Hermlin, Stefan

Rudolf Leder was born into the Jewish family of David and Leah Laura (nee Bernstein) Leder on April 13, 1915 in Chemnitz . In 1931 he joined the Communist Youth League of Germany . In the same year, to publish his first poems, Rudolph chose the pseudonym "Stefan Hermlin" ^[5] . From 1933 to 1936 he worked in a printing house in Berlin . In 1936, Hermlin left the country, first to Palestine , and then to France and Switzerland . In exile, the writer published his first serious literary experiments, participated in the Free Germany movement.

In 1945, Stefan returned to his homeland and got a job as an editor on the radio in Frankfurt am Main . In 1947 he moved to the Soviet zone of occupation , where he worked in the editorial offices of such publications as Tägliche Rundschau, Ulenspiegel, Aufbau, Sinn und Form. In the same year he participated in the I Congress of German writers. In 1948, he became a member of the PEN club and set off as part of the first post-war delegation of German cultural workers in the USSR . In 1950 he became a member of the Academy of Arts .

In 1953-1956, Hermlin made over 25 trips to various countries of Europe , Asia and South America , participating in many international writers' conferences and congresses. Since 1960, he served as secretary of the poetry and speech culture department at the Academy of Arts . Over the years, the writer took an active part in the activities of both German and international literary organizations ^[6] .

Hermlin, being a staunch communist and an associate of Honecker , however, sometimes expressed a different point of view from the party’s opinion, in particular, spoke negatively about the entry of Soviet troops into Czechoslovakia in 1968 and the deprivation of GDR citizenship in 1976 by Wolf Birman .

Stephen’s son Andrei Hermlin (born 1965) is a famous German pianist and founder of the Swing Dance Orchestra. Daughter Cornelia Schmaus (born 1946) - theater and film actress.

In 1996, journalist and literary critic Karl Korino published an article in the newspaper Die Zeit , in which he questioned the facts from Hermlin’s life set forth in the autobiographical novel Evening Light, namely, the writer’s participation in the Civil War in Spain and the French Resistance , his stay in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp , and the fact that his father died there ^[7] .

• 1945 - “Twelve Ballads of Big Cities” ( German: Zwölf Balladen von den großen Städten )
• 1946 - “Lieutenant York von Wartenburg” ( German: Der Leutnant York von Wartenburg , short story)
• 1947 - “The Artist's Journey to Paris” ( German: Reise eines Malers in Paris , short story)
• 1949 - “The Time of Collectivism” ( German: Die Zeit der Gemeinsamkeit , short story collection)
• 1950 - Mansfeld Oratorio ( German: Mansfelder Oratorium , ode)
• 1951 - “The First Line” ( German: Die erste Reihe , collection of essays)
• 1952 - “Flight of the Dove” ( German: Der Flug der Taube , a collection of poetry)
• 1966 - “Poems and Prose” ( German: Gedichte und Prosa , collection)
• 1966 - “Stories” ( German: Erzählungen , compilation)
• 1966 - Cities ( German: Die Städte , a collection of poetry)
• 1970 - Scardinelli ( German: Scardanelli , radio show)
• 1974 - “Readings” ( German: Lektüre , articles on literature)
• 1974 - The Argonauts ( German: Die Argonauten , short story)
• 1979 - "Evening Light" ( German: Abendlicht , autobiographical novel)
• 1981 - "Poems" ( German: Gedichte )
• 1990 - “Poems and Translations” ( German: Gedichte und Nachdichtungen )
• 1990 - The Tale ( German: Erzählende Prosa )
• 1995 - “Decisions” ( German: Entscheidungen , storybook)

• 1948 - Heinrich Heine Prize of the German Writers Support Society
• 1950 - National GDR Award
• 1954 - National Prize of the GDR
• 1958 - Weisskopf Prize
• 1972 - Heinrich Heine Prize of the Ministry of Culture of the GDR
• 1975 - National GDR Award
• 1980 - Order of Merit for the Fatherland

• Biography (German)