Heinz Kamnitzer
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Heinz Kamnitzer (10 May 1917,
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 ...
– 21 May 2001, Berlin) was a German writer and historian. He was part of the political-cultural establishment and a vocal government supporter in the German Democratic Republic (East Germany).


Life


Early years

Kamnitzer was born into a Jewish family in Berlin at the height of the
First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
. His father was a pharmacist. His younger brother Peter (1921–1998) was an architect and a professor of Architecture and Urban Planning at UCLA, who emigrated to Los Angeles. In 1931 he joined the Socialist school students' League, and in Autumn 1933, while still at school, Kamnitzer was arrested for undertaking illegal political work. In January of that year the NSDAP (Nazi party) had seized power, and the arrest should be seen in the context of their subsequent rapid imposition of one-party government on Germany. He was soon released and emigrated to England where he concluded his schooling at a London polytechnical college.


Exile

In 1935/36 he traveled to
Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...
where he performed relief work and undertook a training in carpentry. Later in 1936 he returned to London where he was a "Guest student" at the
London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...
and worked as a journalist, contributing to anti-Fascist publications. It was while he was in England that in 1938 he became a member of 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 ...
. For six months, starting in October 1939, he was editor in chief of a newspaper produced in London called "Inside Nazi Germany", but the enterprise lost its original financial backing from the Communist Party a few months after the signing of the
non-aggression pact A non-aggression pact or neutrality pact is a treaty between two or more states/countries that includes a promise by the signatories not to engage in military action against each other. Such treaties may be described by other names, such as a t ...
between Germany and the Soviet Union and the paper folded in March 1940. In 1940, like many Jewish and political exiles from Nazi Germany who had sought refuge in Britain, Kamnitzer was arrested and interned in Canada. By 1942, the shifting alliances of the war found Imperial Britain in alliance with Communist Russia: Kamnitzer was permitted to return to London where he became an editor with an economically focused newspaper called, at that time, Petroleum Press Services, a position he would retain till 1946. At the start of the war Kamnitzer's membership of the Communist Party had attracted a certain intensity of attention from the British police and in 1940 he had resigned his party membership, but in 1945, Britain being for a fourth year in alliance with Stalin's Russia, he felt able to rejoin the Party. During the closing years of the war he also began to study political science and became a leading member of the London-based Free German Culture Association (FDKB / ''Freier Deutscher Kulturbund in Großbritannien'') and a member of the "Jewish relief Committee for the USSR".


Return to (East) Germany


Academic career

Heinz Kamnitzer returned from exile in 1946 and joined the new country's newly formed ruling SED (party). He also joined
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 ...
's
Humboldt University The Humboldt University of Berlin (, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public university, public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany. The university was established by Frederick William III of Prussia, Frederick W ...
to study Philosophy, and in 1950 received his doctorate for a dissertation produced under the supervision of Alfred Meusel (1896–1960) and entitled "Germany's Economic Structure at the Time of the 1848 Revolutions". He had already had a lectureship in History from the Humboldt since 1946, and in 1949/50 he became a professor at the Brandenburg Regional Academy (as it was then known) in
Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and largest city of the Germany, German States of Germany, state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the Havel, River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...
. In 1950 Kamnitzer married the actress Irene Eisermann; they remained together till her death in 1997. Between 1950 and 1954 he had a full lectureship as professor for "The History of the German People" at the
Humboldt University The Humboldt University of Berlin (, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public university, public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany. The university was established by Frederick William III of Prussia, Frederick W ...
. From 1952 he served as director of the Institute for the History of the German People, and from 1953 till 1955 he worked as one of three co-editors on the monthly Marxist–Leninist Zeitschrift für Geschichtswissenschaft (academic journal). For some time Heinz Kamnitzer lived in the so-called "Intellectuals' District" in the Schönholz quarter of
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 ...
where the regime had gathered together its favoured scholars. His academic career came to an end following a plagiarism scandal. A review in the Historische Zeitschrift (''Historical Journal'') disclosed that in a publication about
Thomas Müntzer Thomas Müntzer ( – 27 May 1525) was a German preacher and theologian of the early Reformation whose opposition to both Martin Luther and the Catholic Church led to his open defiance of late-feudal authority in central Germany. Müntzer was f ...
which Kamnitzer had produced in collaboration with Alfred Meusel, most of the historical documents on the
Peasants' War This is a chronological list of revolts organized by peasants. Background The history of peasant wars spans over two thousand years. A variety of factors fueled the emergence of the peasant revolt phenomenon, including: * Tax resistance * So ...
had been lifted, without attribution, from a 1926 work by the Agrarian Historian
Günther Franz Günther Franz (13 May 1902 – 22 July 1992) was a German historian who specialized predominantly in agricultural history and the history of the German Peasants' War. Together with economists Wilhelm Abel and Friedrich Lütge, Franz helped s ...
. Because the original documents used had clearly been "worked on" by Franz, who was still very much alive, it was considered that Kamnitzer had plagiarized the senior historian's work. He was relieved of his position as director of The Institute, surrendered his professorship, and embarked on a career as a freelance writer.


