Gerhard Zwerenz

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
On May 23, 2005 in Frankfurt / Main
Signature under a dedication, 1975

Gerhard Zwerenz (born June 3, 1925 in Gablenz , Saxony ; † July 13, 2015 in Oberreifenberg ) was a German writer and member of the Bundestag for the PDS .

life and work

Gerhard Zwerenz was born in Gablenz / Saxony as the son of a brickworker and a textile worker. After leaving school, he began an apprenticeship as a coppersmith , volunteered for the Wehrmacht in 1942 , took part in World War II for two years and was taken prisoner by the Soviets in 1944 after his desertion to the Red Army near Warsaw .

In 1948 he returned from captivity and was drafted into the People's Police , of which he was a member until 1951. From 1949 to 1957 Zwerenz was a member of the SED . The assignment as a lecturer at the engineering school in Zwickau ended with a TB disease and a longer stay in a sanatorium. Only then was he able to study philosophy with Ernst Bloch in Leipzig from 1953 to 1956 . From 1956 Gerhard Zwerenz worked as a freelance writer . In 1957 he was expelled from the SED and, after being interrogated in a prison of the Ministry for State Security in Leipzig, fled to West Berlin six months later . Gerhard Zwerenz lived together with the author Ingrid Zwerenz in Munich , Cologne , Offenbach am Main and in Oberreifenberg / Taunus.

Zwerenz was a member of the PEN Center Germany .

In 1959 Gerhard Zwerenz wrote The Love of Dead Men , a novel-like version of the uprising of June 17, 1953 . In 1961 Zwerenz wrote the collection of essays Annoyances - From the Meuse to the Memel . He published the volume of essays, Against the German Taboos , in 1962, as well as songs on the market and memorial days . A year later he wrote Thirteen Attempts to Adopt a Respectful Attitude and a biographical sketch of Walter Ulbricht .

In 1969 he wrote the foreword for the book Otto Strasser published by Heinrich Heine Verlag (series: Streit-Zeit-Bücher ) entitled Mein Kampf . However, it did not contain a biography of Hitler, but a revised version of the self-published Strasser book Exil in 1958 .

Zwerenz wrote a bestseller with Casanova or The Little Lord in War and Peace . In the figure of the hero Michel Casanova, the type of non-conformist person is portrayed in various social systems. In the years that followed, he addressed sexuality with books such as compassion for men. A novel about the Ash Wednesday festival and the seven sensualities . In 1971 he wrote the novel Kopf und Bauch and the essay volume The Plebeian Intellectuals (Fischer 1972). In 1973 the earth is uninhabitable like the moon , a critique of the living conditions in the Federal Republic of Germany. The prominent figure in it of a Jewish property speculator - a barely veiled caricature by Ignatz Bubis - caused a scandal when the work was published and brought the author accusations of anti-Semitic writing. A few years later, Zwerenz's friend Rainer Werner Fassbinder processed the novel into his equally - if not more - controversial play The Garbage, the City and Death . Zwerenz responded to these attacks in April 1976 in time with the article Left-Semitism is impossible and writes there: "If ten major brokers in Frankfurt, eight Jewish origin, I can not write about a Persian, which is also available." In 1980 Zwerenz played in the Rainer Werner Fassbinder epic Berlin Alexanderplatz . In 1986 he commented on the anti-Semitism allegations against him and Fassbinder with the book The Return of the Dead Jew to Germany .

He also published The Contradiction. Autobiographical report (1974) and The Quadriga des Mischa Wolf (1975), in which the agent affair Guillaume is processed. Then Zwerenz decided to publish his works only as paperbacks . In 1982 he wrote an answer to a peace friend or a longer epistle for Stephan Hermlin and my dog .

The book Soldiers Are Murderers - The Germans and the War , published in 1988, gave rise to 25 legal disputes, from criminal charges to lawsuits and injunctions , but was not banned.

In 1989 the novel Do not forget the dreams of your youth was published . On his 65th birthday in 1990, Gerhard Zwerenz announced that he no longer wanted to write, but instead wanted to “retire”.

During his writing activity Zwerenz also wrote erotic to pornographic literature under the pseudonym Gert Amsterdam. One of these books, Das Kleingeld der Hetaeren , was indexed as harmful to young people by the Federal Testing Office for Media Harmful to Young People in 1987.

