Wolf Biermann

Wolf Biermann was born in 1936 in Hamburg. Both of his parents were involved in the communist resistance. His Jewish father Dagobert was murdered in Auschwitz in the spring of 1943. Shortly afterward, his mother Emma and the six-year-old Wolf survived the English bombing raids on Hamburg. In 1953, Biermann moved to the GDR. He began writing songs and poems in 1960. In November 1965, a total ban on public performances and publications was imposed on him. Biermann became the most radical critic of the GDR’s party dictatorship. His works smuggled out of the GDR were published in West Germany, Scandinavia, the USA, and Japan. In 1976, Wolf Biermann was stripped of his citizenship, in violation of all legal norms, which triggered an unprecedented protest movement in East Germany and Western Europe. He returned to Hamburg, where he still lives today. Wolf Biermann has received all major German literary awards. His poetry collections are among the best-selling works of post-war German literature. Biermann performs concerts in many countries around the world and is known for his sharp-tongued essays, with which he provocatively intervenes in daily politics.