East German musician Wolf Biermann took the stage in West Germany in November 1976. His performance unleashed a chain reaction of criticism from both the communist state and its citizens — with historic consequences.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/W. Bertram
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"The barbed wire grows slowly inward / deep into the skin, into the chest and legs / into the brain, into its cells," sings the man with a mustache wearing a blue-and-white striped shirt, as he accompanies himself on the guitar. "Girded by a wire bandage / our country is an island land / pounded by leaden waves."
The singer-songwriter's name is Wolf Biermann, and he was singing about his Germany, the German Democratic Republic (GDR), or East Germany. On November 13, 1976, in the midst of the Cold War, two German nations existed: the Federal Republic of Germany in the West and the GDR in the East.
The performance on this day in the West German city of Cologne's sporting arena was Biermann's first official concert during an ongoing stage ban in East Germany that had reached its 11th year. At home, he was not permitted to sing his cheeky, politically critical songs, yet the state leadership did allow him to go on a concert tour in West Germany.
Music to protest a 'system of politburo politicians'
In his songs, such as the "Ballade vom preußischen Ikarus" (Ballad of the Prussian Icarus) quoted above, Biermann does not mince words, criticizing the East German "politburo system of rule," which imprisoned its citizens behind walls and barbed wire and shot at East Germans attempting to flee over the border.
Wolf Biermann on stage in Cologne in 1976Image: picture-alliance/dpa/W. Bertram
Biermann, who considered himself a critical communist, was regarded as an enemy of the state by the East German secret police, the Stasi. He had already been under surveillance and spied upon for years before his Cologne performance.
As that show drew to an end, the West German audience lauded Biermann with standing ovations. "With my guitar in one hand, and a bouquet of red carnations in the other, I let myself be celebrated after four and a half hours of singing in front of 7,000 enchantingly lively people," he said, reflecting on those moments of happiness
'It's all over.'
Three days later, having spent the previous evening celebrating his 40th birthday, Biermann was sitting in a car on his way to the nearby city of Bochum to give a second concert. Suddenly, a report came on the radio: "The GDR's state authorities have revoked the rights of Wolf Biermann, who moved from Hamburg to the GDR in 1953, to further reside in the German Democratic Republic."
Biermann was flabbergasted. "I felt cast aside. I was miserable and overcome with anxiety," he later wrote in his memoir. "That's it! Everything is over! Life is over."
Unlike the many East Germans citizens who fled to the West, Biermann did not want to leave the GDR at all. On the contrary, he had wanted to help shape it; it was this desire that had prompted him to move there when he was just 16 years. He had wanted to "unabashedly sing and voice his solidary criticism of the GDR," yet that was brought to a stop. Years later, when Biermann was able to view the files the Stasi had compiled on him, he realized that his expatriation apparently had long been planned. The East German leadership had only been waiting for a suitable opportunity.
Wolf Biermann and singer-actress Eva-Maria Hagen and her daughter Nina Image: picture-alliance/dpa
A wave of protest
Biermann's expatriation triggered a massive wave of protests. A few days later, 12 prominent East German authors, including Christa Wolf, Stephan Hermlin, Sarah Kirsch and Stefan Heym, published an open letter to the East German government: "Wolf Biermann was and is a recalcitrant poet," it stated, among other things. "Our socialist state should be able to bear such an inconvenience calmly and thoughtfully." The letter concluded with an appeal: "We protest against his expatriation and ask that this measure been reconsidered."
After all, the measure was very extreme. Political scientist Jochen Staadt, back then a student at the West German Free University of Berlin, watched the Biermann concert on television. He told DW that he remembers thinking at the time how incredible it was that Biermann was able to perform in Cologne. "But I couldn't even fathom what happened later, since the expatriation of people who spoke out against the regime was something that the Nazis had done. I couldn't imagine that the GDR would sanction on one of its own like this, someone who at the time saw himself as a communist."
