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GDR Literature
East German literature is the literature produced in East Germany from the time of the Soviet occupation in 1945, until the end of the communist government in 1990. The literature of this period was heavily influenced by the concepts of socialist realism and controlled by the communist government. As a result, the literature of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) was for decades dismissed as nothing more than "Boy meet Tractor literature", but its study is now considered a legitimate field. Because of its language, the literature is more accessible to Western scholars and is considered to be one of the most reliable, if not the most reliable, sources about East Germany. Cultural Heritage: German Socialists in the 1930s The criticism of Georg Lukács greatly impacted the literature of the GDR. His theories served as a middle ground between the necessary creative independence of the author and the theory of socialist realism as it was functioning at that time in the Sovi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
East Germany
East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on 3 October 1990. Until 1989, it was generally viewed as a communist state and described itself as a Socialist state, socialist "workers' and peasants' state". The Economy of East Germany, economy of the country was Central planning, centrally planned and government-owned corporation, state-owned. Although the GDR had to pay substantial war reparations to the Soviets, its economy became the most successful in the Eastern Bloc. Before its establishment, the country's territory was administered and occupied by Soviet forces following the Berlin Declaration (1945), Berlin Declaration abolishing German sovereignty in World War II. The Potsdam Agreement established the Soviet occupation zone in Germany, Soviet-occupied zone, bounded on the east b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
German Romanticism
German Romanticism () was the dominant intellectual movement of German-speaking countries in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, influencing philosophy, aesthetics, literature, and criticism. Compared to English Romanticism, the German variety developed relatively early, and, in the opening years, coincided with Weimar Classicism (1772–1805). The early period, roughly 1797 to 1802, is referred to as ''Frühromantik'' or Jena Romanticism. The philosophers and writers central to the movement were Wilhelm Heinrich Wackenroder (1773–1798), Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling (1775–1854), Friedrich Schleiermacher (1768–1834), Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel (1772–1829), August Wilhelm Schlegel (1767–1845), Ludwig Tieck (1773–1853), and Friedrich von Hardenberg (Novalis) (1772–1801). The early German Romantics strove to create a new synthesis of art, philosophy, and science, by viewing the Middle Ages as a simpler period of integrated culture; however, the German ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Volker Braun
Volker Braun (born 7 May 1939 in Dresden) is a German writer. His works include ''Provokation für mich'' (''Provocation for me'') – a collection of poems written between 1959 and 1964 and published in 1965, a play, ''Die Kipper'' (''The Dumpers'') (1972; written 1962–1965), and ''Das ungezwungene Leben Kasts'' (''The Unrestrained Life of Kast'') (1972). Life After completing his Abitur, Volker Braun worked for a time in construction before going on to study philosophy at Leipzig. There he occupied himself with the contradictions and hopes of a socialist state. He joined the SED in 1960. Nevertheless, he was regarded as critical of the GDR state, and often succeeded in getting his prose and poetry published only through the application of tactical skill. His work included poetry, plays, novels and short stories. At first his writings reflected a critical enthusiasm for the building of socialism. From 1965 to 1967, Braun worked as artistic director at the Berliner Ensembl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thomas Brasch
Thomas Brasch (19 February 1945 – 3 November 2001) was a British and German author, poet and film director. Life Born in Westow, Yorkshire, England, Thomas Brasch was the son of German Jewish Communist émigré parents. In 1947, the family returned to East Germany. Brasch attended school in Cottbus. From 1956 to 1960, he was at the National People's Army Cadet School and made his ''Abitur''. From 1964, he studied journalism in Leipzig and was forced in 1965 to ex-matriculate. Since 1966 he worked at the theater Volksbühne Berlin, and studied dramaturgy at the film school Babelsberg afterwards. In 1968, he was relegated and sentenced to two years and three months in prison for "anti-state agitation", because of the protest against the invasion of Czechoslovakia. In 1971, after being a miller in a Berlin factory, he worked in the Brecht archive and was then freelance writer. In 1976, after protesting against Wolf Biermann's expatriation, he moved to West Germany. Brasch was in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Johannes Bobrowski
Johannes Bobrowski (originally ''Johannes Konrad Bernhard Bobrowski''; 9 April 1917 – 2 September 1965) was a German lyric poet, narrative writer, adaptor and essayist. Life Bobrowski was born on 9 April 1917Bobrowski, Johannes (1984). ''Shadow Lands: Selected Poems''. London: Anvil Press Poetry. in Tilsit in East Prussia. In 1925, he moved first to Rastenburg, then in 1928 on to Königsberg, where he attended the '' Gymnasium''. One of his teachers was Ernst Wiechert. In 1937, he started a degree in art history at the Humboldt University in Berlin. As a member of the Confessing Church, Bobrowski had contact with the German resistance against National Socialism. He was a lance corporal for the entire Second World War in Poland, France and the Soviet Union. In 1943 he married Johanna Buddrus. From 1945 to 1949 Bobrowski was imprisoned by the Soviet Union, where he spent time working in a coal mine. On his release, he returned home to his family in the suburban Berlin di ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jacob The Liar
''Jacob the Liar'' is a 1969 novel written by the East Germany, East German Jewish author Jurek Becker. The German language, German original title is ''Jakob der Lügner'' (). Becker was awarded the Heinrich-Mann Prize (1971) and the Charles Veillon Prize (1971) after the publication of his bestseller. The novel was made into two films, ''Jacob the Liar (1975 film), Jacob the Liar'' (1975) by Frank Beyer, which was nominated for ''Academy_Award_for_Best_International_Feature_Film, Best Foreign Language Film'' at the 49th Academy Awards, and ''Jakob the Liar'' (1999), a Cinema of the United States, Hollywood production starring Robin Williams. ''Jacob the Liar'' was first translated into English by Melvin Kornfeld in 1975, but without Becker's input. A new English translation was made in 1990 by Leila Vennewitz and Becker, published in 1996 it won the Helen and Kurt Wolff Translator's Prize. Plot summary The novel follows the life of the Judaism, Jewish protagonist Jacob Heym in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jurek Becker
