Erik Neutsch

Erik Neutsch
Erik Neutsch (centre) with (1981)
Born	21 June 1931 Schönebeck, Saxony, Germany
Died	20 August 2013 Halle, Germany
Occupation	Writer
Language	German
Nationality	German
Spouse	(1) Annelies Hinz (2)

Erik Neutsch (born Schönebeck, then in Saxony 21 June 1931; died Halle 20 August 2013) was one of the most successful writers in the German Democratic Republic (Communist East Germany).

Erik Neutsch came from a working family. After successfully completing his high school career he joined, in 1949, the ruling East German Socialist Unity Party (SED / Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands) as well as the Free German Youth (FDJ / Freie Deutsche Jugend) movement.

Between 1950 and 1953 he studied Social sciences and Journalism at Leipzig University, graduating with a higher diploma in Journalism. After this he worked till 1960 in Halle, as part of the Culture and Economics editorial team with Die Freiheit, at the time a newspaper of the country's governing SED (party).

After 1960 Neutsch worked both as a journalist and as a writer of books. In 1963 he became a member of the SED regional leadership team and in 1970/71 he spent a year as a volunteer Political commissar with the National People's Army.

Neutsch's output included novels, short stories, children's books, essays, poems and screen-plays. His writings dealt with societal problems in the real-life socialist East Germany, while remaining faithful to the party line. His greatest success came with the 900-page novel 1964). Its central theme is developments in the life of an initially rebellious construction worker who, by the end of the book, has become a well attuned conformist member of the socialist society. Nearly half a million copies of the novel were produced, which involved 35 editions of which five came out after 1990. This made it one of the most successful pieces of East German literature. A (much simplified) film version directed by Frank Beyer appeared in 1966, but it was withdrawn only three days after its first Berlin showing, following criticism from some party officials that its portrayal of The Party was insufficiently positive. It was only shortly before the wall came down in 1989 that "Trace of Stones" returned to East German cinemas.