Arendt, Erich

Born in a working class family. Since childhood, I felt a need. In his youth, he changed many professions - he worked as a farm worker, theatrical scenery artist, bank clerk, journalist and teacher in an experimental school.

In 1926 he became a member of the Communist Party of Germany . Since 1928 - a member of the League of Proletarian Revolutionary Writers.

He published early poetic works in the expressionist literary magazine Der Sturm . He made long trips to Germany, Switzerland, France and Spain.

After the National Socialists came to power in Germany, he emigrated to Switzerland. In 1933-1950 lived in exile. In 1936-1939 he participated in the Civil War in Spain , fought as part of international brigades . Then in 1940 he emigrated through France to Colombia, where he spent almost ten years in the Indian settlements in the jungle. Since 1950 he lived in the GDR .

Died after a stroke . He was buried at the Dorotheenstadt cemetery in Berlin.

Debuted in 1925. Emigration determined the nature of Arendt's poetry, which was formed under the influence of P. Neruda , R. Alberti , N. Guillen . His first books were published only after the end of World War II - “The Night Brings the Albatross” (1951) and “The Ballad on the Mountain Wind” (1952). In his work, he mainly used the forms of ballads and sonnets . The author of civil and philosophical lyrics (collections of “From the Fiftieth Anniversary”, 1968; “Memory and Image”, 1976).

By the mid-1950s, themes of emigrants predominated in his work, later the poet turned to modernity, trying to comprehend it in a universal, “planetary” dimension.

He was engaged in translations from Spanish (authors of Spanish literature , poets of Latin America , in particular Pablo Neruda )

Poetry collections

• “Albatross at Night” (1951),
• The Ballad of the Mountain Wind (1952),
• “Tolu. Poems about Colombia "(1956),
• The Song of the Seven Islands (1957),
• Odes of Flight (1959),
• Aegean Archipelago (1967),
• The "Fiery Stem" (1973),
• “Memory and Image” (1976).

• National Prize of the German Democratic Republic III degree (1952)
• National Prize of the German Democratic Republic II degree (1983)
• Order of Merit to the Fatherland (GDR) in silver
• Order “Star of Friendship of Peoples” (1983)
• Medal to them. Becher

• Encyclopedic literary dictionary. - M .: Soviet Encyclopedia. Edited by V. M. Kozhevnikov, P. A. Nikolaev. 1987.
• Big Encyclopedic Dictionary. 2000.
• Encyclopedic Dictionary. 2009.

• Biography (German)