List of winners of the National Prize of the GDR 2nd class for art and literature (1949–1959)

This list shows the winners of the National Prize of the GDR in the second class for art and literature from 1949 to 1959. For the other decades and levels see the list of winners of the National Prize of the GDR .

list

Listed by years

1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959

year	Award winners		Reason for award
1949 ↑	Camilla Spira	actress	for the film " Die Buntkarierten "
1949 ↑	Bernhard Kellermann	writer
1950 ↑	Willi Bredel	writer	for his literary oeuvre
	Hans Marchwitza	writer	for his writing
	Rudolf Mauersberger	Head of the Kreuz Choir in Dresden	for the lively performances of the Kreuz Choir at the Bach honor of the German youth in Eisenach
	Otto Nagel	painter	for his oeuvre as a painter
	The collective "The Bartered Bride"		for the staging and performance of the opera “ The Bartered Bride ” by Bedřich Smetana
	Walter Felsenstein	Director of the Komische Oper Berlin
	Arthur Grüber	General Music Director, Hamburg
	Anny Schlemm	Singer, Berlin
	Heinrich Plantl	Chamber singer, Dresden
	Rudolf shock	Singer, Berlin
1951 ↑	Wolfgang Staudte	Actor and director	for the excellent direction of the film " Der Untertan " based on the novel of the same name by Heinrich Mann
	Ottmar Gerster	Composer, director of the music academy in Weimar , member of the German Academy of the Arts	for his complete compositional works, especially for the cantata about the Eisenhüttenkombinat Ost
	Walter Felsenstein	Director of the Komische Oper Berlin	for his outstanding achievements as artistic director of the Komische Oper Berlin, especially for the production “ Der Freischütz ” by Carl-Maria von Weber
	Hubert Georg Ermisch	Art historian and head of the Zwinger building department, Dresden	for his exemplary achievements in the preservation of the national cultural heritage, which finds its visible expression especially in his years of laborious work on the restoration of the Dresden Zwinger
	The members of the collective "Brigade Karhan" from the Deutsches Theater Berlin		for the successful performance of the play "Brigade Karhan" by Vašek Káňa. Through their joint initiative, they have contributed to strengthening the relationship between working German people and the progressive theater
	Wolfgang Langhoff	Actor, director and general manager of the Deutsches Theater Berlin, member of the German Academy of the Arts in Berlin
	Harry Hindemith	actor
	Lotte Loebinger	Actress and director
	Willy A. Kleinau	actor	for his outstanding realistic character representations at the Deutsches Theater in Berlin and in film
1952 ↑	Max Lingner	Member of the German Academy of Arts in Berlin, painter and graphic artist, Berlin-Niederschönhausen	for his political graphics, which is a great contribution to the liberation struggle of the working class, and his latest work for the House of Ministries , which is a significant advance
	Ernst Hermann Meyer	Professor of Music Sociology at the Humboldt University in Berlin , member of the German Academy of the Arts in Berlin, composer, Berlin-Grünau	for his pioneering scientific work “Music in Current Events” and his new compositions
	Fritz Wisten	Director of the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm in Berlin	for the realistic, imaginative staging of the play " Die Feinde " by Maxim Gorki
	John Meier	Full honorary professor at the University of Freiburg / Br.	for his excellent scientific work in the field of German studies , especially for his great work "German folk songs with their melodies"
	Walter Arnold	Sculptor, Leipzig, professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Dresden	for his sculpture “Die Jugend - Baumeister der Republik” and his services as a teacher and educator for the next generation of artists
	Hugo Steurer	Concert pianist, Leipzig, professor and head of the piano department at the State University of Music in Leipzig	for his interpretation of classical and modern piano music, especially for the rendering of Beethoven's works
1953 ↑	Fritz Cremer	Sculptor, head of a master workshop at the German Academy of the Arts in Berlin	for the creation of the " Franz Franik " bust , which ties in with the best traditions of German sculpture
	Willy Kurth	Director of the State Palaces and Museums Potsdam-Sanssouci	for the maintenance, reconstruction and artistic design of the State Palaces and Gardens in Sanssouci
	Heinrich Kilger	Chief set designer at the Deutsches Theater in Berlin	for the excellent design of the sets of “ Faust ”, “ Egmont ”, “ Don Carlos ” and others
	Helene Weigel	Actress, director of the Berliner Ensemble	for her important acting performances in " The Mother ", in " The Guns of Mrs. Carrar " and " Katzgraben "
	Collective "The Invincible"		for outstanding artistic achievements in the design of the film " The Invincible ", which for the first time shaped the struggle of the German working class under the Socialist Law with artistic mastery
	Willy A. Kleinau	Actor, Babelsberg
	Arthur Pohl	Director, Berlin-Charlottenburg
	Karl Paryla	Actor, Vienna
1954 ↑	Josef Hegenbarth	Graphic artist, painter, illustrator, Dresden	for his significant drawings, especially for Gogol's “ Tote Seelen ” and Goethe's “ Reineke Fuchs ”, which represent an essential enrichment of German illustration art
	Bodo Uhse	Editor in the Aufbau-Verlag , writer, Groß-Glienicke	for his books published in Germany after 1945, especially for his novel about the German resistance movement "Patrioten"
