Günther Krupkat

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Günther Krupkat at work at his desk at home in Berlin

Günther Krupkat (born July 5, 1905 in Berlin ; † April 14, 1990 there ) was one of the most distinctive science fiction authors from the early days of the GDR . He wrote novels such as When the Gods Die , The Great Frontier , The Invisibles, and Nabou .

Life

Günther Krupkat was born in Berlin in 1905. For lack of money he had to drop out of his engineering studies. Before the Second World War he worked, among other things, as a factory worker, film dramaturge, business traveler, electrician, advertising copywriter, laboratory assistant and as an employee in the press and radio.

At the age of 19, inspired by Alexei Nikolajewitsch Tolstoy Aëlita , he wrote his first utopian novel Od , for which he could not find a publisher because of its social criticism , which was perceived as "too left-wing". The book went unprinted. The author's first short stories were published before 1945. Günther Krupkat was involved in the resistance against National Socialism and fled to Czechoslovakia .

Günther Krupkat lived in the GDR, in Berlin, after the Second World War. He finished his engineering studies there, then worked as editor-in-chief and from 1955 worked as a freelancer. In addition to the 'Titanic' novel The Ship of the Lost , he wrote SF novels that were repeatedly reprinted . In the Writers' Union of the GDR , he was from 1972 to 1978 Chairman of the Working Group utopian and dystopian fiction , whose foundation he had set up itself. His successor in this post was Heiner Rank .

In 1985 he was awarded the Silver Patriotic Order of Merit .

plant

Krupkats best-known and most-read books were two novels in which the influence of pre-astronautics in the GDR-SF became visible. When the gods died dealt with the unsuccessful contact of aliens with humanity of the distant past. Nabou describes the story of one of the highly developed robots they left behind - namely, the said Nabou - that leads the reader into the deepest depths of the earth. Incidentally, this novel marks a first literary high point in the SF of the GDR. Nabou was described by Franz Rottensteiner in 1979 as "one of the best examples of science fiction from the GDR".

stories

  • 1956: Prisoners of the Eternal Circle ( The New Adventure No. 86)
  • 1957: Kobalt 60 ( The New Adventure No. 114)
  • 1957: Northern lights over palm trees ( Small youth series No. 4/57)
  • 1969: Insel der Angst (published in the anthology Das Molecular Cafe by Verlag Das Neue Berlin )
  • 1974: Das Duell (published in the anthology Das Raumschiff by Verlag Neues Leben )
  • 1975: Bazillus phantastikus (published in the anthology Der Mann vom Anti by the publishing house Das Neue Berlin)
  • 1975: Der Mann vom Anti (published in the anthology of the same name by Verlag Das Neue Berlin)

Novels

  • 1956: Die Invisbaren , Verlag Volk und Welt and Yellow Series
  • 1957: The Ship of the Lost (Titanic novel)
  • 1958: The Face (1962 also TV play)
  • 1960: The Great Frontier , The New Berlin
  • 1963: When the gods died , Das Neue Berlin
  • 1968: Nabou , Das Neue Berlin

Movie

literature

  • Erik Simon: Günther Krupkat. In: Erik Simon , Olaf R. Spittel (ed.): The science fiction of the GDR. Authors and works. A lexicon. Das Neue Berlin, Berlin 1988, ISBN 3-360-00185-0 , pp. 182-185.
  • Hans-Peter Neumann: The large illustrated bibliography of science fiction in the GDR. Shayol, Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-926126-11-6 .
  • Franz Rottensteiner : Krupkat, Günther . In: Lexicon of Science Fiction Literature since 1900. With a view of Eastern Europe , edited by Christoph F. Lorenz, Peter Lang, Frankfurt / Main 2016, ISBN 978-3-63167-236-5 , pp. 399–404.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Berliner Zeitung , October 3, 1985, p. 6
  2. ↑ Erik Simon, Olaf R. Spittel (ed.): The science fiction of the GDR. Authors and works. A lexicon. Das Neue Berlin, Berlin 1988, ISBN 3-360-00185-0 , p. 185.
personal data
SURNAME Krupkat, Günther
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German science fiction author
DATE OF BIRTH July 5, 1905
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin , Germany
DATE OF DEATH April 14, 1990
Place of death Berlin , Germany