Werner Neubert (journalist)

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20th anniversary of the Writers' Association (Neubert in front 3rd from left)

Werner Neubert (born November 22, 1929 in Wilsdruff ) is a former German journalist , author and university professor .

Live and act

Werner Neubert was 1929 Saxon born Wilsdruff. He attended elementary school and went on to high school , which he had to drop out due to the war . He was deployed as a member of the Volkssturm in the Dresden area and in Bohemia . After the war he finished high school. He joined the KPD in 1945 and the SED in 1946 . In 1946 he was a course participant at one of the FDJ state youth schools in Saxony. He worked as a construction worker and volunteered in the FDJ district management in Meissen . In 1948 he passed the special matriculation examination in Chemnitz. He then worked as a volunteer , then an editor and journalist at Volksstimme Chemnitz . He was employed by the magazine Neuer Weg from 1951 to 1953. From 1953 to 1955 he studied philosophy and history at the party college . When finished, he returned to Neuer Weg , where he stayed until 1961. This was followed by an apprenticeship in literary studies and aesthetics at the Institute for Social Sciences at the Central Committee of the SED (IfG) in East Berlin . In January 1965 he was awarded a doctorate at the Chair for Theory and History of Literature and Art. phil. PhD . He had worked on the subject of "Social Tasks, Aesthetic Possibilities of Socialist Satire". In 1966 the work was published as a book under the title Die Wandlung des Juvenal . From 1964 he was a lecturer at the IfG, later at the German Academy for Political Science and Law in Potsdam-Babelsberg. After passing his PhD B he was full professor for art and literature in Babelsberg from 1975 to 1990. There he was also head of the chair for cultural theory / aesthetics .

From 1966 to 1974, Neubert succeeded Wolfgang Joho as editor-in-chief of the literary magazine Neue Deutsche Literatur, published monthly by the GDR Writers' Association . From 1969 to 1978 he was secretary of the writers' association and temporarily a member of its executive committee . He was a member of the International Association of Literary Critics. His field of activity included literary critical and essayistic contributions for newspapers, magazines and on the radio, which were sometimes collected in book form, he also wrote poetry , novels and novels and acted as editor .

Werner Neubert was first lieutenant in the reserve and a member of the SED's central committee . For the Ministry for State Security (MfS) he worked from 1968 to 1989 as an unofficial employee (IM) or expert IM (IME) "Wolfgang Köhler". In this function he proposed a rhetorical tactic to counter the FRG charge of suppressing unpopular literature. Furthermore, in 1976 he published the anthology Berlin writers tell , which mainly contains texts by writers affiliated with the SED . It was supposed to replace the anthology of Berlin Stories , which was operationally prevented by infiltration of the planning collective , in which insubordinate authors wanted to publish. A recurring assignment to him was to find out literary weaknesses in unpopular authors, so that censorship measures could be attacked and the real reason for rejection, which was political in nature, could be concealed. These methods were used, for example, by Erich Loest . In this case, the uncertainty and attrition strategy was linked to a delaying tactic through permanent reworking regulations. Loest's novel It goes its way or struggles on our level should not be offered elsewhere. Stefan Heym denied Neubert the right to call himself a writer in the 1970s, Günter Kunert assumed in an expert opinion a hostile attitude towards the GDR and, with regard to Wolf Biermann , Neubert's reports contain the remark that the expatriate is "still well served" because he actually belongs in prison. He wrote of the Soviet dissident Alexander Solzhenitsyn that his real intention was to demonize communism .

In 1990 Werner Neubert retired and moved to his home in Kleinmachnow .

Quote

“Our literature has its reader, our reader has its literature, because readers and literature are socialist in our republic . And that means: You are a companion, comrade on the path of history, which is full of stories, cheerful and serious, lively and thoughtful, but always those in which our humanity, the state in which we live, is present one way or another . "

- Werner Neubert : 1974

Fonts

  • The transformation of Juvenal. Satire between yesterday and tomorrow. Dietz Verlag, Berlin 1966.
  • The critic's scruples, remorse and opportunities. Contributions to literary criticism in the GDR. Mitteldeutscher Verlag, Halle (Saale) / Leipzig 1979.
  • Literature - history - defense motif. Essays and Reviews. Military publishing house of the German Democratic Republic, Berlin 1982.
  • The Prussian wedding. Military publishing house of the German Democratic Republic, Berlin 1982.
  • The bombardment of Almería. Military publishing house of the German Democratic Republic, Berlin 1984.
  • And when the reins break ... A novel about Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia. Military publishing house of the German Democratic Republic, Berlin 1986, ISBN 3-327-00135-9 .
  • Heroes in art and literature - an incentive to exemplary fulfillment of the oath of the flag. Editing material. 1987.
  • Soldier and book - legend and reality. Essays on literature. With an introductory consideration by Jürgen Kuczynski. Military publishing house of the German Democratic Republic, Berlin 1989, ISBN 3-327-00785-3 .

Neubert also wrote a large number of reviews , articles and essays on GDR writers who were current at the time , occasionally also on important literary historians such as Heinrich Heine . There were also prints of interviews, sometimes called "workshop talk". He frequently dealt with Franz Fühmann and his declared role model Ludwig Renn .

