a German sociologist, philosopher, and musicologist known for his critical theory of society....
. His social and cultural critiques were significantly influenced by the Frankfurt school
Frankfurt School
The Frankfurt School refers to a school of neo-Marxist interdisciplinary social theory, particularly associated with the Institute for Social Research at the University of Frankfurt am Main...
and critical theory
Critical theory
Critical theory is an examination and critique of society and culture, drawing from knowledge across the social sciences and humanities. The term has two different meanings with different origins and histories: one originating in sociology and the other in literary criticism...
. He also studied comparative linguistics
Comparative linguistics
Comparative linguistics is a branch of historical linguistics that is concerned with comparing languages to establish their historical relatedness....
with Roman Jakobson
Roman Jakobson
Roman Osipovich Jakobson was a Russian linguist and literary theorist.As a pioneer of the structural analysis of language, which became the dominant trend of twentieth-century linguistics, Jakobson was among the most influential linguists of the century...
and philosophy and social theory with Max Horkheimer
Max Horkheimer
Max Horkheimer was a German-Jewish philosopher-sociologist, famous for his work in critical theory as a member of the 'Frankfurt School' of social research. His most important works include The Eclipse of Reason and, in collaboration with Theodor Adorno, The Dialectic of Enlightenment...
and Siegfried Kracauer
Siegfried Kracauer
Siegfried Kracauer was a German-Jewish writer, journalist, sociologist, cultural critic, and film theorist...
; however, Helms describes the Marxist economist Jürgen Kuczynski as his most important teacher.
In 1955, the self-taught Helms began to compose. From 1957 onwards he made his base in Cologne, where he worked together with the composer Gottfried Michael Koenig
Gottfried Michael Koenig
Gottfried Michael Koenig is a contemporary German-Dutch composer.-Biography:Koenig studied church music in Braunschweig, composition, piano, analysis and acoustics in Detmold, music representation techniques in Cologne and computer technique in Bonn. He attended and later lectured at the...
at the buildings of the Studios für Elektronische Musik at Westdeutscher Rundfunk
Westdeutscher Rundfunk
Westdeutscher Rundfunk is a German public-broadcasting institution based in the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia with its main office in Cologne. WDR is a constituent member of the consortium of German public-broadcasting institutions, ARD...
(WDR). He directed phonetic experiments together with the physicist and communications researcher Werner Meyer Eppler, who also advised Herbert Eimert
Herbert Eimert
Herbert Eimert was a German music theorist, musicologist, journalist, music critic, editor, radio producer, and composer.-Life:...
and Karlheinz Stockhausen
Karlheinz Stockhausen
Karlheinz Stockhausen was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. Another critic calls him "one of the great visionaries of 20th-century music"...
at the same time. This work consisted of speech and sound analyses as well as linguistic and cybernetic studies.
Helms made contacts with Stockhausen, Pierre Boulez
Pierre Boulez
Pierre Boulez is a French composer of contemporary classical music, a pianist, and a conductor.-Early years:Boulez was born in Montbrison, Loire, France. As a child he began piano lessons and demonstrated aptitude in both music and mathematics...
and John Cage
John Cage
John Milton Cage Jr. was an American composer, music theorist, writer, philosopher and artist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde...
through the Donaueschinger Musiktage and the Darmstädter Ferienkurse (where Helms visited and sometimes lectured from 1957–1970); he was especially drawn to Cage's music using radio broadcasts and writings. In Helms' abode a circle was formed, which included, as well as Koenig, also Mauricio Kagel
Mauricio Kagel
Mauricio Kagel was a German-Argentine composer. He was notable for his interest in developing the theatrical side of musical performance .-Biography:...
and the musicicologist Heinz-Klaus Metzger
Heinz-Klaus Metzger
Heinz-Klaus Metzger was a German music critic and theorist.Metzger studied piano under Carl Seemann in Freiburg and composition under Max Deutsch in Paris. Later, attending a summer course for new music in Darmstadt, he met Theodor W. Adorno, Edgard Varèse, Karlheinz Stockhausen and Luigi Nono...
; a central preoccupation was James Joyce
James Joyce
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce was an Irish novelist and poet, considered to be one of the most influential writers in the modernist avant-garde of the early 20th century...
's Finnegans Wake
Finnegans Wake
Finnegans Wake is a novel by Irish author James Joyce, significant for its experimental style and resulting reputation as one of the most difficult works of fiction in the English language. Written in Paris over a period of seventeen years, and published in 1939, two years before the author's...
