Stephan Hermlin (; 13 April 1915 – 6 April 1997), real name ''Rudolf Leder,'' was a German author. He wrote, among other things, stories, essays, translations, and lyric poetry and was one of the more well-known authors of former East Germany.

Life

Hermlin was born in 1915 in

Chemnitz Chemnitz (; from 1953 to 1990: Karl-Marx-Stadt , ) is the third-largest city in the German state of Saxony after Leipzig and Dresden. It is the 28th largest city of Germany as well as the fourth largest city in the area of former East Germany a ...

, Germany, in what is now the Federal State of Saxony, the son of Jewish immigrant and art collector David Leder and his wife Lola, he grew both in Chemnitz and in Berlin. In 1931, he joined a

communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

youth organization. From 1933 until 1936, he worked as a printer's apprentice. He emigrated from Germany in 1936, and between then and his return to Germany in 1945 at the end of World War II, lived in

Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...

, France, and

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. After his return to Germany, he worked as a radio broadcaster in Frankfurt am Main. He moved to

East Berlin East Berlin was the ''de facto'' capital city of East Germany from 1949 to 1990. Formally, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet sector of Berlin, established in 1945. The American, British, and French sectors were known as ...

in 1947, and was a contributor to several communist magazines, including ''Tägliche Rundschau,'' '' Ulenspiegel,'' ''Aufbau,'' and ''Sinn und Form.'' Tägliche Rundschau (English: Daily Review) was the official newspaper of the Soviet military administration and later the Soviet High Commission in East Berlin until 1955. As the author of several well-known pro- Stalin

propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded ...

songs, Hermlin soon was working in some of the most important governmental bodies in the Soviet-occupied zone of Germany. By 1949, he was one of the most powerful and influential writers in the newly founded German Democratic Republic. As a close friend of Walter Ulbricht and Erich Honecker, Hermlin soon found himself at the forefront of East German culture and politics, and split his time between them. In December 1962 Hermlin joined the initiators of a group dedicated to the reading of young poets at the East German

Akademie der Künste The Academy of Arts (german: Akademie der Künste) is a state arts institution in Berlin, Germany. The task of the Academy is to promote art, as well as to advise and support the states of Germany. The Academy's predecessor organization was fo ...

(English: Academy of Arts). Some of the poets featured by this group included Wolf Biermann, Volker Braun, Bernd Jentzsch,

Sarah Kirsch Sarah Kirsch (; 16 April 1935 – 5 May 2013) was a German poet. Biography Sarah Kirsch was originally born Ingrid Bernstein in Limlingerode, Prussian Saxony but had changed her first name to Sarah in order to protest against her father's an ...

, and Karl Mickel. This group, and the Akademie der Künste as a whole, was at the forefront of a spike in the popularity of lyric poetry in 1960s East Germany. Thereupon, he was relieved of his position of Secretary of Poetry at the Akademie, although he remained a member. He was a critic of the Soviet crushing of the

Prague Spring The Prague Spring ( cs, Pražské jaro, sk, Pražská jar) was a period of political liberalization and mass protest in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. It began on 5 January 1968, when reformist Alexander Dubček was elected First Sec ...

in 1968, although he did not make these criticisms very open. He was much more open in his criticism of the East German government's 1976 expulsion of a contemporary poet, Wolf Biermann, whose poetry Hermlin exhibited some years previously. Going against the official politics of the day, he, in conjunction with Erich Honecker, organized a conference of writers dedicated to the furthering of peace and reconciliation, the Berliner Begegnung. He was also a member of the

Schriftstellerverband der DDR Deutscher Schriftstellerverband (DSV, "German Writers' Union") was an East German association of writers. It was founded in 1950 and renamed in 1973 as Schriftstellerverband der DDR. The association considered itself an heir to the earlier trad ...

and the Akademie der Künste West Berlin (English: East German Writer's Association and West Berlin Academy of the Arts, respectively). Hermlin died in Berlin. The German journalist and writer

Mirna Funk Mirna Funk (born 1981 in Berlin) is a German journalist, author and individualist feminist. Life Funk studied philosophy and history at Humboldt University of Berlin. She is currently working as a freelance journalist for works such as ''Der F ...

is his great-granddaughter.Ulrich Gutmair
''Mirna Funk über Deutschland - „Es gibt diese Wut“''
taz.de, 2015-11-1 (German)

Awards

*1948 Heinrich Heine Award, awarded by the Schutzverband Deutscher Autoren (English: Association of German Authors) *1950 National Award, awarded by the East German government, for the Mansfeld Speech *1954 National Award, awarded by the East German government, for work on a documentary about Ludwig van Beethoven *1958 F.C. Weiskopf Award *1972 Heinrich Heine Award, awarded by the East German Cultural Ministry *1975 National Award, awarded by the East German government

References

External links

*Philip Brady
''Obituary: Stephan Hermlin''
The Independent, 1997-4-12 *Günther Kunert

Der Spiegel, 1997-4-14 (German) {{DEFAULTSORT:Hermlin, Stephan 1915 births 1997 deaths People from Chemnitz People from the Kingdom of Saxony German-language poets East German writers Writers from Saxony Socialist Unity Party of Germany politicians Jewish German writers Recipients of the National Prize of East Germany German male poets