Trail of stones

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Spur der Steine is a novel by Erik Neutsch , the first edition of which was published in 1964 by Mitteldeutscher Verlag Halle and with a print run of 500,000 copies was one of the most widely read books in the GDR . On April 25, 1964, on the occasion of the 2nd Bitterfeld Conference, a hand-signed special edition was issued to conference participants (license no. 444-300 / 17/64, typesetting and printing: Offizin Andersen Nexö Leipzig with an envelope design by Horst Barsch).

background

The novel is about the construction of the fictional chemical combine Schkona in the central German industrial triangle around Halle, Schkopau and Leuna . The name suggests the large chemical combines Buna-Werke near Schkopau and Leunawerke . In 1958 a chemistry conference took place in Leuna, at which it was decided to double production by 1965. Chemical production was of great importance for the GDR, which was poor in raw materials. That is why the state and the party pushed ahead with the expansion of the large-scale Buna and Leuna projects. Thousands of workers and engineers were needed. On the other hand, there was a blatant shortage of skilled workers, which had arisen due to the losses of World War II and the migration to the West. Large construction sites like these were therefore melting pots and focal points of social contradictions: in addition to the representatives of the old bourgeois intelligentsia and the chemical workers traditionally active in this area, unskilled workers as well as all kinds of adventurers, former Nazis, criminals and other dodgy figures found wages and salaries. Erik Neutsch uses this melting pot for his novel in literary terms. He designs an ensemble of figures that reflects the conflicts of the time.

Although the book as a whole propagates the idea of socialism , Neutsch , in contrast to many works from this period, openly describes everyday socialist life in the GDR : the general lack of material that repeatedly brings the building to a halt, the narrow-minded requirements of the Planned economy and the resulting chaos, as well as petty-bourgeois behavior among comrades dictated by the striving for property, brutal environmental destruction and other details that by no means corresponded to the party line. The portrayal of the working class in Neutsch's novel also differs considerably from the idealized official image of the GDR leadership. The novel is by the Bitterfeld way affected

action

The focus of the action is the carpenter and brigadier Hannes Balla (foreman), who is transforming himself from a traditionally thinking, guild craftsman who is keen on his own benefit to a class-conscious socialist. Balla stands in the literary tradition of such characters as Karl Moor ( Die Räuber ) and Wilhelm Tell : under chaotic circumstances he develops an anarchic self-help. Initially, however, he does not pursue any social vision; Balla is initially only concerned with earning as much as possible with good work. If necessary, he enforces this for himself and his brigade members rigorously and with criminal means.

Balla's opponent is the young party secretary Werner Horrath, who comes to Shkona full of idealism and comes into conflict with both the workers and the members of the old intelligentsia. Balla develops respect for Horrath's consistency; they become antagonists at eye level. And Horrath understands that he has to win people like Balla if the building is to succeed.

A contradicting, dazzling figure is the senior site manager Trutmann, who, although he is a SED comrade, is completely attached to bourgeois thinking. Trutmann is quickly overwhelmed by the complexity of the construction process, and Horrath is increasingly becoming the driving force. However, Trutmann develops a survival strategy through skillful adaptation.

The main characters continue to include the young engineer Katrin Klee, with whom both Balla and Horrath fall in love. She begins a love affair with the married party secretary and becomes pregnant. For Horrath, this relationship is a taboo, since an extramarital relationship at that time was a blatant violation of party morality. Since Horrath (rightly) fears that he will be deposed as party secretary if the relationship becomes public, he denies the love affair. Horrath's marriage breaks up and his deputy - a thoroughly Stalinist cadre - sees to it that Horrath is deposed and demoted to unskilled labor.

In a parallel plot to the events in Schkona, Neutsch tells the story of Hannes Balla's parents: both are farmers and are caught up in traditional role models. They are reluctant to join the Agricultural Production Cooperative (LPG) in the course of the socialist collectivization of agriculture . Based on their history, Neutsch addresses the conflict-ridden implementation of collectivization in the GDR, the historical accuracy of which, however, is not questioned by the author.

