Gustav Just (16 June 1921 – 23 February 2011)''Alterspräsident des Brandenburger Landtages verstorben''
, Märkische Oderzeitung, 23 February 2011 (German). was First Secretary of the German Writers' Association (DSV) (german: Deutscher Schriftstellerverband) and editor-in-chief 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 ...

weekly ''Sonntag'' until 1957, when he was sentenced to four years imprisonment after a

show trial A show trial is a public trial in which the judicial authorities have already determined the guilt or innocence of the defendant. The actual trial has as its only goal the presentation of both the accusation and the verdict to the public so th ...

in which he was accused of having engaged in anti-constitutional activities ("inciting to boycott") along with

Walter Janka Walter Janka (29 April 1914 – 17 March 1994) was a German communist, political activist and writer who became a publisher. Janka is notable for having spent time incarcerated as a political prisoner under the rule of the Nazis and later impri ...

, Heinz Zöger, and Richard Wolf. He was born in Reinowitz,

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; cs, Čechy ; ; hsb, Čěska; szl, Czechy) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohem ...

. After his release he became a prolific translator of primarily

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places * Czech, ...

but also Slovak works into

German 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 ...

and was "rehabilitated" in 1990. He served in the

Brandenburg Brandenburg (; nds, Brannenborg; dsb, Bramborska ) is a states of Germany, state in the northeast of Germany bordering the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony, as well as the country of Poland. With an ar ...

State Parliament (as its ''Alterspräsident'', or "chairman by seniority") in the newly unified

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

until he was forced to resign in 1992 following allegations of having participated in wartime atrocities on the Eastern Front during

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 ...

. In 1998 he received the

Johann-Heinrich-Voß-Preis für Übersetzung The Johann Heinrich Voß Prize in Translation (german: Johann-Heinrich-Voß-Preis für Übersetzung) is awarded yearly by the German Academy for Language and Poetry in Darmstadt.

Publications

*''Zeuge in eigener Sache: Die fünfziger Jahre in der DDR'', Berlin: Luchterhand, Morgenbuch, 1990.
''Witness in His Own Cause: The Fifties in the German Democratic Republic''
Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1995.
''Deutsch, Jahrgang 1921: Ein Lebensbericht''
Potsdam: Verlag für Berlin und Brandenburg, 2001.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Just, Gustav 1921 births 2011 deaths People from Jablonec nad Nisou Sudeten German people Czechoslovak people of German descent Naturalized citizens of Germany Socialist Unity Party of Germany members Social Democratic Party of Germany politicians Members of the Landtag of Brandenburg 20th-century German translators 20th-century German male writers German male non-fiction writers German military personnel of World War II