Volker Braun
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Volker Braun (born 7 May 1939 in
Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...
) 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 ''Abitur'' (), often shortened colloquially to ''Abi'', is a qualification granted at the end of secondary education in Germany. It is conferred on students who pass their final exams at the end of ISCED 3, usually after twelve or thirteen year ...
, Volker Braun worked for a time in construction before going on to study philosophy at
Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...
. 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 Ensemble The Berliner Ensemble () is a German theatre company established by actress Helene Weigel and her husband, playwright Bertolt Brecht, in January 1949 in East Berlin. In the time after Brecht's exile, the company first worked at Wolfgang Langh ...
at the invitation of
Helene Weigel Helene Weigel (; 12 May 19006 May 1971) was an Austrian actress and artistic director. She was the second and last wife of Bertolt Brecht until his death in 1956; together they had two children. Personal life Weigel was born in Vienna, Austria ...
. After the events of the
Prague Spring The Prague Spring (; ) was a period of liberalization, political liberalization and mass protest in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. It began on 5 January 1968, when reformist Alexander Dubček was elected Secretary (title), First Secre ...
, he became increasingly critical of life and the possibility for reform under
Socialism Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...
. After that, he came under more intense scrutiny of 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 ...
. In 1972 Braun began work at the ''Deutsches Theater Berlin'' (German Theatre Berlin). In 1976 he was among those who signed the petition protesting the expatriation of Wolf Biermann. From 1979 he was active again in the Berliner Ensemble. He received the Lessing Prize of East Germany in 1981. and the
National Prize of East Germany The National Prize of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) () was an award of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) given out in three different classes for scientific, artistic, and other meritorious achievement. With scientific achievem ...
in 1988. In 1982 Braun left the Writers’ Union of the GDR. At that time his works described an increasingly depressing life in the GDR. The actors in his plays moved about with resignation in immovable settings. His ''Hinze-Kunze-Roman'', based on Diderot's ''Jacques le fataliste et son maître'', received approval for publication in 1985. When it appeared it was reviewed as “absurd” and “anarchistic” by the influential critic Annalise Loeffler. Klaus Hoepke, then deputy minister for culture, was disciplined for having granted permission for its publication. In 1988, Braun received the National Prize of the GDR. During the
Peaceful Revolution The Peaceful Revolution () – also, in German called ' (, "the turning point") – was one of the peaceful revolutions of 1989 at the peak of the collapse of the Eastern Bloc in the late 1980s. A process of sociopolitical change that led to, am ...
of 1989, he was a supporter of an independent "third way" for the GDR. He was among the first signatories of the appeal . After reunification, he became critically engaged in analysing the reasons for the collapse of the GDR. In this connection, he undertook work with the West German Marxist journal, '' Das Argument'', edited by Wolfgang Fritz Haug. In 1986, Braun was awarded the Bremer Literature Prize. In 1992 he received the Schiller Memorial Prize. He was awarded a stipend at the Villa Massimo and was a guest of the
University of Wales The University of Wales () is a confederal university based in Cardiff, Wales. Founded by royal charter in 1893 as a federal university with three constituent colleges – Aberystwyth, Bangor and Cardiff – the university was the first universit ...
in 1994. In 1996, he received the Deutschen Kritikerpreis (German Critic Prize), became a member of the
Deutsche Akademie für Sprache und Dichtung The Deutsche Akademie für Sprache und Dichtung (in English German Academy for Language and Literature) was founded on 28 August 1949, on the 200th birthday of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, in the Paulskirche, Frankfurt, Paulskirche in Frankfurt. I ...
, the
Sächsische Akademie der Künste The Sächsische Akademie der Künste (Saxon Academy of Arts) is a German cultural organisation for the state of Saxony, based in Dresden. Purpose The Academy is a statutory corporation to promote the arts in Saxony, make proposals for its pro ...
(Saxon Academy of the Arts) and held the post of Poet-lecturer at the
University of Heidelberg Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg (; ), is a public university, public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Founded in 1386 on instruction of Pope Urban VI, Heidelberg is List ...
. He received the Erwin Strittmatter Prize in 1998 and the Georg Büchner Prize in 2000. From 1999 to 2000, he was the
Brothers Grimm The Brothers Grimm ( or ), Jacob Grimm, Jacob (1785–1863) and Wilhelm Grimm, Wilhelm (1786–1859), were Germans, German academics who together collected and published folklore. The brothers are among the best-known storytellers of Oral tradit ...
-professor at the
University of Kassel The University of Kassel () is a university founded in 1971 located in Kassel, Hessen, in central Germany. As of February 2022 it had about 25,000 students and about 3300 staff, including more than 300 professors. A special unit (Studienkoll ...
. He would be elected Director of the Literature Section of the
Academy of Arts, Berlin The Academy of Arts () 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 founded in 1696 by Elector F ...
in 2006. In 2008, he received the 2007 ver.di-Literature Prize 2007 for his story, "Das Mittagsmahl" (Lunch). Volker Braun lives in Berlin.


