Language:
German
Year of publication:
2018
Titel der Quelle:
Jahrbuch des Simon-Dubnow-Instituts
Angaben zur Quelle:
17 (2018) 237-270
Keywords:
Heym, Stefan, Friends and associates
;
Heym, Stefan, Political and social views
;
Havemann, Robert Political and social views
;
Biermann, Wolf, Political and social views
;
Jewish authors
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) Influence
;
Germany (East) Politics and government
Abstract:
Stefan Heym, whose life spanned all five political systems in Germany through the twentieth century, was regarded in both the Federal Republic and the German Democratic Republic as one of the most versatile and widely read authors of the postwar period. He was also understood as a moral and political symbol of the opposition in the GDR – as well as its most influential voice following the expatriation of Wolf Biermann in 1976. This article examines Heym’s by no means straightforward development, focusing on his friendships with Robert Havemann and Wolf Biermann. On the basis of autobiographical texts authored by the three former friends as well as the state security files on Heym, it reveals the various attitudes adopted towards the GDR as well as the state’s reactions. In its 11th Assembly, which took place in 1965, the Central Commission of the SED marked Havemann, Heym, and Biermann as the greatest interior public enemies of the GDR, whereupon Heym distanced himself from his friends. It is in this context that the three protagonists’ references to Nazi persecution and the Shoah will here be evaluated for the first time, with particular regard to potential parallels and intersections. By looking especially at the private sphere, beyond community and government politics, the article elucidates important aspects of a secular Jewish self-understanding in the GDR.
Note:
With an English abstract.
DOI:
10.13109/9783666370809.237
URL:
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