Kurt Demmler

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Demmler sings at the large demonstration in Berlin on November 4, 1989

Kurt Demmler (born September 12, 1943 in Posen as Kurt Abramowitsch ; † February 3, 2009 in Berlin ) was a German songwriter and lyricist for many GDR rock bands.

Life

Childhood and youth

Kurt Demmler was born as Kurt Abramowitsch on September 12, 1943 in Posen. As the son of a couple of doctors, he grew up in Cottbus and lived in Klingenthal from 1956 . His birth father went missing as an aviator during the Second World War and died before he was born. His mother married the medical student Heinz Demmler. The marriage resulted in two more children. Heinz Demmler worked as a gynecologist and later as chief physician at the Schöneck hospital . He resigned from the SED at the beginning of his career .

From 1950 to 1962 Kurt Demmler attended elementary school and advanced secondary school, which he graduated with the Abitur . In the 11th grade he became a member of the FDJ in order to be allowed to study. From elementary school Demmler received piano lessons, sang in the church choir and learned to play the guitar by himself. He won various music competitions and gave concerts (for example together with the big band "Hugo Herold" or the Markneukirchen Symphonic Orchestra ). At high school, he wrote songs that were influenced by his parents' critical thoughts on the GDR. He was expelled from school for the secret publication of one of his texts on the school's wall newspaper. From then on, at the latest, the State Security became aware of Demmler.

Education

After graduating from high school, Demmler began studying medicine at the Karl Marx University in Leipzig in 1963 . The military service he could expose to 1963 through the influence of his father with a one-year internship at the district hospital Schoeneck of 1962nd (In addition, Demmler applied to the Erich Weinert Ensemble of the NVA . Demmler and the later pop singer Frank Schöbel were selected.) During his studies, the MfS tried to write critical song texts and exmatriculate under threat of five years in prison , Demmler as an unofficial person Attracting employees (IM). With reference to his Hippocratic oath , he refused. Since he promised to only perform in a university setting (Louis-Fürnberg-Ensemble), no sanctions will be imposed on him.

While studying medicine, Demmler made contacts with the youth radio station DT 64 and the October Club (formerly Hootenanny Club, Berlin). He joined the latter in 1967 and got to know Gisela Steineckert and others who strongly influence his (political) thinking. Under this influence he saw the problems with which he was confronted as the effects of the competition with the FRG (and capitalism in general) and did not seek them (anymore) in the socialist system. His repertoire at that time included songs like the "Song of the Fatherland" or " Ho Chi Minh ". For the FDJ Whitsun meeting in 1967 he composed the song “Was wir zu Pfingsten” together with members of DT 64. Demmler's participation in the October Club ended after six months; by his own account of singing critical songs. He then initiated a singing club at the Leipzig SME within their cultural ensemble “Studio Poesie”. The members of the Klaus Renft Combo, later founded, joined this ensemble . Over the years dozens of Demmler's texts have been published by the state-owned Amiga , Eterna , Nova and Schola labels . Demmer also appears as a songwriter; his 1960s stage program was called "O Leipzig, my beautiful".

Demmler completed his studies in 1969 with his license to practice medicine . He worked as a doctor until 1976 and then worked as a freelance artist. Also in 1969 he married and was awarded the Erich Weinert Medal for artistic achievement by the FDJ. At the end of the 1960s, he appeared mainly in connection with the FDJ, the October Club and other state music events.

Working life in the GDR

The 1970s were Demmler's most productive years. According to Jörg Stempel, Amiga editor from 1981, Demmler wrote for "almost everyone". According to his own statement, he has written 10,000 texts in 25 years. The considerable number is related to the fact that Demmler often wrote “multiple offers for music demos provided by composers, bands and interpreters to write texts”. Because of this productivity, he was financially secure and is said to have received royalties in the six-figure range over the years. In addition to the contact with the Klaus Renft Combo, he began working with Veronika Fischer , Franz Bartzsch and Nina Hagen , as well as foreign interpreters such as Omega , Locomotiv GT , and the West German interpreter Katja Ebstein . He writes for Frank Schöbel , Dani Marsan, Aurora Lacasa , Hans-Jürgen Beyer , Lift , Express Berlin , Prinzip , Winni II, Uve Schikora and his group and many others.