. From this influence, Helms' developed two 'language-music compositions' (Sprach-Musik-Kompositionen), Fa:m Ahniesgwow and daidalos; later, in collaboration with Hans Otte
Hans Otte
Hans Otte born Hans Günther Franz Otte in Plauen, Germany was a German composer, pianist, radio promoter, and author of many pieces of musical theatre, sound installations, poems, drawings, and art videos. From 1959 to 1984 he served as music director for Radio Bremen...
, came GOLEM and KONSTRUKTIONEN. His Text for Bruno Maderna
Bruno Maderna
Bruno Maderna was an Italian conductor and composer. For the last ten years of his life he lived in Germany and eventually became a citizen of that country.-Biography:...
(1959), a work consisting entirely of phonemes, was used by Maderna in his stagework Hyperion (1964). Helms would apply principles to language which derived from musical techniques of serialism
Serialism
In music, serialism is a method or technique of composition that uses a series of values to manipulate different musical elements. Serialism began primarily with Arnold Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique, though his contemporaries were also working to establish serialism as one example of...
, organising phonemes and morphemes to create new linguistic constructions in such a manner. This work paralleled that of other contemporaries of the time, in particular Dieter Schnebel
Dieter Schnebel
Dieter Schnebel is a composer. From 1976 until his retirement in 1995, Schnebel served as professor of experimental music at the Berlin Hochschule der Künste.-Career:...
.
During the 1960s, when Helms became a private pupil of Adorno
Theodor W. Adorno
Theodor W. Adorno was a German sociologist, philosopher, and musicologist known for his critical theory of society....
, he studied the Critical theory (Frankfurt School) and its roots in Marxism
Marxism
Marxism is an economic and sociopolitical worldview and method of socioeconomic inquiry that centers upon a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical view of social change, and an analysis and critique of the development of capitalism. Marxism was pioneered in the early to mid 19th...
. Thereby he discovered Max Stirner
Max Stirner
Johann Kaspar Schmidt , better known as Max Stirner , was a German philosopher, who ranks as one of the literary fathers of nihilism, existentialism, post-modernism and anarchism, especially of individualist anarchism...
, whose work Der Einzige und sein Eigentum (The Ego and Its Own)
The Ego and Its Own
The Ego and Its Own is a philosophical work by German philosopher Max Stirner . This work was first published in 1845, although with a stated publication date of "1844" to confuse the Prussian censors.-Content:...
had provoked a violent critique from Marx, which led in consequence to his basic concept of Historical Materialism
Historical materialism
Historical materialism is a methodological approach to the study of society, economics, and history, first articulated by Karl Marx as "the materialist conception of history". Historical materialism looks for the causes of developments and changes in human society in the means by which humans...
. Helms worked for many years upon this work of Stirner and its reception, producing his literary opus magnum
Masterpiece
Masterpiece in modern usage refers to a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or to a work of outstanding creativity, skill or workmanship....
, the 600-page Die Ideologie der anonymen Gesellschaft in 1966.
Helms saw himself, with his critique of Stirner, in the tradition from both Marx
Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx was a German philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of social science and the socialist political movement...
and some contemporary Marxists, who had already recognised 'the suppurative focus' and Stirner's 'current danger'. In his work, Helms presented the view that Stirner created 'the first consistent formulation ... of the ideology of the middle class' and further that Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
articulated a specifically middle-class ideology and that Stirner-ism and National Socialism are both variations upon the same fascist demons. 'Because this demon lives on in West Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
, controlled by the middle classes, he has written this book to fight it'.
Afterwards he stopped composing in order to concentrate on producing music broadcasts and films (including works on Ives, Boulez and Stockhausen), believing radio and television as the more effective media for presenting social critique. He concluded his studies in sociology with a doctorate at the University of Bremen
University of Bremen
The University of Bremen is a university of approximately 23,500 people from 126 countries that are studying, teaching, researching, and working in Bremen, Germany...
in 1974; as well as travelling to European and North African countries, he held a Guest Professorship between 1976-78 at the University of Illinois
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
The University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign is a large public research-intensive university in the state of Illinois, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Illinois system...
. In 1978, he moved to the U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, and from 1982 lived in New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
.
Here Helms investigated the effects of the computer and telecommunications development on the field of employment, engaging in critiques of capitalism and globalization, as well as the social consequences of modern town planning. He predominantly made us of field research and interviews. He published his findings in political and scientific, music and literary magazines, trade union journals, and daily papers; and compiled radio and television productions for several ARD
ARD (broadcaster)
ARD is a joint organization of Germany's regional public-service broadcasters...
broadcasting corporations.