In 1991 he received the Alternative Georg Büchner Prize . He wrote the political writings Rechts und Dumm and Links und Lahm in 1993 and 1994. In 2004 he wrote a foreword for the book by the former right-wing extremist Torsten Lemmer , Rechts raus . In addition, his book, written together with Ingrid Zwerenz, was published, Slavonic Language and Revolt .

In connection with Gerhard Zwerenz's 80th birthday (2005) in the features section (jW May 7, 2005, p. 12) Zwerenz's anti-war ballad vom Holzhaufen near Minsk, first published in 1948, was published by the left-wing Berlin daily Junge Welt .

Gerhard Zwerenz last lived in Oberreifenberg in the Taunus .

politics

From 1994 to 1998 Zwerenz was a member of the German Bundestag via the open list of the PDS . He earned a reputation as the "indomitable deserter". In January 1997 Zwerenz was one of the signatories of the " Erfurt Declaration ". To replace the federal government in 1998, the supporters suggested forming a coalition of the left parties. This should consist of the SPD , Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen and the PDS . The Greens refused to cooperate with the PDS.

Works (selection)

  • 1956: Aristotelian and Brechtian dramatics. Attempt at an aesthetic evaluation (essays) (Greifen, Rudolstadt)
  • 1956: Magic, belief in the stars, spiritism, forays into superstition (Urania, Leipzig)
  • 1959: The love of dead men (Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Cologne)
  • 1959: Braided on a bike. Novel about the rise of the new class (Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Cologne)
  • 1961: Annoyances - From the Maas to the Memel (essays) (Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Cologne)
  • 1962: chants on the market. Fantastic stories and love songs (Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Cologne)
  • 1962: Against the German taboos (polemics) (List, Munich)
  • 1964: Heroes Remembrance Day. Thirteen attempts in prose to take a deferential stance (Scherz, Munich) (1968 as paperback at dtv, Munich)
  • 1966: Casanova or the Little Lord in War and Peace (Roman) Scherz, Munich (1975 as paperback by dtv, Munich) (1981 as paperback by Moewig Verlag, Rastatt)
  • 1968: The use of thick fur and other stories (Wilhelm Goldmann, Munich)
  • 1968: Have mercy on men. Novel about the Ash Wednesday festival and the seven sensualities (Scherz, Munich) (1971 as paperback by Droemer and Knaur, Munich and Zurich)
  • 1969: The lust for socialism. An election gift (Heinrich-Heine, Frankfurt)
  • 1970: Leslie Markwart (d. I. GZ): The Future of Men (Olympia Press, Frankfurt)
  • 1970: Peer Tarrok (d. I. GZ): Rasputin (Joseph Melzer Zero Press, Darmstadt)
  • 1971: head and stomach. The story of a worker who fell among the intellectuals (Fischer, Frankfurt) (1973 as paperback by Fischer, Frankfurt am Main)
  • 1972: Don't put up with everything. Textbook stories (Fischer TB, Frankfurt)
  • 1972: The plebeian intellectual (S. Fischer Verlag, Frankfurt)
  • 1972: report from the interior. City. Route. Settlement (S. Fischer Verlag, Frankfurt)
  • 1973: The earth is as uninhabitable as the moon (S. Fischer Verlag, Frankfurt)
  • 1974: the contradiction. Autobiographical report (S. Fischer Verlag, Frankfurt)
  • 1975: The Quadriga of Mischa Wolf (S. Fischer Verlag, Frankfurt)
  • 1975: Preparations for the wedding. Stories (Fischer Taschenbuch, Frankfurt)
  • 1975: Auntie love. Rasputin. Bourgeoisie and pornography (two thousand and one, Frankfurt)
  • 1975: Political Writings: Aristotelian and Brechtian Drama. Annoyances. The lust for socialism (two thousand and one, Frankfurt)
  • 1977: The West Germans. Experiences, descriptions, analyzes (C. Bertelsmann, Munich)
  • 1977: Why the whole theater. Funny stories from actors, publishers, from Frankfurt, its book fair and from the lovely death (Verlag RS Schulz, Percha and Kempfenhausen) (paperback edition by Wilhelm Goldmann, Munich 1979 and 1984)
  • 1978: The grandparents' child (Beltz & Gelberg, Weinheim)
  • 1978: the terrible consequences of the legend of being a lover. Erotic stories (Wilhelm Goldmann, Munich)
  • 1979: Kurt Tucholsky. Biography of a good German (Bertelsmann, Munich)
  • 1979: The marriage of Maria Braun (Wilhelm Goldmann, Munich)
  • 1979: A happy life in the desert. Novel of a journey through three days and three nights (RS Schulz, Percha and Kempfenhausen)
  • 1980: The business of Mr. Morgenstern (satires) (Universitas, Munich) (1984 as paperback by Moewig, Rastatt)
  • 1980: A love in Sweden. Novel about the strange game and death of the satirist KT (Wilhelm Goldmann, Munich)
