Description

n.p.: n.p., [1964]. A4 sized mimeographed report; 32 pp. In German. Two hole punched. Very good but for paperclip rust to the first 3 and last 3 pages and paper browning.

Internal report by the Secretary of East Germany’s authors guild reporting to the ideological committee of the Central Committee of the GDR. The author, Hans Koch (1927–1986), was an East German literary historian and later member of the Central Committee. In this document he discusses the Bitterfelder Conference, an East German writer’s conference that was intended to bridge the gap between the arts and the worker. The intent of the conference was to ensure that authors maintain an ideologically correct theme to their works that would support the GDR’s political goals. Koch analyzes the impact of foreign literature, West German authors, and the youth, on writers of the GDR. Various authors are mentioned by name, including the famous Christa Wolf in reference to the difference between what authors “should” write and what authors “want” to write. The popular 1964 East German movie, “Der Geteilte Himmel” (Divided Heaven), is analyzed in the context of its creators and their possible psychological isolation from Western colleagues.

Very interesting for the study of how government influence can act as censorship even before the creative writing process starts.

Not identifiable in OCLC. A copy marked “draft 1963” (trans.) is at the archive of the DSV. For more on Hans Koch, please see his entry at the Bundesstiftung Aufarbeitung.

Also see, Elke Scherstjanoi. Zwei Staaten, zwei Literaturen?: das internationale Kolloquium des Schriftstellerverbandes in der DDR. München: Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, 2008. Please note that the “Bericht des Sekretariats des DSV” that is reprinted in Scherstjanoi’s book is different from the one on offer here, which is an internal report to the ideological committee. Available digitally at the LoC: https://www.loc.gov/item/2020719097/

Price: $495

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