Critical, undesired, expatriated: Artists in East Germany
Following a concert in West Germany in November 1976, musician Wolf Biermann was expatriated from the German Democratic Republic. After protests, other artists ended up wanting or having to emigrate from East Germany.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Protests, imprisonment and expulsion to West Berlin
Singer-songwriters Christian Kuhnert, Gerulf Pannach and Wolf Biermann with the writer Jürgen Fuchs (L to R) in August 1977 in West Berlin. Biermann had been in the West since November 1976; the East German leadership had expatriated him following a concert in Cologne. Among others, these three men protested his expulsion. They were arrested, and likewise expatriated and expelled to West Berlin.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Trial and immediate suspension of Eva-Maria Hagen
Actress Eva-Maria Hagen, also known as the "Brigitte Bardot of the East," was Biermann's partner from 1965 to 1972. Even after their separation, she continued to support him and protested against his expatriation. She was dismissed from her theater contract without notice and likewise expatriated in 1977. Together with her daughter Nina, she moved to West Germany.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Schilling
Acting in the East, Punk rock in the West: Nina Hagen
Singer Nina Hagen (daughter of Eva-Maria Hagen) had wanted to become an actress in East Germany, but her application for admission to acting school was rejected without reason. East German rulers considered her to be politically unreliable. In 1978, one year after moving to the West, her LP entitled "Nina Hagen Band" was released (cover above). It remains a feminist classic of German punk rock.
Image: DW/S. Spröer
A hit TV show in West Germany: Jurek Becker
Jurek Becker, writer and screenwriter, also protested Biermann's expatriation. The author of the novel "Jacob the Liar" was expelled from the East German Communist Party and moved to West Germany in 1977. There, his screenplays for the TV series "Liebling Kreuzberg" (roughly "Beloved Kreuzberg") made him famous. The leading actor in the series was Manfred Krug, likewise from East Germany.
Image: Imago/United Archives
Work ban spurs emigration: Manfred Krug
In 1949, at age 12, Manfred Krug moved with his father from West to East Germany. He first trained to be a steel smelter, then an actor. He played a rebellious brigade leader in the film "Trace of Stones," which was promptly pulled from cinemas. In 1976, after protesting Biermann's expatriation, Krug was partially banned from acting work. He applied to leave the country and got approval in 1977.
Image: picture alliance / United Archives
Protest against tanks in Prague: Bettina Wegner
Berlin-based singer-songwriter Bettina Wegner came into conflict with East German state powers even before her opposition to Biermann's expatriation. She had already been in custody for "anti-state agitation" after protesting the Russian tanks that rolled into Prague in 1968. Due to her support of Biermann, she was banned from working in East Germany and moved to the West in 1983.
No 'wonderful years' in East Germany: Reiner Kunze
Reiner Kunze's prose work, the "The Wonderful Years," was published in West Germany in 1976. The East German writer and translator sharply criticized the communist state. Kunze was expelled from the East German Writers' Association and was threatened with imprisonment. His application to leave the country was granted, and in 1977 he moved with his family to West Germany.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/R. Scheidemann
Departure after party expulsion: Sarah Kirsch
Writer and poet Sarah Kirsch was one of the first signatories of the appeal against the Biermann's expatriation. She was expelled from the SED, the East German Communist Party, and the Writers' Union. Since this ultimately translated into a ban on her profession, she left the GDR with her son in 1977.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/dpaweb
A star in East and West: Armin Müller-Stahl
In the East German TV series "The Invisible Visor," Armin Müller-Stahl played a James Bond-esque East German agent. But following his opposition to Biermann's expatriation, he was barely offered any acting roles. In 1980, his application to leave the country was approved and he moved to West Berlin. He became one of the few stars to succeed in both East and West Germany, and even in Hollywood.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
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A cultural exodus
The first 12 signatories were joined by hundreds more. The East German leadership reacted harshly to the petition, putting artists and intellectuals under pressure, banning them from working, and dismissing artists from the civil service. Some of the signatories later distanced themselves from the petition, but it was too late: A cultural exodus had begun.
