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06/02/10
The Author Gerhard Zwerenz Turns 85
A Literary All-Rounder
Gerhard Zwerenz was born on June 3, 1925, in Gablenz, a section of the Saxon town of Crimmitschau. He learned the trade of coppersmithing before volunteering for the military at the age of 17. He deserted in 1944 and after spending four years in Russian captivity served in the East German Volkspolizei (People’s Police Force). In 1949 Zwerenz joined the Socialist Unity Party and between 1952 and 1956 he studied literature and philosophy in Leipzig, where his teachers included Ernst Bloch. During this period he also wrote articles for the magazine “Die Weltbühne” (“The World Stage”) and cabaret texts for the ensemble “Die Pfeffermühle” (“The Peppermill”). After being expelled from the party for critical remarks in 1957, he fled to West Berlin and has worked as a free-lance author ever since. During the legislative period 1994–1998, Zwerenz served as a member of the Bundestag for the Party of Democratic Socialism.
Zwerenz is considered one of the hardest working writers in the trade. He has written more than 100 books covering almost all genres of literature. He became known as a political essayist and novelist, and his work ranges from erotic literature and detective fiction to children’s books. Only a partial selection of his many publications can be listed here: The best-seller “Casanova oder der kleine Herr in Krieg und Frieden” (1966), “Kopf und Bauch” (1971), “Der plebejische Intellektuelle” (1972), “Die Quadriga des Mischa Wolf” (1975), “Die Westdeutschen. Erfahrungen, Beschreibungen, Analysen” (1977) and “Die Venusharfe. Liebeslieder, Zorngedichte, Knittelverse” (1985).
His 1973 novel “Die Erde ist unbewohnbar wie der Mond” (“The Earth is uninhabitable like the Moon”) provided inspiration for Fassbinder’s play Garbage, the City and Death. The material contained in the novel sparked a debate on anti-Semitism in West Germany that lasted for three decades. In “Die Rückkehr des toten Juden nach Deutschland”, published in 1986, Zwerenz discusses the blocked productions of the play in Germany. By way of reminder: the German premiere did not take place until October 2009 in Mülheim on the Ruhr.
Gerhard Zwerenz has received a number of awards for his literary work, including the Ernst Reuter Prize, the Carl von Ossietzky Prize and the Alternative Büchner Prize. In the films THE STATIONMASTER’S WIFE, IN A YEAR WITH 13 MOONS and BERLIN ALEXANDERPLATZ, he appeared as a guest actor for his friend Rainer Werner Fassbinder.
Photo, left: © Stiftung Haus der Geschichte der Bundesrepublik Deutschland
Photo, right: © RWFF
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