Demmler's first own album "Lieder" was released in 1970 by Amiga. He wrote his own and translated texts e.g. B. for Skaldowie and the red guitars . A year later, in 1971, he received the “ Prize for artistic folk creation ” and the following year, in 1972, the “Soldier's Song Prize” for his first soldier's song (“Dearest, are you fine”). The hit song composed by Arndt Bause and texted by Demmler "Look at this, this little one" by Frank Schöbel became the XII. International Song Festival in Sopot in the same year. Further prizes and awards followed (e.g. 1st and 2nd prize in the "Singt das Lied der Republik" competition). Demmler was awarded again in 1973, this time with the " Art Prize " of the GDR. In addition to many new releases as single or album, songs with his lyrics can be found on various compilations. In 1973 the single was a song composed on the occasion of Women's Day in 1970, “This song I sing for women (Maria)”, which received a great response; and in 1974 his album "Verse auf sex Beinen" followed, "an astonishingly prudish-free record for the GDR standards at the time, full of erotic puns".

When Wolf Biermann was denied entry to the GDR in 1976, Demmler signed a letter of protest against Biermann's expatriation, alongside Uschi Brüning , Reinhard Lakomy and other artists . The result was the banning as an active artist and an absolute performance ban for two and a half years. "[The signatories of the protest letter] had to endure several so-called debates until the General Directorate for Entertaining Arts reported to the party leadership that the old relationship of trust had been restored." Demmler could and was allowed to remain an author. When members of the star combo Meissen asked him if he could rewrite Stefan Zweig's novella Kampf um den Südpol (1977) into a song text for them, their first big hit of the same name came about.

In the second half of the 1970s, even more songs with Demmler lyrics were published than in the first half, for example by WIR , 4 PS , Set , Karat (The title “King of the World” with Demmler's lyrics placed Karat “for months at the top of the GDR hit parades ”), Berluc , Regine Dobberschütz , BEM, Dorit Gäbler , Karussell , Kreis , Dialog and others. His single "The girl who holds the bags" was released in 1978 and a year later his album after the 1970s stage program of the same name "Come in my guitar boat"; including the previous song and "Wanda", a song about the forbidden love of teachers and students. From the contacts established before 1976 z. B. Lifts “And man created the earth” (1977), principle “Seven meters of silk ribbon” (1978) or star combo Meissen's concept album “ White Gold ” (1978). The record text of the latter was changed by the band, so that Demmler started a lawsuit, which he partially won. In a newspaper article in 1978 he said: " It is not always easy to work with some editors [...] because they do not give up this or that text until their handwriting is reflected in the text."

An example of how inconvenient texts were sorted out is his song "Smog", which addresses air pollution in the GDR. Without admitting that it was above all a hot topic and feared increasing protests, the text was rejected by the editor because of its "design". When Demmler sang his song “Mustermessenmelancholie” in 1979 in front of politicians who spent the day discussing “new trend-setting decisions in matters of intershop”, the recently lifted performance ban (because of the Biermann protest) was imposed again.

In the new decade Demmler was able to build on his successes. He has now also written for (family) Silly , the Puhdys (" Neue Helden " (1989) under the pseudonym Kowarski), Pankow , Peter Tschernig , Maja Catrin Fritsche , Reform , GES, Drei , Sascha Thom , Ralf Bursy and others. The next album of his own "Everyone can love everyone" was released in 1982. He was able to celebrate a significant success with his "Songs of the Little Prince" based on Antoine de Saint-Exupéry . Demmler's biological father went missing as an aviator in the same period as Saint-Exupéry, which prompted him to think about the subject of the "Little Prince" because he saw a personal connection to himself. From 1984 the songs were performed and in 1985 they appeared on Amiga . This program was the prelude to Demmler's programs together with children. He was now called the “Children's Lawyer” and received the GDR National Prize in 1985 (also for this album) . A list of winners in the newspaper " Neue Zeit " stated:

“The National Prize of the GDR III. Class for art and literature is awarded: for his high-quality creative oeuvre as an author for rock music and as an author, composer and interpreter in the GDR's songwriting. Kurt Demmler, text author and interpreter, Leipzig. "

After concerts, Demmler called on young, talented children to be introduced to him, who should play music with him, since his voice did not go as well as children's voices with the “Songs of the Little Prince”. Some parents reflexively responded to this request "under whatever conditions". From 1985 to 1987 Demmler took part in a song circus tour, which included a program designed by the most famous songwriters in the country. Tour director Matthias Görnandt reports that Demmler has repeatedly attracted attention by accompanying (too) young girls:

“I know that he often brought young girls with him who simply adored him. He was a person in need of cuddling and that's how he justified it. And of course it was also strange to everyone that he always came with such very young girls. He let them sing along on stage. "

Görnandt describes Demmler as “extremely vain and vulnerable. He could be very aggressive towards other people and he could be extremely affectionate and kind to other people ”. He suspects that Demmler felt drawn to young girls because “he was afraid of strong women”. It was an open secret that Demmler had an affinity for young girls.

Because of a dispute with Gisela Steineckert , meanwhile president of the committee for entertainment arts , Demmler was banned from broadcasting in 1986 and publicly announced his departure in the magazine “ Melodie und Rhythmus ”. He himself described the situation as if he wanted to free up space for young talent and began writing rock operas and musicals under a pseudonym . Nevertheless, texts continued to be interpreted and published by him and under his name. For example, on Sascha Thom's album “Mein Lebensbild” (1987) you can find texts by Steineckert as well as two Demmler texts. At the first award of the " Golden Amiga " (1988) Demmler was honored in the category chanson / songwriter for the "songs of the little prince". Demmler presented a program with critical tones in 1988: “Gute Macht, Freunde!” Received positive reviews and the songs were rated as “constructive, helpful criticism”. Another album of his own, "Candle Songs", was released in 1990 by Amiga. He sang together with the students Daniela and Doreen.

In addition to many other musicians, Kurt Demmler also signed the "Resolution" of the rock musicians and songwriters for democratization and freedom of the media in the GDR on September 18, 1989. Demmler said he had read it repeatedly as part of "Gute Macht, Freunde!" was approached harshly at times. A few weeks later, at the demonstration on November 4, 1989 in East Berlin on Alexanderplatz, he read the poem “Sicherheit” and sang the song “Somebody is always there” in front of around a million people, which, according to Demmler, had been around for three Years ago and was already 15 years old. It is humorous and sarcastic about the surveillance by the state security . After this and other appearances in the period that followed, he received death threats from the population.

Professional life in the FRG and criminal proceedings

In the GDR Demmler was exposed to a constantly changing attitude of the state towards himself. He navigated quite successfully between performance bans, national awards, censorship and commercial success, while he was presumably under extensive surveillance by the state security . This had a duplicate key to his apartments and had installed listening devices . Still, he could allow himself to misstep without facing draconian penalties. After the turning point and the peaceful revolution , it lost a lot of its influence and importance. The structures of the FRG, unknown to him, overwhelm him, as is evident from numerous contributions on his website. Despite his failures in the music scene, Demmler is financially secure through the republication of GDR songs on CD through royalties :

“So far, all clients and potential partners have run after me. now there weren't any. […] I've never stood around so stupid in my life. but since the royalties were still going well, most of the records were released on cd, i also had no pressure. "

Deprived of his comfortable position in the GDR, he could no longer find his way around the music scene and condemned the music production process:

“What's more, it's no longer about an artistic product, just about target groups and purchasing power. creative and trusting cooperation have become foreign words. "