Writing career

He published numerous non-fiction books and works of poetry. His best known book is ''Der Tod des Dichters'' (''"The Death of the Poet"'') which concerns the death of
Arnold Zweig Arnold Zweig (; 10 November 1887 – 26 November 1968) was a German writer, pacifist, and socialist. Early life and education Zweig was born in Glogau, Prussian Silesia (now Głogów, Poland), the son of Adolf Zweig, a Jewish shipping agent and ...
. He has also been an editor of Zweig's works. Kamnitzer also undertook work for
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 ...
, the state-owned film studio. He wrote the scripts for various films including Mord an Rathenau (''Murder of Rathenau'') (1961) written in collaboration with , (''Maiden of 1914'') (1969) co-written with
Egon Günther Egon Günther (30 March 1927 – 31 August 2017)
in: Tagesspiegel, 31 August 2017. ...
and Erziehnung vor Verdun (''Education before Verdun'') (1973), also with Egon Günther. In addition he did television work.


Political loyalties

Kamnitzer was a loyal citizen of the
German Democratic Republic 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 ...
, but he also demonstrated loyalty to the state of
Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...
that reflected his own Jewish origins. He refused to sign a resolution that attributed sole responsibility to Israel for the 1967 War in the Middle East, taking a position that demonstrated public solidarity with, among others, the Dutch singer Lin Jaldati and the German leader of the Jewish community, Helmut Aris.


Other activities

From 1970 till 1989 Kamnitzer was president of the writer's association
PEN PEN may refer to: * (National Ecological Party), former name of the Brazilian political party Patriota (PATRI) * PEN International, a worldwide association of writers ** English PEN, the founding centre of PEN International ** PEN America, located ...
in the German Democratic Republic. He resigned the presidency in October 1989 during the run up to
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 ...
, and resigned his membership of the organisation in 1995. Between 1978 and 1989 Heinz Kamnitzer was listed in the
Stasi The Ministry for State Security (, ; abbreviated MfS), commonly known as the (, an abbreviation of ), was the Intelligence agency, state security service and secret police of East Germany from 1950 to 1990. It was one of the most repressive pol ...
files as an
Informal Collaborator An unofficial collaborator or IM (; both from German ''inoffizieller Mitarbeiter''), or euphemistically informal collaborator (''informeller Mitarbeiter''), was an informant in the German Democratic Republic, German Democratic Republic (East Germa ...
under the alias "IM Georg".


Awards and honours

* 1965 * 1974
Patriotic Order of Merit The Patriotic Order of Merit (German: ''Vaterländischer Verdienstorden'', or VVO) was a national award granted annually in the German Democratic Republic (GDR). It was founded in 1954 and was awarded to individuals and institutions for outstanding ...
in silver * 1977 Patriotic Order of Merit in gold * 1987
Star of People's Friendship The Star of Peoples' Friendship (), Star of Nations' Friendship, was an order awarded by the German Democratic Republic (GDR). Established 20 August 1959, it was given to individuals of exceptional merit who had contributed to the "understandi ...
in gold


Selected publications

* Alfred Meusel: ''Thomas Müntzer und seine Zeit: Mit einer Auswahl der Dokumente des Grossen Deutschen Bauernkrieges.'' edited by Heinz Kamnitzer, Aufbau-Verlag, Berlin 1952 * '' Zur Vorgeschichte des Deutschen Bauernkrieges''. Rütten & Loening, Berlin 1953 * '' Das Testament des letzten Bürgers. Essays und Polemiken''. Berlin und Weimar, Aufbau. Berlin 1973 * '' Der Tod des Dichters''. Buchverlag der Morgen, Berlin 1981 * '' Abgesang mit Schmerzen''. Spotless, Berlin 1993 * '' Die grosse Verschwörung: Deutschland 1914–1918''. GNN, Schkeuditz 1999 * '' Ein Mann sucht seinen Weg: Über Arnold Zweig''. GNN, Schkeuditz 2001


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kamnitzer, Heinz Academic staff of the Humboldt University of Berlin East German writers German editors German male screenwriters Communist Party of Germany politicians Socialist Unity Party of Germany members Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United Kingdom German resistance to Nazism Recipients of the Patriotic Order of Merit 1917 births 2001 deaths German male poets 20th-century German poets 20th-century German historians 20th-century German screenwriters Stasi informants