In 1988, Helms returned to Germany, first living in Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
; in 2003 he moved to Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
. He adds to his studies work on the history of the Jews
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
in Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
, as well as, separately, looking critically at the conditions of work of contemporary composers who use electronics
Electronics
Electronics is the branch of science, engineering and technology that deals with electrical circuits involving active electrical components such as vacuum tubes, transistors, diodes and integrated circuits, and associated passive interconnection technologies...
and computers.
Music
- Fa:m’ Ahniesgwow. Experimental literature/speech-composition/radio play, DuMont-Schauberg, Cologne 1959/60
- Text for Bruno Maderna. Rendering and incorporation from Bruno Maderna in his Dimensione II und Hyperion. Cologne 1959, Milan 1959, 1964 ff.
- daidalos. Composition in seven scenes for four vocal soloists, instrumental ensemble, and conductor. With Hans OtteHans OtteHans Otte born Hans Günther Franz Otte in Plauen, Germany was a German composer, pianist, radio promoter, and author of many pieces of musical theatre, sound installations, poems, drawings, and art videos. From 1959 to 1984 he served as music director for Radio Bremen...
1961 - Yahud-Geschichten. Reading and listening pieces. 1961-65 (unfinished)
- GOLEM. Polemic for nine singers. 1962
- KONSTRUKTIONEN über das Kommunistische Manifest für 16 Sänger (on the Communist Manifesto for sixteen singers). 1968
- Birdcage - 73'20.958" for a Composer. Film composition. With John Cage. 1972
- Fa:m’ Ahniesgwow. Radio version (excerpts). Radio Westdeutscher Rundfunk Cologne 1979
- Hieronymus-John von Münchhausen: Fabulierer, Adventurer, Erfinder Neuer Klangwelten. In: Jahresring 40: Mythologie der Aufklärung - Geheimlehren der Moderne. (ed. Beat Wyss). Verlag Silke Schreiber, Munich 1993
- Rapprochements à John Cage. A radio composition with an integration of Music of ChangesMusic of ChangesMusic of Changes is a piece for solo piano by John Cage. Composed in 1951 for pianist and friend David Tudor, it is Cage's earliest fully indeterminate instrumental work. The process of composition involved applying decisions made using the I Ching, a Chinese classic text that is commonly used as a...
of John Cage. Cologne and Baden-Baden 1995-96. - Verbal score in Protokolle 1-2/1997
Writings (selected)
- Marihuana. In: Jazz-Podium. Nr. 6/III.Jahrg. Juni 1954 u. Nr. 8/III. Jahrg. August 1954.
- Zu John Cages Vorlesung “Unbestimmtheit”. In: Die Reihe V, 1959
- Über die gesellschaftliche Funktion der Kritik. In: Kritik – von wem/für wen/wie, Munich 1959
- Die Ideologie der anonymen Gesellschaft: Max StirnerMax StirnerJohann Kaspar Schmidt , better known as Max Stirner , was a German philosopher, who ranks as one of the literary fathers of nihilism, existentialism, post-modernism and anarchism, especially of individualist anarchism...
s "Einziger"The Ego and Its OwnThe Ego and Its Own is a philosophical work by German philosopher Max Stirner . This work was first published in 1845, although with a stated publication date of "1844" to confuse the Prussian censors.-Content:...
und der Fortschritt des demokratischen Selbstbewußtseins vom Vormärz bis zur Bundesrepublik. DuMont Schauberg, Cologne 1966 - Fetisch Revolution. Marxismus und Bundesrepublik. Sammlung Luchterhand, Neuwied 1969
- Vom Proletkult zum Bio-Interview. In: Literatur als Praxis? Aktualität und Tradition operativen Schreibens. (eds. Raoul Hübner, Erhard Schütz). Lesen 4. Westdeutscher Verlag, Opladen 1976.
- Textverarbeitungssysteme. Neue Computertechnologien - Arbeitsplatzkiller oder technischer Fortschritt. (ed. HBV-Hauptvorstand). Arbeitsmaterial zur Tarifpolitik. HBV, Düsseldorf 1978
- Auf dem Weg zum Schrottplatz. Zum Städtebau in den USA und in Canada. Pahl-Rugenstein, Cologne 1984
- Künstliche Intelligenz. Eine Studie ihrer historischen Entwicklung, ihrer Triebkräfte und ihrer sozio- und politökonomischen Implikationen. author's edition, New York 1985.