Although he gave several concerts, e.g. B. together with Reinhard Mey in April 1990, with his program “Windundsandundsternenlieder” or 1991 with his program “Mitmenschen”, Demmler was unable to build on earlier successes. Demmler gave concerts with his “Songs of the Little Prince” accompanied by a singer and a guitarist until 1993. In 1994 he lost his apartment in Leipzig, followed seven years later by his Berlin apartment. He increasingly avoided the public and first moved to Fürstenwalde in Brandenburg . Despite his efforts to renew old contacts and make new ones, his success remained limited. Although his album "Windundsandundsternenlieder" was released in 1990 after the stage program of the same name at Musicando, or in 1991 there was a collaboration with Inka Bause and composer Arndt Bause ("Ha America" ​​and "No Guilt", album: "I go through the night" (Virgin 1991 )), but neither with Silbermond nor Nina Hagen (Demmler writes after a request “We have forgotten the color film” as a continuation of “ You forgot the color film ”), Udo Jürgens or Ralph Siegel , a collaboration comes about. There was a dispute with Silbermond about the copyrights to “Waste your time”, because according to Demmler it was a plagiarism of a text that the musicians would have received as a suggestion from him on request. In an article in the Berliner Zeitung in 1992 , Veronika Fischer reported on a new album project:

“This time I have collected more texts than ever before. I'm overflowing with topics, 25 titles in total. [...] There will also be hot topics such as the sexual abuse of children. The song is called "Heimliche Signals", with a sensitive text by Kurt Demmler. "

No further information can be found about the album in question, it may not have been produced at all. Several of Demmler's texts from these years share this fate. His own girls' band "Zung'kuss" (with singer and actress Anna Fischer , among others ), which he founded in the late 1990s, flopped. They sang songs like “Don't want to be on Uncle Herbert”, who has sexual feelings for children. Demmler tried to be successful with his own projects and failed. He repeatedly allowed young girls to visit him and moved or forced them to engage in sexual acts. If parents suspected and approached him about it, he accused them and the children of lying, threatened with lawyers and a defamation lawsuit. The intimidated parents usually did not take any further action. Demmler saw himself as and rhetorically stylized himself as a victim, especially on his website. The lawyer for the girls affected in the 2009 trial, Eva Kuhn, said:

“As far as I know, there have always been parents who have noticed that, and who have sometimes sought a conversation with him. According to the information I have available, the unanimous opinion was that nothing can be done against him, he is a prominent person, he also has a certain power or influence and you can't prove anything to him. "

In 2000, criminal proceedings were opened against Demmler for the sexual abuse of children . Two years later he was sentenced to 90 daily rates of € 20 (or: € 1,800) each. His last album "My heart must go barefoot" was released in 2001 by Uniton (again in 2009 for sixteen). In the following years Demmler managed his website, uploaded hundreds of texts and organized spontaneous meetings at his home in his villa in Storkow in Brandenburg, which he suggested in the guest book . He was open to discussions, encouraged others to write texts (e.g. guest area: "Haste ma ne Hook"), and also continued to write texts himself, for example the "New Songs of the Little Prince".

Demmler was charged again in 2008. Cases were heard between 1985 and 2005. Between 1995 and 1996, children were said to have been abused by him in at least 52 cases. Between 1995 and 1999 there were reported to have been 212 attacks on girls between the ages of ten and 14 in his Berlin apartment and in his villa in Storkow . Since Demmler tried to actively influence the girls and prevent their statements, he was taken into custody in Berlin-Moabit. He is said to have called the girls, written them letters and looked up their home addresses. In prison Demmler joined a guitar group and helped to organize the Christmas concert. His family visited him every 14 days, his wife last visited on January 21, 2009. The main hearing against Demmler began on January 22, 2009 before the Berlin Regional Court . There the defendant did not comment on the allegations. He was “hopeful” and “reflected extremely positively”. In the course of the investigation, alleged victims of Demmler from the 1980s also came forward. The investigations into these cases were, however, suspended due to the statute of limitations .

suicide

On the night of 2 to 3 February 2009 Kurt Demmler committed with two knotted belts suicide . At 6:23 am, his death was determined by a judicial officer. He did not leave a suicide note. The suicide took place the night before the second day of the trial. Due to his suicide the night before the victims were supposed to testify, the case or cases could not be dealt with and the process could not be completed. Demmler left behind his wife and two grown children.

Trivia

Kurt Demmler was a fan of consistent lower case letters .

