october 1949 was the month in which the soviet occupation zone was relaunched as the soviet sponsored german democratic republic (east germany). a more personal change of direction for heinz schmidt came on 20 october 1949 when the politburo removed him from his post at berlin radio, citing his "nationalistic arrogance" and "insufficient political vigilance" (""nationalistischer überheblichkeit [und] ungenügender politischer wachsamkeit""). between 1950 and 1955 he was employed on a "provisional contract" in the production department. in 1955/56 he was appointed editor in chief on , a recently launched arts and lifestyle magazine. in 1956 he was switched to the same position on the satirical magazine eulenspiegel. however, in 1958 he was removed from that post.