Erik Neutsch (21 June 1931 – 20 August 2013) was one of the most successful writers in

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 ...

Life

Early years

Erik Neutsch came from a working family. After successfully completing his high school career he joined, in 1949, the ruling East German Socialist Unity Party (SED / ''Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands'') as well as the Free German Youth (FDJ / ''Freie Deutsche Jugend'') movement.

The writer

Between 1950 and 1953 he studied

social sciences Social science (often rendered in the plural as the social sciences) is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of society, societies and the Social relation, relationships among members within those societies. The term was former ...

and journalism at

Leipzig University Leipzig University (), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December 1409 by Frederick I, Electo ...

, graduating with a higher diploma in Journalism. After this he worked till 1960 in Halle, as part of the Culture and Economics editorial team with Die Freiheit, at the time a newspaper of the country's governing SED (party). After 1960 Neutsch worked both as a journalist and as a writer of books. In 1963 he became a member of the SED

regional In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...

leadership team, and in 1970/71 he spent a year as a volunteer Political commissar with the

National People's Army The National People's Army (, ; NVA ) were the armed forces of the East Germany, German Democratic Republic (DDR) from 1956 until 1990. The NVA was organized into four branches: the (Ground Forces), the (Navy), the (Air Force) and the (Bord ...

. Neutsch's output included novels, short stories, children's books, essays, poems and screen-plays. His writings dealt with societal problems in the real-life socialist East Germany, while remaining faithful to the party line. His greatest success came with the 900-page novel "Spur der Steine" (''"Trace of stones"'' 1964). Its central theme is developments in the life of an initially rebellious construction worker who, by the end of the book, has become a well attuned conformist member of the socialist society. Nearly half a million copies of the novel were produced, which involved 35 editions of which five came out after 1990. This made it one of the most successful pieces of

East German literature East is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fact that eas ...

. A (much simplified) film version directed by

Frank Beyer Frank Paul Beyer (; 26 May 1932 – 1 October 2006) was a German film director. In East Germany he was one of the most important film directors, working for the state film monopoly DEFA (film studio), DEFA and directed films that dealt mostl ...

appeared in 1966, but it was withdrawn only three days after its first Berlin showing, following criticism from some party officials that its portrayal of The Party was insufficiently positive. It was only shortly before the

wall A wall is a structure and a surface that defines an area; carries a load; provides security, shelter, or soundproofing; or serves a decorative purpose. There are various types of walls, including border barriers between countries, brick wal ...

came down in 1989 that "Trace of Stones" returned to East German cinemas. In the 1970s Neutsch started to write what he intended as his greatest work, the six novel cycle "Peace in The East" (''"Der Friede im Osten"''), in which the history of

is depicted with suitably epic breadth. In the end Neutsch wrote only five the intended six novels, and the fifth remained incomplete. The author had planned a sixth volume entitled "Years of the Quiet Sun" (''"Jahre der ruhigen Sonne"''), but after the political changes of 1990 he was no longer able to write it. Erik Neutsch joined the (East) German Writers' Association in 1960: between 1963 and 1965 he served as Chairman of the Association's Halle branch. He became a full member of the

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

based

Academy of Arts An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

in 1974. After

German reunification German reunification () was the process of re-establishing Germany as a single sovereign state, which began on 9 November 1989 and culminated on 3 October 1990 with the dissolution of the East Germany, German Democratic Republic and the int ...

he became a member of the German Writers' Association (VS / ''"Verband deutscher Schriftsteller"'').

Television

Neutsch appeared as himself in the 1966 four part television film Columbus 64 by

Ulrich Thein Ulrich Thein (7 April 1930 – 21 June 1995) was a German actor, film director and screenwriter. He appeared in more than 40 films and television shows between 1953 and 1995. He won the award for Best Actor at the 11th Moscow International F ...

Personal

Erik Neutsch was married twice. His first marriage ended, after nearly fifty years, when his wife died. Her final five days were seen as the basis of one of his final pieces of substantive published work, "Verdämmerung" (2003), although much of the text is written in the third person. He later married Annelies Hinz, with whom he lived, during his final years, in Dölau, a quarter of Halle on its western side.