Jurek Becker (; – 14 March 1997) was a Polish-born German writer, screenwriter and East German dissident. His most famous novel is ''Jacob the Liar'', which has been made into two films. He lived in Łódź during World War II for about two years and survived the Holocaust. Childhood Jurek Becker was born in a Jewish family, probably, in 1937. His birth date is not entirely clear because his father gave a birth date that was intended to protect the child from deportation. After the war Becker was claimed by a father (Jurek was never sure if he was his real father) who said he no longer remembered Jurek's correct birth date. It is probable that Jurek Becker was some years younger than is generally reckoned. He lived in the Łódź Ghetto as a child. When he was five, he was sent to the Ravensbrück concentration camp and later to Sachsenhausen. His mother was murdered in the Holocaust, but his father survived; father and son were reunited after the war and settled together in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Auferstanden Aus Ruinen
"" (; 'Risen from the Ruins') was the national anthem of East Germany. Background In 1949, the Soviet occupation zone of Allied-occupied Germany became a socialist state under the name of the "German Democratic Republic" (GDR). For the new state's national anthem, the poet Johannes Becher, who later became the East German Minister of Culture, wrote the lyrics. Two musicians, Ottmar Gerster and Hanns Eisler, proposed music to Becher's lyrics, and Eisler's version was selected. History Written in 1949 following the proclamation of the German Democratic Republic, the East German national anthem reflects the early stages of German separation and the nation literally rising from the ruins after World War II, in which continuing progress towards reunification of the occupation zones was seen by most Germans as appropriate and natural. Consequently, Becher's lyrics develop several connotations of "unity" and combine them with "fatherland" ('), meaning Germany as a whole. However, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Johannes R
Johannes is a Medieval Latin form of the personal name that usually appears as "John" in English language contexts. It is a variant of the Greek and Classical Latin variants (Ιωάννης, '' Ioannes''), itself derived from the Hebrew name '' Yehochanan'', meaning "YHWH is gracious". The name became popular in Northern Europe, especially in Germany because of Christianity. Common German variants for Johannes are ''Johann'', ''Hannes'', '' Hans'' (diminutized to ''Hänschen'' or ''Hänsel'', as known from "''Hansel and Gretel''", a fairy tale by the Grimm brothers), '' Jens'' (from Danish) and '' Jan'' (from Dutch, and found in many countries). In the Netherlands, Johannes was without interruption the most common masculine birth name until 1989. The English equivalent for Johannes is John. In other languages *Joan, Jan, Gjon, Gjin and Gjovalin in Albanian *'' Yoe'' or '' Yohe'', uncommon American form''Dictionary of American Family Names'', Oxford University Press, 2013. *Ya� ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kurt Barthel (writer)
Kurt Walter Barthel (June 8 1914, Garnsdorf – November 12 1967, Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main), known by his pen name Kuba, was a German writer, poet, playwright, dramaturge and state official. Biography Barthel was born into the family of a railroad worker. His father was killed by an officer before he was born. Barthel was active in the workers' movement from his teenage years and was a member of the Socialist Youth of Germany – Falcons. From 1928 to 1932 Barthel was trained as a decorative painter in Chemnitz. In 1933 he joined the Social Democratic Party of Germany. The same year after the Nazi Party gained power, Barthel emigrated to Czechoslovakia and there he met Louis Fürnberg on whose suggestion he wrote his first poems and stories for ''Die Rote Fahne''. It was also at this period where he started to use the pen name Kuba in order to distance himself from the Nazi-affiliated author Max Barthel. With Fürnberg he worked in the amateur theater group "The New Life ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Naked Among Wolves (novel)
''Naked Among Wolves'' () is a novel by the East German author Bruno Apitz. The novel was first published in 1958 and tells the story of prisoners in the Buchenwald concentration camp who risk their lives to hide a young Polish-Jewish boy. Apitz himself had been imprisoned in Buchenwald as a communist from 1937 to 1945. After being liberated, he worked for the East German state-run national film production company DEFA and as a radio play author. The boy, named as Stefan Cyliak in Apitz's novel, was revealed to be based on Stefan Jerzy Zweig after publication of the novel. The book has been translated into 30 languages and published in 28 countries. Adaptations * In 1960 a first TV movie titled ''Nackt unter Wölfen'' was adapted for East German television. * In 1963 the novel was adapted for a film, also titled '' Naked Among Wolves'', by the East German director Frank Beyer. * In 2015 a TV adaptation was released, directed by Philipp Kadelbach Philipp Kadelbach (born 9 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bruno Apitz
Bruno Apitz (28 April 1900 – 7 April 1979) was a German writer and a survivor of the Buchenwald concentration camp. Life and career Apitz was born in Leipzig, as the twelfth child of a washer woman. He attended school until he was fourteen, then started apprenticeship as a die cutter. During World War I, he was a passionate supporter of German Communist Party leader Karl Liebknecht. At 17, he made a speech in front of striking factory workers that resulted in his being sentenced to nineteen months in prison. In 1919, he joined the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and in 1927, the more radical Communist Party of Germany (KPD). He took active part in the German November Revolution of 1918 and in opposition to the Kapp Putsch of 1920. During the latter he published his first poems and short stories in Communist newspapers. He wrote his first play in 1924 and was later repeatedly imprisoned under Nazi rule in various concentration camps for spreading socialistic anti-war pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