Discography

  • 1971: Kurt Demmler - songs ( Amiga )
  • 1975: Verses on sex legs (Amiga)
  • 1979: Come in my guitar boat (Amiga)
  • 1982: Everyone can love everyone (Amiga)
  • 1985: The songs of the little prince (Amiga)
  • 1989: candle songs 1989 (Amiga)
  • 1990: Windsandundsternenlieder (DSB)
  • 2001: My heart has to go barefoot (Unionton)

Selection of well-known titles and artists

Kurt Demmler also wrote lyrics for Brigitte Ahrens , Peter Albert , Marek Grechuta & Gruppe Anawa, Babylon , Inka Bause , Bergendy , Hans-Jürgen Beyer , Hansi Biebl Band , Brot und Salz , Uschi Brüning , Budka Suflera , Ralf Bursy , Dialog , Chris Doerk , Drei , Katja Ebstein , Gunther Emmerlich , Express , Veronika Fischer , Reinhard Fißler , Dagmar Frederic , Maja Catrin Fritsche , Group GES, Karel Gott , Monika Hauff & Klaus-Dieter Henkler , Kati Kovács , Horst Krüger Band , Kreis , Aurora Lacasa , Wolfgang Lippert , Locomotiv GT , Marita & Rainer, Đani Maršan, Gerti Möller , Thomas Natschinski , Anett Navall , Oktoberklub , Omega , Pankow , Peter and Paul and Aniko, Prinzip , Dean Reed , Maryla Rodowicz , Rote Guitars , Gaby Rückert , Uve Schikora , Frank Schöbel , SET , Skaldowie , Vlady Slezák, Brigitte Stefan & Meridian , Peter Tschernig , 4 PS , Winni II , Wir , Helga Zerrenz , Petra Zieger , 2 plus 1 and other performers.

Awards

literature

  • Paul D. Bartsch: GDR rock music from a literary perspective. A subject for class? , in: Popular music and music education in the GDR. Research - Teaching - Evaluation, ed. by Georg Maas & Hartmut Reszel, Augsburg 1997, pp. 92-107.
  • Sabine Deckwerth & Abini Zöllner: The well-known GDR rock lyricist Kurt Demmler was on trial for child abuse. Now he's killed himself. The songwriter and the girls , Berlin / Cologne 2009.
  • Kerstin Gehrke: songwriter is said to have abused children , Berlin 2009.
  • Bernd Gürtler: Sounding the GDR with subtle social criticism [Interview with Peter Wicke from June 1, 2013], Cologne 2013.
  • HP Hofmann: Beat Lexicon. Performers, authors, technical terms . VEB Lied der Zeit Musikverlag, Berlin (GDR) 1977.
  • Lutz Kirchenwitz:  Demmler, Kurt . In: Who was who in the GDR? 5th edition. Volume 1. Ch. Links, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86153-561-4 .
  • Edward Larkey: Red Rock Radio. Popular Music and the Commercialization of GDR Broadcasting , Berlin 2007.
  • Wolfgang Mühl-Benninghaus: entertainment as obstinacy. An East German Media History , Frankfurt am Main 2012.
  • Günter Noll: Music and State Power. Selected examples from the history of the GDR on the situation of musicians, music education and musicology , in: Popular music and music education in the GDR. Research - Teaching - Evaluation, ed. by Georg Maas & Hartmut Reszel, Augsburg 1997, pp. 9-51.
  • Birgit & Michael Rauhut: Amiga. The discography of all rock and pop productions 1964–1990 , Berlin 1999.
  • David Robb: Censorship, Dissent and the Metaphorical Language in GDR Rock , in: Popular Music in East Europe. Breaking the Cold War Paradigm, ed. By Ewa Mazierska, Basingstoke 2018.
  • Ed Stuhler: "Everyone can love everyone?". The songwriter Kurt Demmler and the girls [uncorrected manuscript of the feature from June 23, 2009 from 7.15 to 8 pm], Cologne 2009.
  • Michael Tsokos: The Signs of Death. New cases from Germany's best-known forensic doctor [eBook], Munich 2017.
  • Peter Wicke: Pop music research in the GDR , in: Popular music and music education in the GDR. Research - Teaching - Evaluation, ed. by Georg Maas & Hartmut Reszel, Augsburg 1997, pp. 52-68.

