Wolf Biermann: To call the Nazi era 'bird shit' is criminal
Gero Schließ db
November 7, 2019
He was one of the harshest critics of the East German dictatorship. Today, 30 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Wolf Biermann's criticism has found a new target, and he's as provocative as ever.
Image: Terry Lin
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"If you don't put yourself in danger, danger will kill you" was the slogan German singer-songwriter Wolf Biermann and Chinese author and dissident Liao Yiwu chose for their show at the Berliner Ensemble theater, held to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the bloody suppression of the Chinese democracy movement on Tiananmen Square in Beijing.
DW: You used to direct fervent criticism at the East German dictatorship. Who do you oppose these days?
Wolf Biermann: Do you know why I love talking about the Germans being so well-off? It's because I, like many other people, was annoyed that the AfD's Alexander Gauland [the far-right party's co-founder and co-leader] actually said publicly that the entire Nazi period was nothing but "bird shit." The 12 years of Hitler's dictatorship, the wars, the millions of German and foreign soldiers who died, on top of the six million Jews and half a million gypsies [Roma and Sinti] who were killed: Whoever calls that "bird shit" is a criminal.
Thirty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, dissatisfaction with the consequences of Germany's reunification is evident. Many people complain that unity has not been achieved and that former East Germany was simply "colonized." Do you agree?
I wrote a poem about the matter entitled "Mrs. Freedom does not kiss Mr. Barbed Wire." No! It's incommensurable, as educated folk would say; they don't fit well together! You cannot take two systems, dictatorship and democracy, stick them together and claim: "We'll take the best of both — not everything in East Germany was bad."
I believe that the weakest and most imperfect democracy is incomparably better than the best dictatorship. Perhaps that is the lesson we Germans must learn from our own history.
Wolf Biermann on stage in Cologne, 1976Image: picture-alliance/dpa/W. Bertram
Your event with Liao Yiwuis also commemorating the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre. The current riots in Hong Kong remind us that many people in the world still have to fight for their freedom. What message do you have for these people?
It is worth getting involved in the issues affecting you. You have to try again and again. You can be afraid, but should not be overwhelmed by your fears.
The fact that you can succeed is celebrated in great speeches and songs. But only by those who survived. Those who were murdered and crushed, they remain silent.
East German singer/songwriter Wolf Biermann was banned from performing, and then expatriated from the GDR in 1976. This caused great indignation among artists and intellectuals in the GDR.
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.