In the following months and years, numerous artists and intellectuals left the East Germany, including writers Jurek Becker, Günter Kunert and Reiner Kunze, singers Manfred Krug and Nina Hagen, and poet Sarah Kirsch. These were, like Biermann, people who actually didn't want to leave the GDR and who didn't want the it dissolved, but instead wanted to make it a better state.
Political scientist Jochen Staadt Image: Bernd Wannenmacher
Biermann graffiti on the autobahn
But it wasn't just celebrities who protested. In many places, East German citizens became active, distributing leaflets and organizing demonstrations. Anonymous people painted the name "Biermann" in large letters every few kilometers along the highway between Berlin and Leipzig. In German bureaucratese, the Stasi meticulously documented these "hostile-negative, provocative-demonstrative and other politically operationally significant acts committed by citizens of the GDR in relation to the revocation of Biermann's citizenship." The case file lists several thousand incidents, campaigns and leaflets.
The whole event ultimately backfired for the East German leadership. Wolf Biermann's expatriation actually kick-started the popularity of his banned songs. His Cologne concert was aired repeatedly on West German television, which many people in the GDR secretly watched. Biermann's songs were recorded onto cassettes and distributed clandestinely among friends.
The kick-off of citizen opposition
"The GDR could not collapse simply because it had chased some man with a guitar into exile in West Germany," Biermann said, retrospectively analyzing his role in the book Die Ausbürgerung (The Expatriation). "What shook up Germany back then, and particularly the GDR itself, were the protests against this expatriation. No member of the East's savvy power apparatus could have reckoned with this because no one had experienced it before."
Biermann had been invited to Berlin by a metal workers' union and a student groupImage: picture-alliance/dpa
The protests were "the beginning of a citizen opposition that expanded over the years," said Staadt, who is part of a university team researching the SED, or the East German Communist Party. "People took the Biermann case as an opportunity to say, 'You expelled Biermann — I want out, too.'" These numbers kept on growing: By mid-1989, between 100,000 and 150,000 applications for emigration had been submitted.
No more 'wire bandage' around Berlin
The Berlin Wall fell on November 9,1989. The mass exodus to the West, facilitated by Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev's reforms, which assured other Eastern Bloc states of independence, and the pressure of peaceful demonstrations led to the collapse of the communist SED regime in East Germany.
Three weeks later, on December 1, Biermann gave a concert in Leipzig. It was his first performance in the GDR since his expatriation 13 years before. It also marked the end of his 25-year East German performance ban, which had remained in effect after he was forced into exile. He again sang the "Ballad of the Prussian Icarus," but this time around, the GDR was no longer an "island country girded by wire." Instead, the borders were open.
Wolf Biermann, outspoken political dissident and singer-songwriter
In East Germany, the singer-songwriter was a figurehead of the political opposition. After he was forced into exile in 1976, Wolf Biermann started anew in West Germany — but always remained true to himself.
Image: Sebastian Ahlers/DHM
The eternal critic
At the age of 16, Wolf Biermann left the town where he grew up, Hamburg in West Germany, and emigrated to East Germany, where he first lived in a boarding school. He hoped to live out the ideals transmitted by his mother, an active member of the Communist Party. He would quickly come into conflict with the authorities — and remained disobedient. "I always went a little too far," he says.
Image: Michael Kappeler/dpa/picture alliance
Keeping quiet
East German dissidents could expect work bans, and they were spied upon and arrested. The chemist Robert Havemann (pictured in his East Berlin apartment in 1972 with Wolf Biermann, right) was one of the leaders of the protest movement. The Stasi, East Germany's secret police, monitored everything he did, and discussions took on conspiratorial tones. Biermann had a son with his daughter, Sibylle.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Comrades and artists
The suppression of East German dissidents worsened in the mid-70s. More and more artists applied to travel abroad, but their applications were usually rejected. The Stasi arrested singers Christian Kunert (left), Gerulf Pannach (second from left) and author Jürgen Fuchs (right). In August 1977, Biermann's friends were released from prison and deported to West Germany.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Legendary concert in Cologne
In the sold-out Sporthalle in Cologne, Wolf Biermann gave a concert on November 13, 1976, the first one in West Germany since 1965. The East German government had forbidden his performances years ago, blacklisting him for criticizing the "system ruled by political bureaucrats." Fans acclaimed him in Cologne.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Solidarity network
East German authorities stripped Biermann of his citizenship in November 1976, sending him into exile in West Germany. His friend, author Günter Wallraff, first hosted him in his apartment in Cologne, where he had to start anew. Instead of being constantly followed by Stasi spies, Biermann was trailed by reporters from the German tabloid "Bild." It was a difficult period for him.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Prominent sympathizers
East German actors, such as Armin Mueller-Stahl (pictured) and Manfred Krug, who were until then well positioned in East Germany, signed a petition to the authorities in November 1976: "We are protesting against the expatriation of Wolfgang Biermann and plead for this decision to be reconsidered." Honecker retaliated by banning these artists from performing and working. They left for West Germany.