	Ehm withered	Writer and poet, Bad Doberan	for his significant literary oeuvre, through which the development of a humanistic German culture was promoted
1955 ↑	Ludwig Renn	Full member of the German Academy of the Arts in Berlin, permanent secretary of the Poetry and Language Maintenance Section, writer, Berlin	for his youth book “ Trini ” and his literary life's work
	Rudolf Wagner-Régeny	Full member of the German Academy of the Arts in Berlin, professor at the Berlin Music Academy , composer	for his compositional oeuvre and his contribution to the education of young artists
	Collective "Stronger than the night"		for her work on the film “ Stronger than the Night ”, an important document of the heroic anti-fascist resistance of the German working class
	Slatan Dudow	Director
	Kurt Stern	writer
	Jeanne Stern	Writer
	Wilhelm Koch-Hooge	Actor, Berlin
1956 ↑	Louis Fürnberg	Writer, Deputy Director at the National Research and Memorial Sites in Weimar	for his poetic oeuvre, in particular for his book “Bruder Namenlos” and his numerous songs, which have become real folk songs in our republic
	Franz Konwitschny	Chief conductor of the German State Opera Berlin	for his outstanding musical achievements at the reopened German State Opera Berlin, which contributed decisively to the success of this house
	Collective Paulick-Hemmerling		for their part in the reconstruction of the German State Opera Berlin and its excellent architectural and technical design
	Richard Paulick	Director of the Institute for Housing at the German Building Academy and special representative of the German Building Academy for the project planning of the National Development Plan (NAP) 1952
	Kurt Hemmerling	Head of the theater construction department at the Deutsche Bauakademie
	Ernst Busch	Actor at the Deutsches Theater Berlin and in the Berliner Ensemble, full member of the German Academy of the Arts in Berlin	for his outstanding acting work at the Deutsches Theater Berlin and in the Berliner Ensemble, especially for the design of Azdak , Mephisto , Fučik and other roles
	Walter Felsenstein	Artistic director and director at the Komische Oper in Berlin, full member of the German Academy of the Arts in Berlin	for his productions at the Komische Oper Berlin, which are of a high artistic level, especially for " The Magic Flute " and " The Cunning Little Vixen "
	Johannes von Guenther	writer	for the creative adaptation of Russian works, the transmission of the works of Russian classics and the contribution made to the development of Russian literature
	Max Schwimmer	Painter and graphic artist, head of a class for graphics at the University of Fine Arts in Dresden, full member of the German Academy of the Arts in Berlin	in recognition of his important book illustrations, especially on Heine's " Germany a Winter Tale " and Beaumarchais' " Figaro's Wedding "
	Collective "You and some comrade"		for their part in the creation of the documentary "You and some comrade", which portrays the development of capitalist Germany and the constant struggle of the working class for the maintenance of peace with great forcefulness
	Karl-Eduard von Schnitzler	Commentator at the State Broadcasting Committee
	Paul Dessau	composer
	Andrew Thorndike	Director and author at DEFA
	Anneliese Thorndike	Author at DEFA
	Günther Rücker	writer
1957 ↑	Erich Engel	Director	for his staging of Bertolt Brecht's “Das Leben des Galilei ” and for his significant contribution to the progressive development of German theater and film art
	John Heartfield	Member of the German Academy of the Arts in Berlin, photo mechanic, graphic artist, set designer, book designer	for the development of the photo montage into an artistic and effective weapon in the fight against imperialism and for its outstanding contribution to the development of socialist poster art, book and stage design
	Collective "Captain of Cologne"		for their part in the creation of the film “ Der Hauptmann von Köln ”, which uses satire to convincingly unmask the German militarism that has re-emerged in West Germany
	Slatan Dudow	Director and co-author
	Henryk Keisch	author
	Michael Tschesno-Hell	author
1958 ↑	Otto Gotsche	writer	for his literary work, in particular for his novel "Zwischen Nacht und Morgen", which artistically shaped an important stage in the history of the German labor movement with a lasting effect and thereby contributed significantly to the socialist awareness of working people
	The Grundig couple		for their joint outstanding artistic oeuvre in the field of painting and graphics, which is militantly and impressively directed against the imperialist war and against fascism and expresses the ideas of peace, progress and humanism
	Lea Grundig	Artist, professor for graphics at the University of Fine Arts, Dresden
	Hans Grundig	Artist
1959 ↑	Walter Arnold
	Max Burghardt
	Stefan Heym
	Helmut Koch
	Will Lammert
	Jan Petersen
	Buchenwald Monument Collective
	Waldemar Grzimek
	René Graetz
	Hans Kies
	Ludwig Deiters
	Kurt Tausendschön
	Hans Grotewohl
	Horst Kutzat
	Hubert Matthes
	Hugo Namslauer
	Handel collective
	Philine Fischer	Chamber singer
	Helmut Kaphahn
	Jutta Vulpius
	Günther Leib
	Rolf Apreck
	Kurt Huebenthal
	Collective of the film " Song of the Sailors "
	Kurt Maetzig
	Günter Reisch
	Karl-Georg Egel
	Paul Wiens
	Joachim Hasler
	Otto Merz
	Collective of the Rügen Festival
	Kurt Barthel
	Hanns-Anselm Perten
	Günter Kochan
	Collective of the film " Stars "
	Konrad Wolf
	Werner Bergmann