Publications

Novels, shorter stories etc

* ''Die Regengeschichte''. Mitteldeutscher Verlag, Halle 1960. * ''Bitterfelder Geschichten''. Mitteldeutscher Verlag, Halle 1961. * ''Die zweite Begegnung und andere Geschichten''. Mitteldeutscher Verlag, Halle 1961. * ''Spur der Steine''. Mitteldeutscher Verlag, Halle 1964. * ''Die anderen und ich''. Mitteldeutscher Verlag, Halle 1970. * ''Olaf und der gelbe Vogel''. Kinderbuchverlag, Berlin 1972. * ''Haut oder Hemd. Schauspiel und Dokumentation''. Mitteldeutscher Verlag, Halle 1972. * ''Auf der Suche nach Gatt''. Mitteldeutscher Verlag, Halle 1973. * ''Tage unseres Lebens. Geschichten''. Reclam, Leipzig 1973. * ''Der Friede im Osten'': *# ''Am Fluß''. Mitteldeutscher Verlag, Halle 1974. *# ''Frühling mit Gewalt''. Mitteldeutscher Verlag, Halle 1978. *# ''Wenn Feuer verlöschen''. Mitteldeutscher Verlag, Halle 1985. *# ''Nahe der Grenze''. Mitteldeutscher Verlag, Halle 1987, . *# ''Plebejers Unzeit oder Spiel zu dritt''. Unvollendet Das Neue Berlin, Berlin 2014, . * ''Heldenberichte. Erzählungen und kurze Prosa''. Verlag Tribüne, Berlin 1976. * ''"Akte Nora S." und "Drei Tage unseres Lebens". Zwei Erzählungen''. Verlag Tribüne, Berlin 1978. * ''Fast die Wahrheit. Ansichten zu Kunst und Literatur''. Verlag Tribüne, Berlin 1978. * ''Der Hirt. Erzählung''. Mitteldeutscher Verlag, Halle 1978. * ''Zwei leere Stühle. Novelle''. Mitteldeutscher Verlag, Halle/Leipzig 1979. * ''Forster in Paris. Erzählung''. Mitteldeutscher Verlag, Halle/Leipzig 1981. * ''Da sah ich den Menschen. Dramatische Werke und Gedichte''. Verlag Tribüne, Berlin 1983. * ''Claus und Claudia. Nach neueren Dokumenten''. Mitteldeutscher Verlag, Halle/Leipzig 1989, . * ''Totschlag. Roman''. Dingsda-Verlag, Querfurt 1994, . * ''Vom Gänslein, das nicht fliegen lernen wollte''. Faber und Faber, Leipzig 1995, . * ''"Der Hirt" und "Stockheim kommt". Zwei Erzählungen''. Spotless-Verlag, Berlin 1998, . * ''Die Liebe und der Tod. Gedichte''. Stekovics, Halle 1999, . * ''Nach dem großen Aufstand. Ein Grünewald-Roman''. Faber & Faber, Leipzig 2003, . * ''Verdämmerung''. Scheunen Verlag, Kückenshagen 2003, .

Films and screenplays

* 1966: Spur der Steine (Producer:

DEFA DEFA (''Deutsche Film-Aktiengesellschaft'') was the state-owned film studio of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) throughout the country's existence. Since 2019, DEFA's film heritage has been made accessible and licensable on the PR ...

(DDR)) * 1967: Geschichten jener Nacht (Episode 2 – Screenplay with Ulrich Thein und Hartwig Strobel) * 1976: Auf der Suche nach Gatt (Producer: Helmut Schiemann, DFF (DDR)) * 1981: Nora S. (Regie: Georg Schiemann, DFF (DDR)) * 1983: Zwei leere Stühle (Producer: Georg Schiemann, DFF (DDR))

Recognition

* 1961 and 1962: Literature prize of the (FDGB / ''"Freier Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund"'') * 1964 and 1981: National Prize of East Germany (''"Nationalpreis der DDR"'') * 1969: Service Medal of East Germany (''"Verdienstmedaille der DDR"'') * 1971: Heinrich-Mann-Preis und den Kunstpreis der Stadt Halle * 1973: Händel Prize by the Halle district authority * 1974: Arts prize (''"Kunstpreis"'') of the

FDGB The Free German Trade Union Federation ( or ''FDGB'') was the sole national trade union centre of the German Democratic Republic (GDR or East Germany) which existed from 1946 to 1990. As a mass organisation of the GDR, nominally representing al ...

* 1974: Patriotic Order of Merit (VVO / ''"Vaterländischer Verdienstorden"'') Gold / 1st class * 1984: Banner of Labor (''"Banner der Arbeit"'') (Orden)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Neutsch, Erik 1931 births 2013 deaths People from Schönebeck Writers from the Province of Saxony Socialist Unity Party of Germany members East German writers Writers from Saxony-Anhalt German male novelists 20th-century German novelists 20th-century German male writers Recipients of the National Prize of East Germany Heinrich Mann Prize winners Recipients of the Patriotic Order of Merit in gold Recipients of the Banner of Labor Recipients of the Medal of Merit of the GDR Leipzig University alumni