  • 1980: Salute for an old poet (Wilhelm Goldmann, Munich)
  • 1980: The man and the girl (Moewig, Munich)
  • 1980: Raw sample. In: Critique of Animal Experiments. Kübler Verlag, Lampertheim 1980, ISBN 3-921265-24-X , pp. 37-40.
  • 1981: We are now calm in Germany (Hoffmann & Campe, Hamburg)
  • 1981: Il matrimonio di Maria Braun (translation from German: see above 1979) (Rizzoli Editore, Milano)
  • 1981: The Chinese dog (novel) (Wilhelm Goldmann, Munich)
  • 1981: The 25th Hour of Love (novel) (Wilhelm Goldmann, Munich)
  • 1981: The Concept of the Plebeian Intellectual
  • 1981: The long-lost feelings (Moewig, Munich)
  • 1981: A woman's freedom (Moewig, Munich)
  • 1981: The man who avenged his brother (Moewig, Munich)
  • 1981: beautiful stories. Erotic forays (Wilhelm Goldmann, Munich)
  • 1981: Naughty stories (Wilhelm Goldmann, Munich)
  • 1981: Desert stories of love and death. Erotic stories (Wilhelm Goldmann, Munich)
  • 1982: The slow death of Rainer Werner Fassbinder . A report (Schneekluth, Münchner Edition, Munich)
  • 1982: Venus on the volcano (März Verlag, Berlin & Schlechterwegen)
  • 1982: Farewell to the girls (Arthur Moewig, Rastatt)
  • 1982: The Man and the Wild (Arthur Moewig, Rastatt)
  • 1982: Answer to a peace friend or a longer epistle for Stephan Hermlin and my dog (Bund, Cologne)
  • 1982: You cannot rely on death. Erotic thriller (Wilhelm Goldmann, Munich)
  • 1983: The Bunker (novel) (Schneekluth, Munich)
  • 1983: The sex etiquette. Erotic games above and under the covers (with Ingrid Zwerenz) (Delphin, Munich)
  • 1983: Nice defeats. How stories are created and the end of the world (magnifying glass, Assenheim)
  • 1983: touches. Stories of Eros in the 20th Century (Knaur, Munich)
  • 1983: Erotic Calendar Stories (12 volumes) (Wilhelm Goldmann, Munich)
  • 1984: Journey under the skin (Knaur, Munich)
  • 1984: The Animal Welfare Lady (Moewig, Rastatt)
  • 1984: The laugh book (Gütersloh)
  • 1984: laughter, love, vice. Erotic Stories (Wilhelm Goldmann, Munich)
  • 1984: The loose change of the hetaerae [under the pseudonym: Gert Amsterdam] (Droemer Knaur, Munich)
  • 1985: The Venus Harp. Love songs, poems of anger, Knittelverse (Knaur, Munich)
  • 1985: The GDR becomes an empire. Thriller (Bastei, Bergisch Gladbach)
  • 1985: Slow German waltz. Thriller (Bastei, Bergisch Gladbach)
  • 1986: Fresh blood and old warriors. Thriller (Bastei, Bergisch Gladbach)
  • 1986: Peep show for the inspector. Thriller (Bastei, Bergisch Gladbach)
  • 1986: The return of the dead Jew to Germany (Max Hueber, Munich)
  • 1988: "Soldiers are murderers". The Germans and the War (Knesebeck & Schuler, Munich)
  • 1989: Don't forget the dreams of your youth (Rasch and Röhring, Hamburg)
  • 1991: The Alternative Büchner Prize 1991 (HL Schlapp, Darmstadt)
  • 1991: The Legitimate War? (Zimmermann, Berlin)
  • 1993: Right and Dumb (Carlsen, Hamburg)
  • 1994: Left and lame. The left dies, but does not surrender (Carlsen, Hamburg)
  • 1994: The New World Order (Zimmermann, Berlin)
  • 1996: The grandparents' child (supplemented and expanded as "Last Hand Edition"; see above 1978) (Dingsda, Querfurt)
  • 1997: The answers of Mr. Z. or caution, only for intellectuals Ed. Ingrid Zwerenz and Joachim Jahns. Attached documentation: Friends and enemies about Zwerenz (Dingsda, Querfurt)
  • 1998: Infinite turning point. A dispute (with Hermann Kant) Ed. Joachim Jahns (Dingsda, Querfurt)
  • 1999: The fundamental difference. A debate in word and writing (with Sahra Wagenknecht ) [moderation of the conversation: Christa Gießler] (Dingsda, Querfurt)
  • 2000: Good widows don't cry. Exile. Love. Death. Kurt Tucholsky's last years (Kranichsteiner Literaturverlag) (first edition 1980 under the title Eine Liebe in Schweden , see above)
  • 2000: War in the glass house or the Bundestag as a windmill. Autobiographical notes on the departure of the Bonn Republic (Edition Ost, Berlin)
  • 2004: “Right out”, my exit from the scene. Autobiography of Torsten Lemmer , ex-right-wing extremist. Preface by Zwerenz. Das Neue Berlin, Berlin, ISBN 3-360-01242-9 .
  • 2004: slave language and revolt, the Bloch circle and its enemies in east and west. (with Ingrid Zwerenz). Schwarzkopff Buchwerke, Hamburg, ISBN 978-3-937738-11-6 .
  • 2005: "unter-headline-lines / liberated words - broken rhymes - to the situation " : Gerhard and Ingrid Zwerenz wrote the foreword to the collection of political poetry and graphics by Hartmut Barth-Engelbarts published by the police headquarters in South Hesse and financed by the state of Hesse. ZAMBON-Verlag, Frankfurt / M. ISBN 9783889751072