Selected works

* ''Die Kipper'' (The Dumpers), Drama (1965) * ''Provokation für mich'' (Provocation for Me), Poem (1965) * ''Vorläufiges'' (Provisional), Poem (1966) * ''Kriegs Erklärung'' (War's Declaration) (1967) * ''Lenins Tod'' (Lenin's Death), Drama (1970) * ''Wir und nicht sie'' (We and not They), Poem (1970) * ''Die Kipper'' (The Dumpers), Drama (1972) * ''Gedichte'' (Poems) (1972) * ''Gegen die symmetrische Welt'' (Against the Symmetric World), Poem (1974) * ''Es genügt nicht die einfache Wahrheit'' (The Simple Truth isn't Enough) (1975) * ''Unvollendete Geschichte'' (Unfinished History) (1977) * ''Training des aufrechten Gangs'' (Learning to Walk Upright), Poem (1979) * ''Hinze-Kunze-Roman'' (The Hinze-Kunze-Novel), Novel (1985) * ''Verheerende Folgen mangelnden Anscheins innerbetrieblicher Demokratie. Schriften'' (Disastrous Consequences of the Missing Semblance of Internal Democracy. Writings) (1988) * (1990) - translated into English as ''The Property'' by
Michael Hofmann Michael Hofmann (born 25 August 1957) is a German-born poet, translator, and critic. ''The Guardian'' has described him as "arguably the world's most influential translator of German into English". Biography Hofmann was born in Freiburg into ...
* ''Der große Frieden'' (The Great Peace) * ''Der Wendehals'' (The Turncoat) (1995) * ''Lustgarten Preußen'' (The Pleasure Garden of Prussia) (1996) * ''Wir befinden uns soweit wohl. Wir sind erst einmal am Ende'' (So Far, So Good. We are Almost at the End.) (1998) * ''Tumulus'', Poetry Collection (1999) * ''Das Wirklichgewollte'' (That Which is Really Wanted) (2000) * ''Das unbesetzte Gebiet'' (The Unoccupied Area), Historical Story (2004) * ''Das Mittagsmahl'' (Lunch), Story (2007)


Literature

* Edition Text and Criticism: ''Volker Braun'', 1977 * Jay Rosellini, ''Volker Braun'', 1983 * Christine Cosentino, Wolfgang Ertl: ''Zur Lyrik Volker Brauns'' (To the Poet Volker Braun), 1984 * Katrin Bothe: ''Die imaginierte Natur des Sozialismus. Eine Biographie des Schreibens und der Texte Volker Brauns 1959–1974'' (The Imaginative Nature of the Socialist. A Biography of the Writings and Texts of Volker Braun 1959–1974), Würzburg 1997 * Fritz J. Raddatz:
Broken Lives
' (German). Die Zeit, 44/2000 * Rolf Jucker (Hg.): ''Volker Braun in perspective'', Amsterdam/New York, 2004 * Schepers, Hannah. ''Volker Braun: Leben und Schreiben in der DDR'', Halle(Saale): Mitteldeutscher Verlag, 2015.


Film

* "Zur Person: Volker Braun" (To the Person: Volker Braun), Reportage, 50 Min., Author:
Günter Gaus Günter Gaus (23 November 1929 – 14 May 2004) was a prominent German journalist-commentator who became a diplomat and (very briefly) a regional politician in Berlin. Once he had moved on – as he probably assumed, permanently – from the wor ...
(1991)


References


External links


Literary Encyclopedia page on Volker Braun

Works by and on Volker Braun
in the Catalog of the
German National Library The German National Library (DNB; ) is the central archival library and national bibliographic centre for the Federal Republic of Germany. It is one of the largest libraries in the world. Its task is to collect, permanently archive, comprehens ...
*
Link list of the FU Berlin on Volker Braun
{{DEFAULTSORT:Braun, Volker 1939 births Living people Writers from Dresden East German writers Socialist Unity Party of Germany members Leipzig University alumni Recipients of the National Prize of East Germany Heinrich Mann Prize winners Schiller Memorial Prize winners Georg Büchner Prize winners Members of the Academy of Arts, Berlin East German poets Academic staff of the University of Kassel German-language poets German male poets Members of the German Academy for Language and Literature