Erich Fried

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Erich Fried (r.) In conversation with (from left) Franz Fühmann , Alfred Wellm and Volker Braun during the "Berlin Encounter for Peacebuilding" from 13th to. December 14, 1981.
Signature of Erich Fried

Erich Fried (born May 6, 1921 in Vienna , † November 22, 1988 in Baden-Baden ) was an Austrian poet , translator and essayist .

Fried was a major proponent of political poetry in Germany in the post-war period . At the same time, he is considered by many to be an important Shakespeare translator who was the first to succeed in translating the English playwright's language games into German. He has also translated TS Eliot , Dylan Thomas , Graham Greene , Sylvia Plath and John Synge, among others . Fried also wrote a novel ( A Soldier and a Girl , 1960) and short prose.

He participated in the political discourse of his time, gave lectures, participated in demonstrations and took public positions of the extra-parliamentary opposition , he that in conservative and right-wing circles a reputation as "disturbing Fried " acquired. However, he was an independent spirit who did not want to be co-opted for a fixed ideology . His love poems , published in 1979, have found a wider audience.

life and work

Erich Fried grew up in Vienna as the only child of a Jewish family. His father Hugo was a freight forwarder and his mother Nellie a graphic designer . As a five-year-old, he performed with a children's drama group on various stages in Vienna. Fried attended the Wasagasse grammar school in Alsergrund . Soon after Austria was annexed to Germany , Fried's father died in May 1938 as a result of interrogation by the Gestapo . Erich Fried then emigrated via Belgium to London, where he lived until his death. There he founded the self-help group émigré youth , which managed to bring many endangered people, including his mother, to England. During the war, he made his way with odd jobs as a librarian, dairy chemist, factory workers through, was subsequently employed in numerous newly founded magazines and worked from 1952 to 1968 as a political commentator for the German Service of the BBC .

In London he joined the Free German Cultural Association and Young Austria , and later the Communist Youth Association . He left this in 1943 because of increasing Stalinist tendencies .

In 1944 he married Maria Marburg, shortly before the birth of his son Hans. In the same year his first volume of poetry, the anti-fascist collection of poetry in Germany , was published by the Austrian PEN Club in exile .

In 1946 he separated from Maria. The divorce took place in 1952. In the same year he married Nan Spence-Eichner, with whom he had two children, son David (* 1958) and daughter Katherine (* 1961). Nan left Erich Fried in 1962 and the couple divorced in 1965. In 1962 Erich Fried (officially) returned to Vienna for the first time after his escape. In 1963 he became a member of Group 47 . In the summer of 1965 he married Catherine Boswell . Their daughter Petra was born in autumn, and in 1969 the twins Klaus and Tom.

The decision to give up his work at the BBC in 1968 was followed by a period of increased literary and political engagement, especially in West Germany, that lasted until the end of his life. He performed his poems in numerous public appearances at major political events, often as part of the 1968 movement . By combining poetry and politics, he represented a colorful and very controversial personality. On the one hand, he was a respected and honored writer and even received a teaching position at the University of Giessen in 1977 , but also often came into conflict with the public Opinion when he took an open and critical position on political issues. Fried also had to defend himself in court because of his statements. He was reported by West Berlin Police President Klaus Huebner for insulting because he had described the shooting of Georg von Rauch by a police officer as a "preventive murder" in a letter to the editor that was printed in the magazine Der Spiegel on February 7, 1972 . The trial before the Hamburg District Court , at which Heinrich Böll testified in Fried's favor as an expert, ended on January 24, 1974 with an acquittal.

In 1979 Fried surprised everyone with his book Liebesgedichte , which became one of the most successful volumes of poetry of the German post-war period and which Fried opened up to a wider readership. This was followed by other volumes of poetry about love , life, hope and death, with poems such as What It Is or When I Longed for You . In 1982, Erich Fried regained Austrian citizenship, but at the same time retained British citizenship, which he had had since October 1949.

At the end of 1984 Fried visited the then leader of the National Socialist Action Front, Michael Kühnen , in prison at his own request . Fried had got the definite impression that although Kühnen had views that he absolutely could not share, that he was not only an exemplary honest discussion partner, but was also far removed from any obstinacy and unteachability.

Erich Fried's grave in Kensal Green Cemetery

Erich Fried died on November 22, 1988 in Baden-Baden from colon carcinoma . The grave is in London's Kensal Green Cemetery . Fried's estate is kept in the literary archive of the Austrian National Library.

