Gisela Steineckert (born 13 May 1931) is a German writer known for her books and
song lyrics
Lyrics are words that make up a song, usually consisting of verses and choruses. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist. The words to an extended musical composition such as an opera are, however, usually known as a "libretto" and their writer, a ...
.
She has also written numerous radio plays and several film scripts.
[ In terms of published output she was particularly prolific before ]1989
File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...
, but her professional career has nevertheless outlasted the German Democratic Republic
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
.
A member 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 ...
arts establishment, she served as national "President of the Entertainment Committee" following the retirement, in 1984, of Siegfried Wagner
Siegfried Helferich Richard Wagner (6 June 18694 August 1930) was a German composer and conductor, the son of Richard Wagner. He was an opera composer and the artistic director of the Bayreuth Festival from 1908 to 1930.
Life
Siegfried Wagner ...
. Her unforced support for the East German system before reunification
A political union is a type of political entity which is composed of, or created from, smaller polities, or the process which achieves this. These smaller polities are usually called federated states and federal territories in a federal governm ...
has drawn hostility from writers and artists who found themselves persecuted by the régime
In politics, a regime (also "régime") is the form of government or the set of rules, cultural or social norms, etc. that regulate the operation of a government or institution and its interactions with society. According to Yale professor Juan J ...
: Bettina Wegner
Bettina Wegner (born 4 November 1947 in West-Berlin) is a German singer-songwriter. She is best known for her song "Sind so kleine Hände", written as "Kinder (Children)", also sung by Joan Baez, Dean Reed and others.
Biography
Wegner was born ...
dismissively opines of her supervisory duties with the October Club (state sponsored song performance association) during the 1980s that Steineckert was the chief censor (''"Das war die Oberzensorin"'').
Life
Provenance and early years
Giesela Steineckert was born in Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
, her parents' second daughter.[ Her mother, who was in ]domestic service
A domestic worker or domestic servant is a person who works within the scope of a residence. The term "domestic service" applies to the equivalent occupational category. In traditional English contexts, such a person was said to be "in service ...
, subsequently had two more children and survived several abortions.[ Her parents were not married, but her father remained in the picture till 1940. He worked as a tailor.][ He was a drinking man, and sometimes violent.][ ]War
War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...
returned in 1939: Gisela and two siblings were evacuated to Upper Austria
Upper Austria (german: Oberösterreich ; bar, Obaöstareich) is one of the nine states or of Austria. Its capital is Linz. Upper Austria borders Germany and the Czech Republic, as well as the other Austrian states of Lower Austria, Styria, a ...
. Soon after this they were joined by their mother and the youngest child.[ The father had been conscripted into the ]army
An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...
and sources indicate that for the first time his children lived without hunger or the fear of paternal violence.[ They attended school in Austria: their school results began to improve.][
]
Soviet occupation zone
She returned with her mother and siblings to Berlin in 1946.[ Her father had also survived the ]war
War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...
, which had ended in May the previous year, leaving the region surrounding Berlin administered as the Soviet occupation zone
The Soviet Occupation Zone ( or german: Ostzone, label=none, "East Zone"; , ''Sovetskaya okkupatsionnaya zona Germanii'', "Soviet Occupation Zone of Germany") was an area of Germany in Central Europe that was occupied by the Soviet Union as a c ...
. Gisela Steineckert is often described as a "self-educated" writer, and it was in the immediate aftermath
Aftermath may refer to:
Companies
* Aftermath (comics), an imprint of Devil's Due Publishing
* Aftermath Entertainment, an American record label founded by Dr. Dre
* Aftermath Media, an American multimedia company
* Aftermath Services, an Americ ...
of war, through films and extensive reading, that she learned in detail about the more horrendous aspects of Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
.[ She obtained work as a ]Kindergarten
Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cent ...
assistant and then in November 1946, despite her parents' opposition,[ embarked on a commercial apprenticeship.][
]
German Democratic Republic
In 1947, still not yet 17, she married Walter Steineckert.[ After this she obtained work as a receptionist][ until the birth of their daughter in May 1951. This period also saw a tentative start to her writing career. In the meantime, in October 1949, the ]Soviet occupation zone
The Soviet Occupation Zone ( or german: Ostzone, label=none, "East Zone"; , ''Sovetskaya okkupatsionnaya zona Germanii'', "Soviet Occupation Zone of Germany") was an area of Germany in Central Europe that was occupied by the Soviet Union as a c ...
was relaunched as the German Democratic Republic (East Germany), a separated Soviet sponsored German state with its political, social and economic structures consciously modeled on those that had been developed over the previous three decades in the Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
. The political and economic contrast between West
West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sunset, Sun sets on the Earth.
