Bundesarchiv Bild 183-E1114-0201-008, Berlin, 1

Bernhard Seeger (October 6, 1927 – March 14, 1999) was a German

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

Life

Bernhard Seeger was born to a locksmith in

Roßlau Rosslau (in German orthography: Roßlau) was until 30 June 2007 a town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, belonging to the district Anhalt-Zerbst. After a fusion with the town of Dessau it became eponym of the newly founded town of Dessau-Roßlau and a qua ...

. He attended the gymnasium and then a teaching education school in Köthen. In 1944, he joined the

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that crea ...

. After doing his

Reichsarbeitsdienst The Reich Labour Service (''Reichsarbeitsdienst''; RAD) was a major organisation established in Nazi Germany as an agency to help mitigate the effects of unemployment on the German economy, militarise the workforce and indoctrinate it with Nazi ...

Zerbst Zerbst () is a town in the district of Anhalt-Bitterfeld, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Until an administrative reform in 2007, Zerbst was the capital of the former Anhalt-Zerbst district. Geography Zerbst is situated in the Anhalt-Wittenberg regio ...

, he participated in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

as a soldier in the

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previous ...

in 1944/45. He was imprisoned in a Soviet

prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of wa ...

camp from May through December 1945. After his return from the prison, Seeger completed a course for New Teachers. In 1946, he joined the

SED sed ("stream editor") is a Unix utility that parses and transforms text, using a simple, compact programming language. It was developed from 1973 to 1974 by Lee E. McMahon of Bell Labs, and is available today for most operating systems. sed wa ...

and the

Freie Deutsche Jugend The Free German Youth (german: Freie Deutsche Jugend; FDJ) is a youth movement in Germany. Formerly, it was the official youth movement of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) and the Socialist Unity Party of Germany. The organization was meant ...

. Between 1946 and 1952, he worked as a teacher in a village school. He was a

literary editor A literary editor is an editor in a newspaper, magazine or similar publication who deals with aspects concerning literature and books, especially reviews.

at the Verlag Neues Leben in 1952/53 then a freelance writer in Stücken district of

Michendorf Michendorf is a municipality in the Potsdam-Mittelmark district, in Brandenburg, Germany. Geography Michendorf lies in a vast wooded area about nine kilometers south of Potsdam. The civil parishes ("Ortsteile") Fresdorf, Stücken and Wildenbruch l ...

near

Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and, with around 183,000 inhabitants, largest city of the German state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...

. In 1954/55, he was a

reporter A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

then he was department manager to the secretary of the Schriftstellerverband of East Germany. He became a writer again in 1957. In 1967, Seeger was incapable of writing for a long time because of a difficult accident. Since he already belonged to the SED's Bezirk of Potsdam leadership since 1964, he was a member of the SED's

Central Committee Central committee is the common designation of a standing administrative body of Communist party, communist parties, analogous to a board of directors, of both ruling and nonruling parties of former and existing socialist states. In such party org ...

from 1967. Between 1953 and 1972, he was an unofficial informer of the

East German East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

Stasi The Ministry for State Security, commonly known as the (),An abbreviation of . was the Intelligence agency, state security service of the East Germany from 1950 to 1990. The Stasi's function was similar to the KGB, serving as a means of maint ...

. Bernhard Seeger wrote

reportage Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree. The word, a noun, applies to the occupation (profes ...

narrative A narrative, story, or tale is any account of a series of related events or experiences, whether nonfictional (memoir, biography, news report, documentary, travel literature, travelogue, etc.) or fictional (fairy tale, fable, legend, thriller (ge ...