Editions

  • Socialist realism - positions, problems, perspectives. An introduction. Edited by Prof. Dr. Erwin Pracht and Dr. Werner Neubert. Dietz Verlag, Berlin 1970. (This also includes a foreword and an unsigned co-authorship by Neubert.)
  • I've boarded a new ship ... Heine in the mirror of new poetry and prose. An anthology. Edited by Uwe Berger and Dr. Werner Neubert. With a graphic by Ursula Mattheuer-Neustädt. Aufbau-Verlag, Berlin / Weimar 1972. (This also includes a foreword and an essay by Neubert.)
  • Alexander Abusch. Portrait of a revolutionary. Friends and comrades about their encounters with Alexander Abusch in five decades. Published by the German Academy of the Arts in Berlin and the German Cultural Association. Bike campaign and collaboration: Dr. Werner Neubert. Aufbau-Verlag, Berlin / Weimar 1972. (In this article by Neubert: Alexander Abusch. A contribution to a picture of life , pp. 15–97.)
  • Berlin writers tell. With ten graphics by ten Berlin artists. Published by the board of the Berlin district association of the GDR writers' association. [For the editors Werner Neubert.] Aufbau-Verlag, Berlin / Weimar 1976. (This also includes a foreword by Neubert.)
  • Humanism - Peace - Socialism. Minutes of the public meeting of the Council of the Marxism-Leninism Section of the Academy for State u. Jurisprudence of the GDR on October 9, 1984 (= current articles in political science and law ; Issue 317). Academy for State u. Law of the GDR, Potsdam-Babelsberg 1985.

Awards

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g Neubert, Werner. In: bundesstiftung-aufverarbeitung.de. Retrieved July 6, 2019 .
  2. ↑ a b blurb on scruples, regrets and opportunities of the critic. Contributions to literary criticism in the GDR .
  3. ↑ List of authors . In: Edward Kowalski (ed.): Defense of humanity. Anti-fascist struggle and building of socialist society in the multinational Soviet literature and in the literatures of European socialist countries. Studies and workshop discussions on the dialectic of national and international socialist literary development [sic!] (=  Slavic studies and texts ). Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1975, p. 732-735 .
  4. ↑ a b Rudol [f] Hempel: "The Prussian Wedding" and others. Thoughts on Prof. Dr. Werner Neubert's effect on contemporary socialist literature on the subject of national defense . In: The People's Army . Berlin February 14, 1983, appreciation.
  5. ↑ Joachim Walther: Security area literature. Writer and State Security in the German Democratic Republic . Ed .: Department of Education and Research (=  analyzes and documents. Scientific series of the Federal Commissioner for the Documents of the State Security Service of the former German Democratic Republic . Volume 6 ). 1st edition. Ch. Links Verlag, Berlin 1996, ISBN 3-86153-121-6 , chapter 3.1. The operational tools: definition and case studies, p. 318 .
  6. ↑ Joachim Walther: Security area literature. Writer and State Security in the German Democratic Republic . Ed .: Department of Education and Research (=  analyzes and documents. Scientific series of the Federal Commissioner for the Documents of the State Security Service of the former German Democratic Republic . Volume 6 ). 1st edition. Ch. Links Verlag, Berlin 1996, ISBN 3-86153-121-6 , chapter 3.1. The operational tools: definition and case studies, p. 342 .
  7. ↑ Joachim Walther: Security area literature. Writer and State Security in the German Democratic Republic . Ed .: Department of Education and Research (=  analyzes and documents. Scientific series of the Federal Commissioner for the Documents of the State Security Service of the former German Democratic Republic . Volume 6 ). 1st edition. Ch. Links Verlag, Berlin 1996, ISBN 3-86153-121-6 , 3.4.6. Literary journals, p. 820 .
  8. ↑ Udo Scheer: You would certainly prefer not to lock me up. Looking back at the files: the GDR censorship command against the cult book “Es geht seine Gang” by Erich Loest. In: fr.de. April 12, 2003, accessed July 6, 2019 .
  9. ↑ -wn-: About the life of Erwin Strittmatter. In: in-berlin-brandenburg.com. Tjark Knittel, accessed July 6, 2019 .
  10. ↑ Joachim Walther: The Tribunal. On June 7, 1979 nine authors were expelled from the GDR writers' association in one go. In: Der Spiegel . No. 52/1990 , December 24, 1990, Kultur, p. 148–153 ( spiegel.de [PDF; 752 kB ; accessed on July 6, 2019]).
  11. ↑ Joachim Walther: Security area literature. Writer and State Security in the German Democratic Republic . Ed .: Department of Education and Research (=  analyzes and documents. Scientific series of the Federal Commissioner for the Documents of the State Security Service of the former German Democratic Republic . Volume 6 ). 1st edition. Ch. Links Verlag, Berlin 1996, ISBN 3-86153-121-6 , Chapter 3.3.4. IM typology, p. 593 .
  12. ↑ Hannes Schwenger: Documents published by the Stasi and the SED. 1976 was a fateful year for the GDR: This is also borne out by the reports from the Stasi to the SED leadership. Only nobody wanted to spoil the mood. GDR internally. In: tagesspiegel.de. June 21, 2010, accessed July 6, 2019 .
  13. ↑ Thomas William Goldstein: Writing in Red: The East German Writers Union and the Role of Literary Intellectuals in the German Democratic Republic, 1971-90 . Chapel Hill 2010, Chapter 3. Socialism vs. Imperialism, S. 262 (dissertation).
  14. ^ Werner Neubert: Reading samples - samples of life . In: weekly mail . Berlin October 4th 1974.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Neubert, Werner
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Köhler, Wolfgang (code name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German journalist, author and university professor
DATE OF BIRTH November 22, 1929
PLACE OF BIRTH Wilsdruff