History
The original Bundesprüfstelle für jugendgefährdende Schriften (Federal Department for Writings Harmful to Young Persons) was established on May 18, 1954, after the Gesetz über die Verbreitung jugendgefährdender Schriften was adopted on June 9, 1953. The presiding officers of the Bundesprüfstelle have been:
- Robert Schilling 1954 - 1966
- Werner Jungeblodt 1966 - 1969 (Deputy: Eduard Tack)
- Rudolf Stefen 1969 - 1991 (Deputies: Elke Monssen-Engberding, later Gerhard Adams)
- Since 1991: Elke Monssen-Engberding (Deputies: Dr. Bettina Brockhorst, now Petra Meier)
The first session deciding upon applications requesting the indexing of materials took place on July 9, 1954. The first two works indexed by the BPjS were Tarzan comics. The rationale for this was that they would affect young people in a "nerve-inflaming and brutalizing way" and "transport them into an unreal world of lies". Such works were supposedly "the result of a degenerate imagination".
In 1978 the number and type of institutions which could petition for a work to be indexed was widened considerably. Since then, not only the higher authorities with responsibility for young people in the Länder (states), but also the youth welfare offices of individual Kreise (districts) have been authorized to submit applications. The number of applications for indexing has multiplied significantly as a result of this.
Following the Erfurt massacre (a Columbine-like shooting at a school in Erfurt), the Jugendschutzgesetz was passed in June 2002, replacing the Gesetz über die Verbreitung jugendgefährdender Schriften and the Gesetz zum Schutz der Jugend in der Öffentlichkeit (Law for Protection of Young Persons in Public Places). It came into effect on April 1, 2003.
The change in the law clarified the area over which the Bundesprüfstelle had authority. New forms of media such as websites and computer software were within its jurisdiction. As a result of these new powers the organisation's name was changed to the current Bundesprüfstelle für jugendgefährdende Medien. As previously, an examination order can result from the application of a state youth protection agency or from the request of a non-governmental youth organisation.
For video games, the new law also made the ratings of the USK compulsory. Games that have been given a rating by this organisation can no longer be put on the index.
Read more about this topic: Federal Department For Media Harmful To Young Persons
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Most events recorded in history are more remarkable than important, like eclipses of the sun and moon, by which all are attracted, but whose effects no one takes the trouble to calculate.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“You that would judge me do not judge alone
This book or that, come to this hallowed place
Where my friends’ portraits hang and look thereon;
Ireland’s history in their lineaments trace;
Think where man’s glory most begins and ends
And say my glory was I had such friends.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“What has history to do with me? Mine is the first and only world! I want to report how I find the world. What others have told me about the world is a very small and incidental part of my experience. I have to judge the world, to measure things.”
—Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951)