Poetry evening on December 11, 1962

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The poetry evening on December 11, 1962 is a reading by young German-speaking poets, which is considered to be the beginning of the poetry wave in the GDR .

Initiators

The poetry evening was organized on the initiative of the then secretary of the poetry section of the GDR Academy of Arts , Stephan Hermlin , under the motto “Young poetry: unknown and unpublished” in the plenary hall of the academy in East Berlin .

On the newspaper advertisements placed in advance by Stephan Hermlin, etc. a. in the Junge Welt (on November 14, 1962) and on Sunday (on October 28, 1962 and November 18, 1962), 144 poets responded and sent in a total of 1,250 poems. Of these poems, 50 were again selected by Hermlin for the lecture on the evening of December 11, 1962.

Newspaper advertisement for the poetry evening

The course of the evening

The evening began with playing a tape with songs by Wolf Biermann . Stephan Hermlin then recited the selected poems in the first part of the event. The second part was a plenary discussion that lasted until midnight. During this discussion, Erhard Scherner , a member of the cultural commission at the Politburo, asked the poets present to recite other poems of their own. The audience was delighted and a new reading began. Wolf Biermann also read a critical poem: "To the old comrades". Then he criticized the New Germany , the central organ of the SED, with the remark: “Of course it is difficult to find standards for poetry if you read“ New Germany ”all the time. The poetry published there can only make you vomit ”. This remark and the frenetic applause led to a scandal: The present head of the “New Germany” section, Willi Köhler , spoke out indignantly: “This is a managed atmosphere that has been created here against the“ New Germany ”. A platform is being created here! ”The photo artist John Heartfield and the sculptor Fritz Cremer vehemently rejected this accusation. To the applause of the audience, Stephan Hermlin also attacked Willi Köhler sharply: “As the chairman of the meeting, I would like to expressly and calmly oppose what you have just said. I warn you to bring such things into the world that it is a controlled discussion here. I am warning you. I will not accept this argument again. A very factual, calm, lively and partisan debate takes place here. ”There were tumultuous scenes, but the representative of the Central Committee, Willi Lewin , who was present , managed to mediate. Even Willi Köhler then withdrew his accusation and promised to "improve the poetry situation in" New Germany "".

The consequences

The poetry evening is considered to be the trigger for the "poetry wave" of the GDR and represents the beginning of the creative process of some of the most important poets of the GDR. However, due to the socio-critical content of many of the poems presented on this evening (Rainer Kirsch, Wolf Biermann, Bernd Jentzsch, Volker Braun, etc.), learned he got a controversial political echo. While many cultural workers in the GDR welcomed it as a new literary beginning in the wake of the " thaw " in the Soviet Union, the party leadership of the SED in particular saw itself massively attacked. Kurt Hager , a member of the Politburo , commented : “The poetry evening of the Academy, which took place on the initiative and under the direction of Comrade Hermlin, was abused to attack the central organ of the party and to spread poems that were inspired by the spirit of pessimism ignorant scribble and hostility towards the party were permeated. ”Stephan Hermlin was at the center of the hostility and was finally forced in March 1963 to resign from his position as secretary of the poetry and language maintenance section of the German Academy of the Arts, and a little later also that of the vice-president of the German Writers' Association .

Participating poets

Helmut Baierl , Kurt Bartsch , Friedemann Berger , Wolf Biermann , Volker Braun , Peter Diezel , Günter Engelmann , Michael Franz , Dieter Frycia , Uwe Greßmann , Diethelm Jaeger , Bernd Jentzsch , Lisa Jobst , Rainer Kirsch , Sarah Kirsch , Hans Peter Leske , Micaela Lübke , Karl Mickel , Klaus Möckel , Joachim Rähmer , Rolf Richter , Axel Schulze , Werner Stock , Erika Stürmer , Frank Tittmann , BK Tragelehn , Christof Walther , Günter Wünsche , Hannes Würtz .

literature

  • Alan Ng: The poetry evening of December 11, 1962. GDR Poetry's “hour of birth” as Historiographic Artifact . Madison, WI, USA, 2002 ( PDF )
  • Matthias Braun: Culture island and instrument of power: the Academy of the Arts, the party and the state security , Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2007
  • Joachim Wittkowski: Poetry in the press . Königshausen and Neumann, Würzburg 1991

Press

  • Klaus Wagenbach : Our life in fiery colors . Time No. 12 of March 22nd, 1963
  • Dieter Hildebrandt: Lyrical obsession behind the wall . Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, January 16, 1963
  • Günter Zehm : criminal court over the poets. The subject of literature on the VI. SED party congress in East Berlin . Die Welt, January 21, 1963

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Alan Ng: The Lyrikabend of 11 December 1962 - GDR Poetry's “hour of birth” as Historiographic Artifact , Madison, WI, USA, 2002.
  2. ↑ quoted from: Matthias Braun, Kulturinsel und Machtinstrument: the Academy of Arts, the Party and the State Security, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2007, p. 163
  3. ↑ quoted from: Matthias Braun, Kulturinsel und Machtinstrument: the Academy of Arts, the Party and the State Security, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2007, p. 163
  4. ↑ quoted from: "Do not come to us with finished" A poetry evening in the East Berlin Academy of the Arts and its consequences (Deutschlandfunk Kultur 2012)
  5. ↑ From Hager's speech on the VI. SED party congress from January 15 to 21, 1963.