Prize amounts

year	Prize amount in marks
1949	100,000
1950	250,000
1951	300,000
1952	300,000
1953	250,000
1954	150,000
1955	150,000
1956	450,000
1957	150,000
1958	100,000
1959	550,000
total	2,750,000

swell

New Germany of the respective years. The awards were made from 1950 as part of the national holiday celebrations on October 7th. Issues from:
- August 26, 1949, page 3
- October 9, 1950, pages 3 and 4
- October 9, 1951, page 3
- Oct. 7, 1952, page 7
- October 8, 1953, pages 3 and 4
- Oct. 8, 1954, page 6
- Oct. 8, 1955, page 3
- Oct. 7, 1956, page 7
- Oct. 7, 1957, page 4
- Oct. 7, 1958, page 6
- Oct. 4, 1959, page 3

Remarks

↑ For documentary reasons, the original historical descriptions used by the SED newspaper Neues Deutschland are presented here. However, these can be flawed, tendentious, outdated or politically extreme. If in doubt, corrections and alternative descriptions should be made in the "Comments" column.

[Disclaimer-1] For documentary reasons, the original historical descriptions used by the SED newspaper Neues Deutschland are presented here. However, these can be flawed, tendentious, outdated or politically extreme. If in doubt, corrections and alternative descriptions should be made in the "Comments" column.