Etymology
The word "west" is a Germanic languages, German ...
and East Germany
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 ...
became progressively more stark. 1953 saw the East German uprising firmly repressed following the intervention of Soviet troops. 1953 was also the year in which Gisela Steineckert's parents and siblings all relocated across the (at this stage still) porous inner-German frontier to West Germany
West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...
.[ Gisela, however, remained in East Germany.][ Her marriage ended in divorce and Gisela took a clerical job at the town hall in ]Berlin-Pankow
Pankow () is a locality (''Ortsteil'') of Berlin in the district (''Bezirk'') of Pankow. Until 2001 it was an autonomous district with the localities of Karow, Niederschönhausen, Wilhelmsruh, Rosenthal, Blankenfelde, Buch and Französisch Bu ...
.[ However, sending her daughter to Kindergarten was not an option: no longer having any of her own relatives in Berlin, she married the father of her child a second time.][ They separated again, this time permanently, in 1957.][
After 1957 she worked as a freelance writer, with some short interruptions, till ]1990
File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...
, writing radio plays and articles for newspapers and magazines. While she was (briefly) married to the writer Heinz Kahlau
Heinz Kahlau (6 February 1931 - 6 April 2012) was a German writer.
He is remembered as one of the best known lyric poets in the German Democratic Republic. He wrote song lyrics, dramas and prose pieces. He was particularly well known for his ...
, she wrote her first screen play with him. In 1962–1963 she was employed as the culture editor with the satirical magazine
This is a list of satirical magazines which have a satirical bent, and which may consist of fake news stories for mainly humorous purposes.
List
See also
* List of satirists and satires
* List of satirical news websites
* List of satir ...
, '' Eulenspiegel'', while continuing, through the mid-1960s, to produce more screen plays.[ In 1965 she became a member of the Berlin district executive of the (East) German Writers' Association.
It was also in 1965 that Steinecker began a period of close involvement in the East German Song Movement, a sustained ]party
A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often feature f ...
mandated campaign to co-opt the dynamic renaissance in popular music that was a feature of the 1960s into the service of the socialist state. In this context she worked closely with a number of musicians, writing lyrics for songs in the "easy listening" "Schlager" and "Chanson" styles as well as for children. Her close and enduring collaboration with Jürgen Walter originated during this period.[
In 1973 Gisela Steineckert married Wilhelm Penndorf, at that time a chief editor for music with the ]national radio
RNZ National ( mi, Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa Ā-Motu), formerly Radio New Zealand National, and known until 2007 as the National Programme or National Radio, is a publicly funded non-commercial New Zealand English-language radio network operat ...
service. This coincided with a rapid diminution in her involvement with the Song Movement, and by the end of the decade Penndorf had also stepped back from his career as a radio editor.[ Steineckert's third marriage, however, has endured as the first two did not. Penndorf's effective early retirement in 1979 was seen as a highly unusual example of a man sacrificing his own career in order to support his wife.]
In 1973 she became a member of the national Committee for Entertainment Arts, which had been set up in 1973 as a consultative body to support the Ministry of Culture, but which was by this time being seen as an officially endorsed advocacy group operating on behalf of the entertainment arts establishment. In 1984 the committee was reconfigured, and Gisela Steineckert became its president for the next six years.[ Rumours surfaced among her fellow writers that she had become very close to some of the party mandarins.]
Later years
During the 1980s she continued a writer of books and articles, also undertaking an ill-defined mentoring role, along with the composer Wolfram Heicking
Wolfram Heicking (born 19 May 1927) is a German composer, musicologist and music academy professor.
Biography
Wolfram Heicking was born and grew up in Leipzig. His higher-level studies began in 1946 in the newly liberated city at the Universi ...
, of the "October club". In 1990 she became an honorary president of the Democratic Women's League (''"Demokratischer Frauenbund Deutschlands"''/ DFD),[ a position she has retained through the ensuing dramatic changes to that formerly East German bastion of socialist womanhood.][ Directly after ]reunification
A political union is a type of political entity which is composed of, or created from, smaller polities, or the process which achieves this. These smaller polities are usually called federated states and federal territories in a federal governm ...
she fell out of fashion, and it became hard for her to find a publisher, while some of her existing books were cleared from the shelves to make space for suddenly available and fashionable western authors; but in Steineckert's case the fall from public favour proved relatively short-lived, especially in the eastern parts of Germany that had previously been the German Democratic Republic
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
.[ New songs were written in collaboration with various musicians and she also continues to tour regularly, giving readings of her prose and poetry. Meanwhile, she found a loyal publisher for her books in the newly reinvented Eulenspiegel Verlag publishing group.
