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Wolf Biermann. A poet and songwriter in Germany

More Story

Our digital format “More Story” provides background information and insight into the exhibition “Wolf Biermann. A poet and songwriter in Germany” independently of a visit to the museum. Raphael Gross, President of the Deutsches Historisches Museum, explains how the exhibition came about. Project head Dorlis Blume talks about the exhibition’s concept and design. Achim Bonte, general director of the Berlin State Library, tells about Wolf Biermann’s preliminary estate. And as contemporary witnesses, Roland Jahn and Gabrielle Stötzer throw light on how Wolf Biermann has influenced their lives.

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Wolf Biermann is one of the most famous songwriters in Germany – East and West. His expulsion from East Germany in 1976 was a political turning point and an admission of helplessness on the part of the SED party leadership. Unlike less well-known artists in the GDR, Biermann had become too popular to put him in jail and too unpredictable to let him perform in public.

Wolf Biermann at the Oranienburger Straße in Berlin, 1975

Wolf Biermann at the Oranienburger Straße in Berlin, 1975

© Thomas Höpker / Agentur Focus, Hamburg

Wolf Biermann at the concert in the Cologne sports arena, 13 November 1976

Wolf Biermann at the concert in the Cologne sports arena, 13 November 1976

Barbara Klemm/Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung © Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung GmbH, Frankfurt/Main. All rights reserved.

Many of his songs, ballads and poems have outlasted the original circumstances of their making. “Warte nicht auf bessre Zeiten” (Don’t wait for better times), “Ermutigung” (Encouragement), “Ballade vom preußischen Ikarus” (Ballad of the Prussian Icarus) have become classics. The exhibition presents the life and work of the poet and songwriter interwoven with the events of “German-German” history.

„We wish to utilize the tools of historians to engage with history, in this case with a biography of an important author, songwriter and lyricist who is still alive today.“

Raphael Gross, President of the Deutsches Historisches Museum

„We have tried, by utlising a special design, to translate Wolf Biermann's life into pictures. And of course the German-German border, the Berlin Wall, had a particular influence on him. That's why jaged walls are a “running theme” throughout the exhibition that represent the impression of concrete and visualize not only the border and limitation of Biermann but also his resistance and his opposition.“

Dorlis Blume, Head of Project

Achim Bonte on the estate of Wolf Biermann

One of around 40 shipping crates, made in the Soviet Union, in which Wolf Biermann’s personal property was transferred from East Berlin to Hamburg

One of around 40 shipping crates, made in the Soviet Union, in which Wolf Biermann’s personal property was transferred from East Berlin to Hamburg

Soviet Union ca. 1976, Photo: Eric Tschernow © Wolf & Pamela Biermann, Hamburg

Expulsion

On 13 November 1976, Wolf Biermann’s legendary concert took place before 8,000 spectators in the Cologne Sports Hall. Three days later, the East German TV news programme Aktuelle Kamera reported: “The relevant authorities of the GDR have withdrawn from Wolf Biermann, who moved to the GDR from Hamburg in 1953, the right to further residency in the German Democratic Republic.”

The SED leadership had resolved to deprive Biermann of his citizenship even before the concert took place.

In an open letter to the leaders of the SED party, prominent East German writers, including Stephan Hermlin, Christa Wolf, Jurek Becker and Stefan Heym, protested against Wolf Biermann’s ousting from the GDR. Such an open protest was unprecedented in the East Germany. Lists with signatures of support were soon circulated throughout the country.

Gaberiele Stötzer on Wolf Biermann and her imprisonment

Massive pressure was brought to bear on the signatories; some were arrested. The SED party press applauded Biermann’s denaturalisation.

All media in West Germany reported on the events. Messages of solidarity with Biermann also came from abroad.

In East Germany the Biermann case destroyed the hopes of many creative artists for a common path to socialism in cooperation with the government.

Hundreds of artists applied for exit visas, including Sarah Kirsch, Manfred Krug as well as Eva-Maria and Nina Hagen. Many like Jürgen Fuchs, Christian Kunert and Gerulf Pannach were sent off to the West against their will.

Letter of protest (Detail) against Wolf Biermann’s denaturalisation, 1976

Letter of protest (Detail) against Wolf Biermann’s denaturalisation, 1976

© Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – PK /Abteilung Handschriften und Historische Drucke /Archiv Wolf Biermann

Roland Jahn on Wolf Biermann and his expulsion

Surveillance camera of the Ministry for State Security, Jena, ca. 1975

Surveillance camera of the Ministry for State Security, Jena, ca. 1975

© DHM, Foto Sebastian Ahlers

Stasi

The Ministry for State Security (MfS) was under the control of the SED leadership. The Stasi secured the power of the state and the SED party through systematic intimidation of the population. In a state without freedom of opinion or the press, the MfS prevented and crushed all kinds of opposition.

Wolf Biermann, along with his friend, the dissident Robert Havemann, was one of the most strictly monitored people in the GDR. After Biermann had been subjected to a complete ban on performing and publishing in East Germany in 1965, the Stasi expanded the measures even further against him. His post, telephone, apartment, and personal contacts were under constant surveillance.

Some of Wolf Biermann

Some of Wolf Biermann's diaries

© Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – PK /Abteilung Handschriften und Historische Drucke /Archiv Wolf Biermann

Biermann feared that he would be arrested due to “subversive propaganda and agitation”. In his memoirs he reports that in the summer of 1976, some months before his expulsion from East Germany, he had an uneasy feeling: “Something’s going to happen, something’s in the air,” he confided to his friend Reimar Gilsenbach. Biermann had been keeping diaries since 1954. Gilsenbach offered, just in case, to hide them on his property in Brodowin, a town in Brandenburg. Until Gilsenbach returned them to Biermann in 1988, the 50 volumes of diaries had remained undetected on his property.

Roland Jahn on the Stasi