In the second part of the novel, which was already felt to be weaker at the time it was written, Neutsch traces Balla's development into a conscious comrade. Balla is driving the introduction of the latest technologies in Schkona and, in a way, is following in Horrath's footsteps. Due to the somewhat superficial construction, the novel loses vitality and credibility here.

reception

After a preprint of the first part in Forum magazine, Neutsch received so much official criticism that he almost lost the desire to continue writing. Readers were also asked to give their opinion, which brought Neutsch into conflict with his own intentions. Nevertheless, the book was able to appear in the summer of 1964. A large number of meetings followed, and the general trend was positive. It was emphasized u. a. from Hans Koch that Neutsch created a “new proletarian hero figure” with Balla, whose path is exemplary of that of a “modern industrial worker”. Stefan Heymann notes that in Neutsch's novel "for the first time the party of the working class is the real and true hero". The only criticism is that Horrath gets off scot-free with the lie, but is punished when he reveals the truth about his private double life.

In 1964, Erik Neutsch received the National Prize for Art and Literature for the book . With a circulation of more than 500,000 copies, Spur der Steine became a GDR bestseller, while the film of the same name and Heiner Müller's adaptation Der Bau (see below) were banned by the 11th plenum of the SED Central Committee a year later. The fact that the book was still able to continue to appear is one of the contradictions in everyday cultural and political life in the GDR that are sometimes difficult to understand.

Theater adaptations (selection)

The building by Heiner Müller

In 1964 Heiner Müller wrote a play under the name Der Bau (based on motifs from Erik Neutsch's novel "Spur der Steine") , which was commissioned by the Deutsches Theater Berlin . The literary original and the film didn't really convince him at first: “It's a flat, entertaining story, and it actually lives from Manfred Krug .” Since Neutsch did not appreciate Müller's adaptation very much either, they agreed on the formulation “According to motifs by Erik Neutsch ”. Müller changed the names of some of the protagonists : Balla became 'Barka', Horrath became 'Donat' and Katrin Klee was called 'Schlee' by Müller. The most important change compared to Neutsch's novel, however, was that Müller transposed the realistic material into a parable . Müller describes the path of the five different versions of his piece as that from Neutsch to Kafka . The building of the chemical combine became for him a metaphor for the building of communism. He critically reflected on the gradual replacement of former ideals with devices. The first sentence of the piece, "Why are you shattering the foundations?", Is a leitmotif in Müller's piece for the erosion of the socialist idea.

The piece was published in 1965 in the literary magazine Sinn und Form . During the 11th plenum of the Central Committee of the SED in December of the same year, the rehearsals for the premiere ran. Müller's drama was one of the works of art most severely criticized by Erich Honecker at the plenary . The rehearsals were canceled and the play was banned - presumably due to Honecker's personal intervention.

Müller edited the piece several times to enable it to be performed. Nevertheless, Der Bau did not premier at the Volksbühne Berlin until 1980 under the direction of Fritz Marquardt and was still at risk at that time, among other things because Müller put a critical view of the construction of the Wall in the mouth of one of the characters in the play.

Trace of Stones by Dagmar Borrmann

On September 26, 2014, a new theatrical version of the novel by Dagmar Borrmann under the original title Spur der Steine premiered at the Magdeburg Theater . The adaptation follows the main lines of conflict of the novel, but focuses the action on Balla, Horrath and Katrin Klee. It tells the story of the new beginnings of three young people, whose vigor is worn out by bureaucracy, dogmatism and lack. The book's sometimes ostensibly ideological tendency has been eliminated. The carpenter Balla increasingly perceived the GDR as a home, but did not develop into a socialist with a party membership, as is the case in the novel. The theatrical version was highly praised by the press and included in the Henschel Schauspiel program .

filming

see trail of stones (film)