Image: picture alliance/dpa
Under Stasi surveillance
Friends, acquaintances, authors, journalists, artists and other colleagues: Everyone who had been in contact with Biermann was monitored by the Stasi. The artist Gabriele Stötzer (second from left in this Stasi photo) was imprisoned for a year for "defamation of the state," as she had collected the signatures against the expatriation of Wolf Biermann.
Image: BStU
The political activist
In West Germany, Biermann remained a politically active and outspoken artist. In 1983, he protested against the deportation of an opponent of the Turkish regime with Green Party politicians Petra Kelly (behind the police officer) and Lukas Beckmann (center). The police was called to clear the protest and Biermann was arrested.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/E. Steiner
Wild family life
Eva-Maria Hagen (second from left) was one the most popular actresses of East Germany. After she met and became a couple with the political songwriter in 1965, her career ended abruptly, as she was monitored by the Stasi and banned from performing. In 1977, she decided to flee and followed her partner to West Germany, along with her daughter Nina Hagen (right). This family photo is from 1988.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Jewish roots
Biermann didn't mention his Jewish roots very often at the beginning. His father, a Jewish and Communist shipwright, was murdered at the concentration camp in Auschwitz. Biermann would let this painful experience resonate only through his music. He became good friends with the Jewish theater director George Tabori. They are shown here on Tabori's 90th birthday in 2004 at the Berliner Ensemble.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/dpaweb/M. Rittershaus
Unexpected honors
He said he found it somewhat strange, but the former East German dissident was still visibly touched when he was declared an honorary citizen of the reunited city of Berlin in 2007. Next to him on the picture is the city's then-Mayor Klaus Wowereit. In 2008, Biermann was also awarded an honorary doctorate degree from the Humboldt University of Berlin, where he had defended his thesis in 1963.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/W. Kumm
International solidarity
To this day, Biermann continues to prominently support persecuted political dissidents around the world. There's more than artistic solidarity that binds him with the author in exile Liao Yiwu (right), one of China's most famous poets, who spent several years in prison. In 2010 and 2011, they went on tour together through Germany.
Image: IMAGO
Troubadour of German divisions
A historical moment: On November 7, 2014, during a memorial ceremony for the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, Wolf Biermann performed during a parliamentary session in the German Bundestag. He grabbed the opportunity to slam the "comrades" of the Left party, filmed by TV cameras. Speaker of the house Norbert Lammert reminded Biermann that he was only invited to sing.
Image: Tobias Schwarz/AFP/Getty Images
His guitar as a sword
The song that Biermann performed that day was personally selected by Norbert Lammert. It is one of his most famous ones, "Du lass dich nicht verhärten, in dieser harten Zeit" (Don't let yourself harden, in this hard time). As outspoken as ever, he described himself as a "dragon slayer," and the Left party politicians as "dragon spawn" and "a miserable remnant of what was fortunately overcome."
Image: Wolfgang Kumm/dpa/picture alliance
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A concert and reading event with Wolf Biermann and his wife, Pamela Biermann, along with Chinese dissidents Liao Yiwu, Wang Dan and Peigen Wang, is held on November 4 to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the Tiananmen Square Massacre.