Honors

literature

Web links

Wikiquote: Gerhard Zwerenz  - Quotes

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The PDS trio Bisky, Gysi, Modrow pushed through the rejection of Stalinism with some cutbacks, "I beg your pardon, Sahra" , Brigitte Fehrle , Berliner Zeitung January 30, 1995
  2. ^ Gerhard Zwerenz: The contradiction. Autobiographical report . S. Fischer, Frankfurt a. M. 1974, ISBN 3-10-097205-8 , pp. 181-182 .
  3. ↑ Rolv Heuer: More “Krull” than “Tell”: Otto Strasser - Resistance Fighter No. 1 against Hitler? The time 16/1969 from April 18, 1969.
  4. ^ Gerhard Zwerenz: Left anti-Semitism is impossible. In: time online. April 9, 1976, accessed October 16, 2017 (No. 16/1976).
  5. ↑ Otto Köhler : The deserter and the general. A trial in the local court and the simple double truth. In: Zeit Online. June 1, 1990, accessed June 4, 2015 .
  6. ↑ Representing things that are different. In: Junge Welt from June 3, 2015, features section p. 11.
  7. ↑ Stefan Müller: Gerhard Zwerenz on his 85th birthday on June 3rd: A conversation with Gerhard Zwerenz: “I work every morning!” Poetenladen , June 3rd, 2010.
  8. ↑ Jürgen Reents : The indomitable deserter. Hope with defiance, a hundred and seven books: The writer Gerhard Zwerenz will be 85 tomorrow. In: Neues Deutschland from June 2, 2010.
  9. ^ Foundation House of the History of the Federal Republic of Germany: LeMO Biography: Gerhard Zwerenz. April 12, 2016. Retrieved December 21, 2017 .
personal data
SURNAME Zwerenz, Gerhard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German writer and Member of the Bundestag for the PDS
DATE OF BIRTH June 3, 1925
PLACE OF BIRTH Gablenz , Saxony, Germany
DATE OF DEATH July 13, 2015
Place of death Oberreifenberg