Franz Josef Degenhardt (3 December 193114 November 2011) was a German poet, satirist, novelist, and – first and foremost – a folksinger/songwriter (

Liedermacher A singer-songwriter is a musician who Lyricist, writes, Composer, composes, and Performance, performs their own musical material, including lyrics and Melody, melodies. In the United States, the category is built on the folk music, folk-Acoustic ...

) with decidedly left-wing politics. He was also a lawyer, bearing the academic degree of

Doctor of Law A Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) is a doctoral degree in legal studies. The abbreviation LL.D. stands for ''Legum Doctor'', with the double “L” in the abbreviation referring to the early practice in the University of Cambridge to teach both canon law ...

. Degenhardt was born in

Schwelm Schwelm () is a town in the district of Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis in the administrative region of Arnsberg within the state of North Rhine-Westphalia in western Germany. Geography Schwelm is situated in the southeast of the "''Ruhrgebiet''", the Ruhr d ...

Westphalia Westphalia (; ; ) is a region of northwestern Germany and one of the three historic parts of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It has an area of and 7.9 million inhabitants. The territory of the region is almost identical with the h ...

. After studying law from 1952 to 1956 in

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

and

Freiburg Freiburg im Breisgau or simply Freiburg is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fourth-largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, Mannheim and Karlsruhe. Its built-up area has a population of abou ...

, he passed the first German state

bar examination A bar examination is an examination administered by the bar association of a jurisdiction that a lawyer must pass in order to be admitted to the bar of that jurisdiction. Australia Administering bar exams is the responsibility of the bar associat ...

in 1956 and the second in 1960. In 1961, he worked for the Europa-Institut of the University at

Saarbrücken Saarbrücken (; Rhenish Franconian: ''Sabrigge'' ; ; ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of cities and towns in Germany, city of the state of Saarland, Germany. Saarbrücken has 181,959 inhabitants and is Saarland's administrative, commerci ...

, where he obtained his doctorate in 1966. Degenhardt joined the

Social Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany ( , SPD ) is a social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been the party's leader since the 2019 leadership election together w ...

(SPD) in 1961, but was forced out in 1971 because of his support for the

German Communist Party The German Communist Party (, ) is a communist party in Germany. The DKP supports far-left positions and was an observer member of the European Left before leaving in February 2016. History The DKP considered itself a reconstitution of the C ...

(DKP), which he joined in 1978. From the early 1960s onward, in addition to practicing law, Degenhardt was also performing music and releasing recordings. His most successful work was the song (and album of the same name) " Spiel nicht mit den Schmuddelkindern" ("Don't Play With the Grubby Children," 1965). He released close to 50 albums, starting with '' Zwischen Null Uhr und Mitternacht'' ("Between 00:00 and Midnight," 1963), renamed ''Rumpelstilzchen'' (original title: ''Zwischen Null Uhr Null und Mitternacht''). His final album, ''Dreizehnbogen'' ("Thirteen Sheets"), was released in 2008. In 1968, Degenhardt was involved in trials of members of the

German student movement The West German student movement (), sometimes called the 1968 movement in West Germany (), was a left-wing social movement that consisted of mass student protests in West Germany in 1968. Participants in the movement later came to be known as ...

, principally defending

social democrats Social democracy is a social, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achieving social equality. In modern practice, s ...

and

communists Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, d ...

. At the same time, he wasin his capacity as a singer-songwriterone of the major voices of the 1968 student movement. In 1972 he translated the song "Here's to You" under the title ''Sacco und Vanzetti'' with five new verses. On his 1977 album ' he criticized many of his former comrades from that era for what he saw as their betrayal of socialist ideals and shift towards a social-liberal orientation. The album's title (roughly, "man with velour coat") mocks the style of clothing they had supposedly adopted. The songs on Degenhardt's 1986 album '' Junge Paare auf Bänken'' ("Young Couples on the Benches"), along with the song ''Vorsicht Gorilla!'' ("Beware of Gorilla") on the 1985 album of the same name, are his translations into German of '' chansons'' by the French singer-songwriter

Georges Brassens Georges Charles Brassens (; ; 22 October 1921 – 29 October 1981) was a French singer-songwriter and poet. As an iconic figure in France, he achieved fame through his elegant songs with their harmonically complex music for voice and guitar and ...

, spiritually perhaps one of his closest musical allies. Degenhardt has also written several novels, most in a rather autobiographical vein, among others: ' ("Slow Matches", 1972), ''Brandstellen'' ("Scenes of Fires", 1974), ''Der Liedermacher'' (1982) and ''Für ewig und drei Tage'' ("For Ever and Three Days", 1999). He was a cousin of the

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

Archbishop of Paderborn,

Johannes Joachim Degenhardt Johannes Joachim Degenhardt (31 January 1926 – 25 July 2002) was the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Paderborn (Germany) from 1974 until his death in 2002. He was named Cardinal in 2001. Life Degenhardt grew up in Hagen, where he attended th ...

, who died in 2002. He was also the brother-in-law of the American-born illustrator Gertrude Degenhardt, who has designed many of his album covers for him. Degenhardt lived, until his death in 2011, in

Quickborn Quickborn () is a town in the district of Pinneberg, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It belongs to Metropolregion Hamburg and is located on the north part of Hamburg on Autobahn A7. It is a 700 year old town which also belonged to Denmark in th ...

, Kreis Pinneberg, in

Schleswig-Holstein Schleswig-Holstein (; ; ; ; ; occasionally in English ''Sleswick-Holsatia'') is the Northern Germany, northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical Duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of S ...

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Degenhardt, Franz Josef 1931 births 2011 deaths People from Schwelm People from the Province of Westphalia Expelled members of the Social Democratic Party of Germany German Communist Party politicians German male singer-songwriters German singer-songwriters German male poets German satirists German satirical poets German satirical musicians German guitarists German poets Writers from North Rhine-Westphalia 20th-century German novelists 20th-century German male writers German male non-fiction writers 20th-century German male musicians

References

Further reading

External links