Wolf Biermann

Karl Wolf Biermann born 15 November 1936 is a German singersongwriter poet and former East German dissident He is perhaps best known for the 1968 song Ermutigung and his expatriation from East Germany in 1976 Biermann was born in Hamburg Germany His mother Emma née Dietrich was a Communist Party activist and his father Dagobert Biermann worked on the Hamburg docks Biermanns father a Jewish member of the German Resistance was sentenced to six years in prison for sabotaging Nazi ships In 1942 the Nazis decided to eliminate their Jewish political prisoners and Biermanns father was deported to Auschwitz concentration camp where he was murdered on 22 February 1943 Biermann was one of the few children of workers who attended the HeinrichHertzGymnasium high school in Hamburg After the Second World War he became a member of the Free German Youth Freie Deutsche Jugend FDJ and in 1950 he represented the Federal Republic of Germany at the FDJs first national meeting Upon finishing school at the age of 17 Biermann emigrated from West to East Germany where he believed he could live out his Communist ideals He lived at a boarding school near Schwerin until 1955 and then began studying political economics at the Humboldt University of Berlin From 1957 to 1959 he was an assistant director at the Berliner Ensemble At university he changed courses to study philosophy and mathematics under Wolfgang Heise until 1963 when he completed his thesis Despite his successful defense of his thesis he did not receive his diploma until 2008 when he was also awarded an honorary doctorate degree In 1960 Biermann met composer Hanns Eisler who adopted the young artist as a protégé Biermann began writing poetry and songs Eisler used his influence with the East German cultural elite to promote the songwriters career but his death in 1962 deprived Biermann of his mentor and protector In 1961 Biermann formed the Berliner ArbeiterTheater Berlin Workers Theater which was closed in 1963 before the production of Biermanns show Berliner Brautgang which documented the building of the Berlin wall The play was officially banned and Biermann was forbidden to perform for six months Although a committed communist Biermanns nonconformist views soon alarmed the East German establishment In 1963 he was refused membership in the ruling Socialist Unity Party of Germany SED although no reason was given at the time for his rejection After the Wende documents available from Biermanns file at the Stasi Records Agency revealed that the reviewers were under the impression that he was a regular user of stimulants leading to the rejection of his application Source Article Wolf Biermann from Wikipedia in English licensed under CCBYSA 30