Web links

Commons : Kurt Demmler  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Suicide in the cell . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , February 3, 2009
  2. ^ Lutz Kirchenwitz:  Demmler, Kurt . In: Who was who in the GDR? 5th edition. Volume 1. Ch. Links, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86153-561-4 .
  3. ^ A b Kurt Böttcher (Red.): Writer of the GDR. Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig 1975, p. 113, describes Demmler as the son of a worker.
  4. ^ Roswitha Baumert: Kurt Demmler - und die Wende der Liedermacherei ( Memento from October 30, 2008 in the Internet Archive ). In: Melody & Rhythm , 1/1990
  5. ↑ a b c d e f g h i Ed Stuhler: Everyone can love everyone? The songwriter Kurt Demmler and the girls. In: deutschlandfunkkultur.de. Retrieved October 9, 2019 .
  6. ↑ a b c d Kurt Demmler: Demmlersong. Retrieved October 9, 2019 .
  7. ↑ Sabine Deckwert & Abini Zöllner: The well-known GDR rock lyricist Kurt Demmler was on trial for child abuse. Now he's killed himself. The songwriter and the girls. Berliner Zeitung, 2009, accessed on October 9, 2019 .
  8. ^ Wolfgang Mühl-Benninghaus: entertainment as obstinacy. An East German media story . Frankfurt am Main 2012.
  9. ↑ Anja Braatz: "Karat" put on the gold scales . tape 34 , no. 230 . Berliner Zeitung, Berlin September 28, 1978, p. 6 .
  10. ^ AK: Boxing ring for authors . tape 34 , no. 293 . Neue Zeit, December 12, 1978, p. 4 .
  11. ↑ Edward Larkey: Red Rock Radio. Popular music and the commercialization of the GDR radio . Berlin 2007.
  12. ↑ Kerstin Gehrke: Songwriter is said to have abused children. In: tagesspiegel.de. 2009, accessed October 9, 2019 .
  13. ↑ a b c The songwriter and the girls . In: Berliner Zeitung , February 4, 2009.
  14. ↑ top v .: High awards for the 36th anniversary of the GDR . tape 41 , no. 234 . Neue Zeit, October 5, 1985, p. 3-4 .
  15. ↑ Karsten Schmidt: Good power, friends! tape 46 , no. 35 . Berliner Zeitung, Berlin March 31, 1988, p. 7 .
  16. ↑ Alexanderplatz demonstration: Kurt Demmler (audio files) , website of the German Historical Museum , Berlin. Retrieved January 2, 2017.
  17. ↑ Roswitha Baumert: Kurt Demmler - and the turning point in songwriting. In: ostmusik.de. November 29, 1989. Retrieved October 9, 2019 .
  18. ↑ a b o. V .: Kurt Demmler in an online interview. In: ostmusik.de. Retrieved October 9, 2019 .
  19. ↑ Ilona Rothin: The East shaped me more than I would have liked . tape 48 , no. 148 . Berliner Zeitung, Berlin August 8, 1992, p. 35 .
  20. ↑ Kurt Demmler: Songwriter accused of child abuse . Spiegel Online , November 4, 2008.
  21. ↑ a b songwriter Demmler in court. He was charged with 212 sexual abuse charges . In: Berliner Zeitung , January 20, 2009.
  22. ↑ Songwriter Kurt Demmler is in custody . In: Berliner Zeitung , August 7, 2008.
  23. ↑ Michael Tsokos: The Signs of Death. New cases from Germany's most famous forensic doctor . Munich 2017.
  24. ↑ Kurt Demmler commits suicide . ( Memento from February 6, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk , February 3, 2009
  25. ↑ GDR songwriter Kurt Demmler found dead in his cell . Spiegel Online , February 3, 2009.
  26. ↑ Songwriter Kurt Demmler commits suicide - the proceedings are discontinued . In: Der Tagesspiegel , February 3, 2009
personal data
SURNAME Demmler, Kurt
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German songwriter and lyricist of many GDR rock bands
DATE OF BIRTH September 12, 1943
PLACE OF BIRTH Poses
DATE OF DEATH February 3, 2009
Place of death Berlin