]
Awards and honours
* 1981 Patriotic Order of Merit
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 ...
in bronze
* 1987 National Prize of the German Democratic Republic
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, ...
for Arts and Literature
Bibliography
* ''Alt genug um jung zu bleiben.'' Das Neue Berlin, Berlin 2006.
* ''Aus der Reihe tanzen. Ach Mama. Ach Tochter.'' Verlag Neues Leben, Berlin 1992.
* ''Brevier für Verliebte.'' Verlag Neues Leben, Berlin 1972.
* ''Briefe 1961–1983.'' Verlag Neues Leben, Berlin 1984.
* ''Das Schöne an den Frauen.'' Das Neue Berlin, Berlin 1999.
* ''Das Schöne an den Männern.'' Das Neue Berlin, Berlin 1998, .
* ''Das Schöne an der Liebe.'' Das Neue Berlin, Berlin 2000
* ''Der Mann mit der goldenen Nase.'' (together with Arndt Bause
Arndt Bause (30 November 1936 - 11 February 2003) was a German composer of popular songs.
Arndt Bause produced more than 1350 dance music melodies, many of which became "hits", which meant that he had a decisive influence on the music scene in E ...
) Das Neue Berlin, Berlin 1986, .
* ''Die blödesten Augenblicke meines Lebens.'' Verlag Neues Leben, Berlin 1996.
* ''Einfach Zuneigung. 22 Beispiele in Prosa.'' Verlag Neues Leben, Berlin 1986.
* ''Er hat gesagt. EheDialoge.'' Verlag Neues Leben, Berlin 1993.
* ''Erkundung zu zweit.'' Verlag Neues Leben, Berlin 1974.
* ''Erster Montag im Oktober. Gedichte.'' Verlag Neues Leben, Berlin 1986.
* ''Gedichte.'' Poesiealbum Nr. 199, Verlag Neues Leben, Berlin 1984.
* ''Gesichter in meinem Spiegel. Porträts.'' Verlag Neues Leben, Berlin 1977.
* ''Ich umarme dich in Eile. Briefe an Frauen.'' Verlag Neues Leben, Berlin 1992.
* ''Laß dich erinnern. Lieder.'' Verlag Neues Leben, Berlin 1987.
* ''Lieber September. Gedichte.'' Verlag Neues Leben, Berlin 1981.
* ''Liebesgedichte.'' (Hrsg. G. Steineckert), Volk und Welt, Berlin 1962.
* ''Liederbriefe.'' Henschel-Verlag, Berlin 1984.
* ''Mehr vom Leben. Gedichte.'' Verlag Neues Leben, Berlin 1983.
* ''Musenkuß und Pferdefuß. Verse, vorwiegend heiter.'' (Hrsg. G. Steineckert), Verlag Neues Leben, Berlin 1964.
* ''Nachricht von den Liebenden. Gedichte und Photos.'' (Hrsg. G. Steineckert), Aufbau-Verlag, Berlin 1964.
* ''Neun-Tage-Buch. Die X. Weltfestspiele.'' (gemeinsam mit Joachim Walther), Verlag Neues Leben, Berlin 1974.
* ''Nun leb mit mir. Weibergedichte.'' Verlag Neues Leben, Berlin 1976.
* ''Presente. Gedichte.'' Verlag Neues Leben, Berlin 1988.
* ''Und dennoch geht es uns gut. Briefe 1992–1998.'' Das Neue Berlin, Berlin 1998.
* .''.. und mittendrin das dumme Herz.'' Das Neue Berlin, Berlin 2005, .
* ''Unsere schöne Zeit mit dem bösen Rudi.'' Verlag Volk und Wissen, Berlin 1988.
* ''Veronika Fischer, diese Sehnsucht nach Wärme.'' Das Neue Berlin, 2001.
* ''Vor dem Wind sein. Lieder.'' Verlag Neues Leben, Berlin 1980.
* ''Wie ein Waisenkind. Fernseh-Erzählung.'' Eulenspiegel-Verlag, Berlin 1970.
* ''Wild auf Hoffnung.'' Verlag Neues Leben, Berlin 1990.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Steineckert, Gisela
Musicians from Magdeburg
Writers from Magdeburg
German lyricists
East German musicians
East German women
20th-century German musicians
Schlager musicians
Recipients of the National Prize of East Germany
Recipients of the Patriotic Order of Merit
Socialist Unity Party of Germany members
1931 births
Living people
20th-century German women writers