- Detroit - Motor City mit Motown Sound. Eine Metropole unter dem Diktat der Automobilkonzerne. In: Die Zukunft der Städte und der Regionen. (ed. IMSF) Arbeitsmaterialien des IMSF 21. IMSF, Frankfurt/Main 1988
- Electronic Battlefields oder Die Einübung des imitativen Gehorsams. In: Imitationen - Nachahmung und Modell: Von der Lust am Falschen. (eds. Jörg Huber, Martin Heller, Hans Ulrich Reck). Stroemfeld/Roter Stern, Basel - Frankfurt/Main 1989
- Manhattans neue Kapitalfabriken. Zu den technologischen Ursachen und baulichen Konsequenzen der Konzentration des Weltfinanzkapitals in New York. In: Die Janusgesichter des Booms. (eds. Ulrich Becker, Annalie Schoen). VSA, Hamburg 1989
- Ford und die Nazis. In: Zwangsarbeit bei Ford. Dokumentation. (ed. Projektgruppe „Messelager“ im Verein EL-DE-Haus e.V. Cologne). Rode-Stankowski, Cologne 1996
- Plüsch und deutsches Mittelgebirge. Zu den Schriften Siegfried Kracauers. In Siegfried Kracauer. Zum Werk des Romanciers, Feuilletonisten, Architekten, Filmwissenschaftlers und Soziologen. (ed. Andreas Volk). Seismo, Zürich 1996
- Zur Ästhetik des Widerstands. Anknüpfungen an Werner Mittenzwei. Eine historische Mär von den Zwisten und Kümmernissen konservativer Literaten. / „Und so ein Mann wollte ich eigentlich werden“ oder „Das Geheimnis des Theaters“. In Dialog mit Werner Mittenzwei. Beiträge und Materialien zu einer Kulturgeschichte der DDR. (ed. Simone Barck, Inge Münz-Koenen, Gabriele Gast). trafo, Berlin 2002
- Musik zwischen Geschäft und Unwahrheit (= Musik-Konzepte, Vol. 111, eds. Heinz-Klaus Metzger and Rainer Riehn). edition text+kritik, Munich 2001
- Zu Albert Speers Bürokratie der systematischen Verelendung und Deportation der Berliner Juden. In: Zeitschrift Marxistische Erneuerung. Z. 51, 2002
- Zu Kompromissen nicht bereit. Erlebnisse und Erfahrungen mit Franco EvangelistiFranco EvangelistiFranco Evangelisti , was an Italian composer specifically interested in the scientific theories behind sound.-Biography:...
. In: hin zu einer neuen Welt. Notate zu Franco Evangelisti.. (ed. :de:Harald Muenz) Pfau, Saarbrücken 2002 - OświęcimOswiecimOświęcim is a town in the Lesser Poland province of southern Poland, situated west of Kraków, near the confluence of the rivers Vistula and Soła.- History :...
- Oshpitsin - Auschwitz. Zentrum jüdischen Lebens, Stätte des Massenmords. Chronik einer polnischen Stadt. Verlag 8. Mai, Berlin 2007
- Editor and co-author of the following volumes:
- Max StirnerMax StirnerJohann Kaspar Schmidt , better known as Max Stirner , was a German philosopher, who ranks as one of the literary fathers of nihilism, existentialism, post-modernism and anarchism, especially of individualist anarchism...
: Der Einzige und sein EigentumThe Ego and Its OwnThe Ego and Its Own is a philosophical work by German philosopher Max Stirner . This work was first published in 1845, although with a stated publication date of "1844" to confuse the Prussian censors.-Content:...
und andere Schriften. Hanser, Munich 1968 - Kapitalistischer Städtebau. (with Joern Janssen). Luchterhand, Neuwied 1970
- Petr KropotkinPeter KropotkinPrince Pyotr Alexeyevich Kropotkin was a Russian zoologist, evolutionary theorist, philosopher, economist, geographer, author and one of the world's foremost anarcho-communists. Kropotkin advocated a communist society free from central government and based on voluntary associations between...
: Die Eroberung des Brotes und andere Schriften. Hanser, Munich 1973 - Die Stadt als Gabentisch: Beobachtungen der aktuellen Städtebauentwicklung. Reclam, Leipzig 1992, ISBN 3-379-00732-3
- Max Stirner