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...

s and

poems Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings in a ...

though best known for his

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

and televised dramas. Seeger's party politic works dealt with the prominent problems of the building phase of the East German society, that of the East German critic highly praised work"''Herbstrauch''" about the

collective farming Collective farming and communal farming are various types of, "agricultural production in which multiple farmers run their holdings as a joint enterprise". There are two broad types of communal farms: agricultural cooperatives, in which member- ...

of the East German agriculture in 1959/60 had strong influence of Sholokhov's "New Land under the Plough". Bernhard Seeger belonged to the Schriftstellerverband of East Germany since 1952 and the

Academy of Arts, Berlin The Academy of Arts (german: Akademie der Künste) is a state arts institution in Berlin, Germany. The task of the Academy is to promote art, as well as to advise and support the states of Germany. The Academy's predecessor organization was fo ...

between 1969 and 1991. He won the following awards: the 1956 Theodor Fontane Prize of the Bezirk Potsdam, the 1960 Erich Weinert Medal, the 1962

Heinrich Mann Prize The Heinrich Mann Prize () is an essay prize that has been awarded since 1953, first by the East German Academy of Arts, then by the Academy of Arts, Berlin. The prize, which comes with a €10,000 purse, is given annually on 27 March, Heinrich Ma ...

and Literature Prize of the

Free German Trade Union Federation The Free German Trade Union Federation (german: Freier Deutsche Gewerkschaftsbund or ''FDGB'') was the sole national trade union centre of the German Democratic Republic (GDR or East Germany) which existed from 1946 and 1990. As a mass organisat ...

(FDGB), the 1963 and 1967

National Prize of East Germany The National Prize of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) (german: Nationalpreis der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik) was an award of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) given out in three different classes for scientific, artistic, ...

, the 1968

Johannes R. Becher Johannes Robert Becher (, 22 May 1891 – 11 October 1958) was a German politician, novelist, and poet. He was affiliated with the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) before World War II. At one time, he was part of the literary avant-garde, writin ...

Medal, the 1969 Order of the

Banner of Labor The Banner of Labor () was an order issued in the German Democratic Republic (GDR). It was given for "excellent and long-standing service in strengthening and consolidating the GDR, especially for achieving outstanding results for the national e ...

, the 1981 and 1983 Art Prize of the FDGB, the 1983

Vaterländischer Verdienstorden The Patriotic Order of Merit (German: ''Vaterländischer Verdienstorden'', or VVO) was a national award granted annually in the German Democratic Republic (GDR). It was founded in 1954 and was awarded to individuals and institutions for outstanding ...

of East Germany as well as the 1987

Order of Karl Marx The Order of Karl Marx () was the most important order in the German Democratic Republic (GDR). The award of the order also included a prize of 20,000 East German marks. The order was founded on May 5, 1953 on the occasion of Karl Marx's 135t ...

Works

* ''Eisenhüttenkombinat Ost'', Berlin 1952 * ''Millionenreich und Hellerstück'', Berlin 1956 * ''Sturm aus Bambushütten'', Berlin 1956 * ''Wo der Habicht schießt'', Halle (Saale) 1957 * ''Wie Jasgulla zu seinem Recht kam'', Leipzig 1960 * ''Herbstrauch'', Halle (Saale) 1961 * ''Hannes Trostberg''. Die Erben des Manifests, Halle (Saale) 1968 * ''Vater Batti singt wieder'', Halle (S.) 1972 * ''Menschenwege'', Halle (Saale) ** ''1'' (1974) ** ''2'' (1987) * ''Der Harmonikaspieler'', Halle .a.1981 * ''Frühe Wege'', Leipzig 1987

External links

Literature by and on Bernhard Seeger
in the catalog of the

German National Library The German National Library (DNB; german: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek) is the central archival library and national bibliographic centre for the Federal Republic of Germany. It is one of the largest libraries in the world. Its task is to colle ...

Wer war wer in der DDR? Bernhard Seeger
(Who was who in East Germany? Bernhard Seeger) {{DEFAULTSORT:Seeger, Berhard 1927 births 1999 deaths Heinrich Mann Prize winners German male writers Nazi Party members Reich Labour Service members German Army personnel of World War II German prisoners of war in World War II held by the Soviet Union