Franz Fühmann
| Franz Fühmann | |
|---|---|
Franz Fühmann (1973)
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| Born |
15 January 1922 Rochlitz an der Iser/ Rokytnice nad Jizerou, Czechoslovakia |
| Died | 8 July 1984 (aged 62) East Berlin, East Germany |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Nationality | German |
| Citizenship | East German |
| Period | 1953–1984 (his death) |
| Genre | Short stories, essays, children's literature |
| Notable awards |
Heinrich Mann Prize 1956 National Prize of East Germany 1957 and 1974 Deutscher Kritikerpreis 1977 Geschwister-Scholl-Preis 1982 |
Franz Fühmann (15 January 1922 – 8 July 1984) was a German writer who lived and worked in East Germany. He wrote in a variety of formats, including short stories, essays, screenplays and children's books. Influenced by Nazism in his youth, he later embraced (and renounced) socialism.
Fühmann was the son of an apothecary in Rochlitz an der Iser (Rokytnice nad Jizerou) in the Karkonosze in Czechoslovakia. After Volksschule he attended the Jesuitenkonvikt Kalksburg near Vienna for four years, leaving in 1936 to attend the gymnasium in Reichenberg (Liberec), northern Bohemia. Fühmann took his Abitur exams in Vrchlabí. After the annexation of the Sudetenland by Germany, he joined the Sturmabteilung.
Fühmann was drafted into the Wehrmacht in 1941, and was a communications soldier in Greece and the Soviet Union. He was captured by Soviet forces in 1945 and sent to a communist rehabilitation school in Noginsk, near Moscow.
Fühmann returned from Soviet captivity to East Germany, where he lived for the rest of his life in Märkisch Buchholz and Berlin. He joined the National Democratic Party of Germany, one of the bloc parties, was active until 1958 and resigned from the party in 1972.
From 1952 until his death, Fühmann was a freelance writer. He mentored young writers, and spoke for those under East German repression. In 1976, Fühmann was among the first to sign a letter protesting the exile of Wolf Biermann. He received the 1956 Heinrich Mann Prize, the 1957 and 1974 National Prize of East Germany, the 1977 German Critics' Award and the 1982 Geschwister-Scholl-Preis, and was a member of the Academy of Arts, Berlin.
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