Awards

effect

In 1989 the International Erich Fried Society for Literature and Language was founded in Vienna , which has awarded the Erich Fried Prize since 1990, which is endowed by the Austrian Federal Chancellery. On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of his death, numerous commemorative events took place in which Catherine Boswell Fried took part with a reading from her book about the years together in London, published in 2008, in Vienna, Berlin, Freiburg, Aachen, Recklinghausen, Bad Boll and London. In 2013, the Erich-Fried-Weg in Vienna- Donaustadt (22nd district) was named after him.

Works

( Paradoxon ) Fried quote on a remnant of the Berlin Wall (1991)
Clock face of the old Protestant church of Saarlouis in the Jewish cemetery. On it stands the poem "Time of Plants" by Erich Fried (2011)
Erich Fried memorial stele in Alser Strasse in Vienna (2013)
Schlossbergklinik Haus Erich Fried in Staufen im Breisgau (2015)
  • Bloody Friday , 1929 (as a nine-year-old against the police operation in the Vienna Palace of Justice fire / July revolt)
  • Judas Weg , approx. 1943 (poem from the estate: Jesus of Nazareth as an antipode to the Moses figure)
  • Germany , 1944.
  • Austria , 1945.
  • Three prayers from London , 1945.
  • Night in London , 1946.
  • Poems , 1958.
  • A soldier and a girl , 1946/1960 (his only novel)
  • Izanagi and Izanami , 1960 (radio play)
  • The expedition , 1962.
  • Empire of the stones , 1963.
  • Warning poems , 1964.
  • Reflections , 1964.
  • Children and Fools , 1965 (short stories)
  • and Vietnam and , 1966.
  • Circumstantial Evidence , 1966 (radio play)
  • Challenges , 1967.
  • Time issues , 1968.
  • Liberation from flight , 1968.
  • The Legs of Bigger Lies , 1969.
  • Among Collateral Enemies , 1970.
  • The freedom to speak out , 1972.
  • New natural poetry , 1972.
  • Hear, Israel , 1974 (sharp criticism of Israel and Zionism)
  • Antidote , 1974.
  • Almost anything. True Stories and Valid Lies , 1975.
  • The colorful fuss , 1977.
  • That's how I came under the Germans in 1977.
  • The inquiry , 1977.
  • 100 poems without a fatherland , 1978.
  • Love poems , 1979.
  • Shadows of Life , 1981.
  • Looking for something close , 1982.
  • The Immensity of Things , 1982 (prose)
  • It is what it is , 1983 (probably his best-known work What It Is )
  • Fear and comfort. Stories and poems about Jews and Nazis , 1983.
  • Worries , 1984.
  • For clarity , 1985.
  • From to since , 1985.
  • Sometimes even laughter , 1986 (memories)
  • At the edge of our lifetime , 1987.
  • Unwound , 1988.
  • Fall of Reality Scattered Poems 1927–1988, 1991.
expenditure
  • It is what it is. Love poems, fear poems, anger poems . Wagenbach, Berlin 1991, ISBN 3-8031-0124-7 .
  • Collected works in four volumes, Berlin 1993.
  • Hear Israel, poems and footnotes, poems against injustice, Melzer-Verlag, Neu- Isenburg 2010, ISBN 978-3942472012

Radio plays

As an author:

As editor (word) and / or translator:

  • 1954: Dylan Thomas : Under the Milk Forest - Director: Fritz Schröder-Jahn (editor / translator)
  • 1956: Dylan Thomas: Die Rückreise - Direction: Gert Westphal (translator)
  • 1957: Dylan Thomas: return trip - Director: Hermann Brix (translator)
  • 1958: Dylan Thomas: Die Rückreise - Director: Fritz Schröder-Jahn (editor / translator)
  • 1958: Dylan Thomas: Remembering a Holiday - Director: Fritz Schröder-Jahn (translator)
  • 1958: John Millington Synge : Kesselflicker's Wedding - Director: Kurt Reiss (editor / translator)
  • 1959: Dylan Thomas: The Doctor and the Devil (2 parts) - Director: Fritz Schröder-Jahn (translator)
  • 1960: Richard Wright : Girls for Everything - Director: Gustav Burmester (translator)
  • 1960: Thomas Stearns Eliot : A Deserved Statesman - Director: Oscar Fritz Schuh (Translator)
  • 1960: Dylan Thomas: Real Christmas - Director: Fritz Schröder-Jahn (editor / translator)
  • 1961: Laurie Lee : Requiem for a Great Captain - Director: Joachim Hoene (translator)
  • 1961: Thomas Stearns Eliot: A Deserved Statesman - Editing and direction: Hans Conrad Fischer (translator)
  • 1961: Thomas Stearns Eliot: A Deserved Statesman - Director: Wolfgang Spier (translator)
  • 1962: Richard Hughes : Danger - Director: Fritz Schröder-Jahn (translator)
  • 1962: Johann Nestroy : The good-natured devil or: The story of the farmer and the farmer's wife - Director: John Olden (editor)
  • 1963: Dylan Thomas: Die Funkerzählung: Die Nachsteiger - Direction: Cläre Schimmel (translator)
  • 1965: Dylan Thomas: Christmas memories - adaptation and direction: Oswald Döpke (translator)
  • 1968: Barry Bermange : Radio play under discussion: Oldenberg - Director: Donald McWhinnie (translator)
  • 1969: Dylan Thomas: Under the Milk Forest. A game for voices - Director: Raoul Wolfgang Schnell (translator)
  • 1969: Gaston Bart-Williams : Uhuru - Director: Hein Bruehl (translator)
  • 1970: Dylan Thomas: Return Trip - Director: Robert Bichler (translator)
  • 1970: Barry Bermange: Oldenberg - Director: Werner Grunow (translator)
  • 1974: Barry Bermange: Bones - Director: Heinz Dieter Köhler (translator)
  • 1976: Barry Bermange: Care - Director: Friedhelm Ortmann (translator)
  • 1978: Dylan Thomas: return trip - Director: Willi Schmidt (translator)
  • 1980: Richard Farber : The Cave. A car drama for the funk - Director: Richard Farber (translator)
  • 1986: Richard Hughes: Danger - Director: Bärbel Jarchow-Frey (translator)
  • 1990: Dylan Thomas: Under the Milk Forest - Director: Fritz Göhler (translator)
  • 1992: Dylan Thomas: Christmas Talk - Director: Raoul Wolfgang Schnell (translator)
  • 1992: Dylan Thomas: Christmas Talk - adaptation and direction: Joachim Staritz (translator)
  • 2003: Dylan Thomas: Unter dem Milchwald - adaptation and direction: Götz Fritsch (translator)

literature

  • M. Zeller, poems have time. Outline of a contemporary poetics. Stuttgart 1982.
  • Erich Fried. Edited by Heinz Ludwig Arnold . 2nd Edition. Munich 1997 (EV 1986), ISBN 3-88377-223-2 .
  • Erich Fried. In: Jewish portraits. ed. by H. Koelbl, Frankfurt am Main 1989.
  • Gerhard Lampe: I want to remember everything that one forgets: Erich Fried - biography a. Plant. Bund-Verlag, Cologne 1989, ISBN 3-7663-3092-6 .
  • Joseph A. Kruse (Heinrich Heine Institute) (ed.): One sings from time against time: Erich Fried 1921–1988: materials and texts on life and work . Häusser, Darmstadt 1991, ISBN 3-927902-50-0 .
  • Volker Kaukoreit : Early stations of the poet Erich Fried. Darmstadt 1991.
  • Catherine Fried-Boswell, Volker Kaukoreit (Ed.): Erich Fried. A life in pictures and stories . Wagenbach, Berlin 1993, ISBN 3-8031-3585-0 .
  • SW Lawrie: Erich Fried. A Writer Without A Country. New York 1996.
  • Interpretations. Poems by Erich Fried. Edited by V. Kaukoreit, Stuttgart 1999.
  • Jörg Thunecke: Erich Fried. In: Andreas B. Kilcher (Ed.): Metzler Lexicon of German-Jewish Literature. Jewish authors in the German language from the Enlightenment to the present. Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 2000, ISBN 3-476-01682-X .
  • Tilman von Brand: Public controversies about Erich Fried. Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Berlin, Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-936846-20-0 .
  • Catherine Fried: Sooner or later. Memories of Erich Fried. Translated by Eike Schönfeldt, photos by Catherine Fried. Wagenbach, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-8031-1257-6 .
  • Erich Fried - Heiner Müller. A conversation. Alexander Verlag, Berlin 1989, ISBN 3-923854-49-8 .
  • Sonja Frank (Ed.): Young Austria. Austrians in British exile 1938 to 1947. For a free, democratic and independent Austria . 2nd extended edition with DVD. Verlag der Theodor Kramer Gesellschaft , Vienna 2014, ISBN 978-3-901602-55-9 .