In 1965 the novel was made into a film by the director Frank Beyer ( Naked Among Wolves ) and was released in cinemas on June 30, 1966. Beyer strengthened the sympathy that Neutsch had for his contradicting hero Hannes Balla by casting the popular actor Manfred Krug . The film works with the aesthetic means of the Western, which was unusual for DEFA's production at the time. At the 11th plenum, however, Trace of the Stones , as well as Heiner Müller's Der Bau , became the target of criticism. Disruptions to the film screenings were organized in order to create the impression that allegedly angry workers were protesting against the tendency of the film. There are different opinions as to whether individual scenes or the plot itself led to the ban on the film, at least it disappeared from the cinemas after three days. The re-broadcast of the film in 1989 after the collapse of the GDR achieved record audience numbers.

It is ironic of history that Erik Neutsch and Frank Beyer neither wanted to criticize the building of socialism nor to question the correctness of the path taken by the SED. Both were staunch supporters of communism until their deaths . You have only created two realistic works of art that the GDR party leaders would have liked to have done without.

expenditure

First edition
Publishing expenses
E-book
  • Trail of stones . Kindle Edition. Amazon Media EU S.à rl

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Georg Wagner-Kyora: From the "national" to the "socialist" self. On the experience of German chemists and engineers in the 20th century . Contributions to the company's history, Vol. 28, Steiner Verlag Stuttgart 2009
  2. ^ Eva Kaufmann, Hans Kaufmann: Expectation and offer . Studies on the current relationship between literature and society in the GDR. Akademie-Verlag Berlin 1975, p. 107
  3. ↑ Clear- cutting. The 11th plenum of the Central Committee of the SED in 1965. Ed. By Günter Agde. Structure of Taschenbuchverlag, 1991, p. 153.
  4. ↑ Simone Barck, Martina Langermann, Siegfried Lokatis: Every book is an adventure. The censorship system and literary publics in the GDR until the end of the sixties. De Gruyter 1998, ISBN 3-050031182 , p. 335.
  5. ↑ Hans Koch: From the disputeability of the novel. In: Sunday. No. 17, 1964, pp. 10/11
  6. ^ Stefan Heymann: The party and the writer. In: Berliner Zeitung of August 28, 1946, p. 6.
  7. ↑ Heiner Müller: War without a battle. Life in two dictatorships. Kiepenheuer & Witsch Verlag, Cologne 1992, ISBN 3-462-02172-9 , p. 193.
  8. ↑ The building (based on motifs from Erik Neutsch's novel “Spur der Steine”) (PDF; 97 kB) (reading sample). henschel-schauspiel.de.
  9. ↑ quoted from: Gunnar Decker: 1965. The short summer of the GDR. Vol. 1598, Federal Agency for Civic Education, Bonn 2015, ISBN 978-3-8389-0598-3 , p. 398.
  10. ↑ Ulrike Haß: The building. In: Heiner Müller Handbook. Edited by Hans-Thies Lehmann and Patrick Primavesi. Verlag JB Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 2003, ISBN 3-476-01807-5 , pp. 193-194.
  11. ↑ quoted from: Gunnar Decker: 1965. The short summer of the GDR. Vol. 1598, Federal Agency for Civic Education, Bonn 2015, ISBN 978-3-8389-0598-3 , p. 400.
  12. ↑ Detlef Friedrich. Theater life in the country . Berliner Zeitung , July 15, 2003.
  13. ↑ http://www.volksstimme.de/kultur/kultur_regional/1348867_Keine-Aufteilung-der-DDR.html , accessed on November 24, 2014
  14. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from October 26, 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. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.henschel-schauspiel.de
  15. ↑ Klaus Wischnewski: The angry young men from Babelsberg. In: Clear-cutting. The 11th plenum of the Central Committee of the SED in 1965. Ed. By Günter Agde. Structure of Taschenbuchverlag 1991, pp. 171–188