Settings

  • Reinhard Fehling (1993): "FriedFarben" - a song cycle for instruments, solo voices and vocal ensemble. (contains among other things: What it is, The measures, Du liebe Zeit ), CD available from the composer.
  • Paul Kalkbrenner (2001): setting of Krank on the album "Superimpose"
  • In 2007, the German political rapper Chaoze One set the poem Fall ins Wort on his album Fame to music .
  • Controversial is the setting of a poem What it is by the band " MIA. "
  • Friedemann Holst-Solbach (2010): Suffering misunderstood. (Poems set to music by Erich Fried, Carl Albert Lange and Ingeborg Drews, for medium voice and medium guitar accompaniment, with CD - contains, among other things: Retreat; The door; Autumn; The questions and the answers; Hear, Israel; Progress; Career choice - ISMN 9 -790-50075-012-3)
  • Günther Wiesemann: "What is life / ignition temperature" based on Erich Fried poems (1985), for mezzo-soprano, guitar, bassoon, harpsichord and piano (first performance 1985 in Wuppertal). Live collaboration as a pianist with trumpeter Dietmar Hippler and Erich Fried from 1981 to 1986.
  • The composer and musician Jochen Micha has set several poems by Erich Fried for voice, piano, double bass and guitar over the past ten years. Erich Fried evenings are organized regularly by him and his pianist Ziva Melisa. The Duo Metronomicha has released a CD (EAN 4 260069 346235) with the title "Erich Fried - not only love poems" with 15 settings.
  • Beate Himmelstoss and Jürgen Jung speak: Hear Israel, poems and footnotes, slightly shortened compared to the book edition, rearranged and provided with additional notes, music Baher al-Regeb (Qanoun) and Ghidian Qaimari (Oud), 2 CD with booklet, 2010, ISBN 978-3-9813189-9-9 .
  • Martin Christoph Redel: "WAS ES IST. Lyrical dream book for baritone and piano op. 54 (2001). World premiere on May 13, 2003 Vienna. Thomas Quasthoff, baritone; Justus Zeyen, piano. Edition Gravis, Brühl / Berlin 2005. ISMN M-2057-0682-1

Movies

Web links

Wikiquote: Erich Fried  - Quotes
Commons : Erich Fried  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Rundschau - The Blood of Others. Retrieved February 6, 2018 .
  2. ↑ Me, Kühnen - Germany's most feared Nazi explains itself. Retrieved February 6, 2018 .
  3. ↑ Breaking taboos in "Vanity Fair": The Nazi, the Jew and the principle of vanity . In: Spiegel Online . November 4, 2007 ( spiegel.de [accessed February 6, 2018]).
  4. ↑ Fritz J. Raddatz: "Those who measure the way against their goals are wrong": And always upright walk to the death of the poet Erich Fried. Die Zeit, December 2, 1988, accessed May 4, 2017 .
  5. ^ Vienna - Literaturhaus Wien, Organizer: Erich Fried Gesellschaft, Nov. 7, 2008
    Aachen - Schmetz Bookstore, Nov. 11, 2008
    Freiburg - Schwanhäuser Bookshop, Nov. 12, 2008
    Berlin - Library in the Water Tower, Organizer: Sebastian Haffner Institute, Nov. Nov. 2008
    Recklinghausen - Kunsthaus Recklinghausen, organizer: New Literary Society Recklinghausen, 23 Nov. 2008
    Bad Boll - Evangelical Academy Bad Boll, 6 Dec. 2008
    London - Austrian Embassy London, 9 Dec. 2008.
  6. ^ The book was not published until 1960, although it was written in 1946. See curriculum vitae ( memento of the original dated September 30, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. at erichfried.de @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.erichfried.de
  7. ↑ Fried himself never classified the work as a 'novel'. Cf. Lindemann, Gisela: "Ilse Aichinger", Beck: München 1998, p. 20: "Erich Fried's [...] only novel 'A Soldier and a Girl' (which, by the way, only the publisher called a novel, not the author)" .
  8. ↑ Jochen Micha
personal data
SURNAME Fried, Erich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian poet, translator and essayist
DATE OF BIRTH May 6, 1921
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna
DATE OF DEATH November 22, 1988
Place of death Baden-Baden