Harry Thürk (8 March 1927 – 24 November 2005) was a German writer.

Life

In 1934, Thürk moved with his family to Neustadt. After attending trade school, he began to work for the German train system (Reichsbahn). After being drafted in 1944 and participating 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 opposing ...

, he returned to Neustadt, which was renamed to Prudnik at the end of the war. However, he was forced to flee from

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

Weimar Weimar is a city in the state of Thuringia, Germany. It is located in Central Germany between Erfurt in the west and Jena in the east, approximately southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg and west of Dresden. Together with the neighbouri ...

. From 1946 to 1948 he worked with the Free German Youth organization in East Germany. After taking a variety of jobs, he became a journalist for a number of different newspapers and had the opportunity to work as a reporter in Southeast Asia during the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...

and also in

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

. He claimed to have been affected by Agent Orange with lifelong effects. He was married in 1953. Between 1956 and 1958, he worked with the

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

magazine ''

China Pictorial The ''China Pictorial'', known in Chinese as ''Renmin Huabao'' () is a Chinese monthly magazine first published in 1950. The title of the magazine was handwritten by Mao Zedong. It was one of four publications allowed during the Cultural Revoluti ...

''. After additional travels in

East Asia East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both Geography, geographical and culture, ethno-cultural terms. The modern State (polity), states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. ...

between 1964 and 1980 (including Laos,

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailan ...

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 ...

, Korea, China), he returned to Weimar. There between 1971 and 1983 he was the chairman of the writers union in

Thuringia Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German states. It has a population of about 2.1 million. Erfurt is the capital and lar ...

. In 1995 he resigned from the German

PEN A pen is a common writing instrument that applies ink to a surface, usually paper, for writing or drawing. Early pens such as reed pens, quill pens, dip pens and ruling pens held a small amount of ink on a nib or in a small void or cavity wh ...

organization.

Work

With his 2004 book ''Treffpunkt Wahrheit'' Thürk had published sixty books altogether, including novels, nonfiction, and children's books, as well as screenplays. His topics and exciting prose made him especially popular in

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 ...

, and he had altogether nine million copies printed in nine different languages. However, he remained relatively unknown in

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 ...

. Among his best-known works are the anti-war novel ''Die Stunde der toten Augen'' and the novels ''Amok'' and ''Der Gaukler''. Many of his novels take place in

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainlan ...

or in his first home of

Upper Silesia Upper Silesia ( pl, Górny Śląsk; szl, Gůrny Ślůnsk, Gōrny Ślōnsk; cs, Horní Slezsko; german: Oberschlesien; Silesian German: ; la, Silesia Superior) is the southeastern part of the historical and geographical region of Silesia, locate ...

. In his later years, his writings dealt with current political themes in reunified Germany. Thürk was a very controversial author because of his political themes as well as the frequent sex scenes in his novels. In the ''Der Gaukler'', he portrayed

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn. (11 December 1918 – 3 August 2008) was a Russian novelist. One of the most famous Soviet dissidents, Solzhenitsyn was an outspoken critic of communism and helped to raise global awareness of political repres ...

as a tool of the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

. However, Thürk, a member of the Socialist Unity Party also prompted controversy within the Communist sphere, for example with his depictions of battle scenes involving German troops against the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army ( Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, afte ...

in his novel ''Die Stunde der toten Augen'' (1957).

Awards and honors

*1964 National Prize of East Germany *1971 Theodor-Körner-Preis (DDR) *1977 National Prize of East Germany

Selected works

Stories

*''Nacht und Morgen'', 1950 *''Treffpunkt Große Freiheit'', 1954 *''Goldener Traum Jugend'', 1996 *''Auch überm Jangtse ist Himmel'', 2001

Novels

*''Die Herren des Salzes'', 1956 *''Die Stunde der toten Augen'', 1957 *''Der Narr und das schwarzhaarige Mädchen'', 1958 *''Das Tal der sieben Monde'', 1960 *''Der Wind stirbt vor dem Dschungel'', 1961 *''Verdorrter Jasmin'', 1961 *''Lotos auf brennenden Teichen'', 1962 *''Die weißen Feuer von Hongkong'', 1964 *''Der Tod und der Regen'', 1967 *''Der Tiger von Shangri-La'', 1970 *''Amok'', 1974, situated into

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

during the 1965-66 massacres. *''Des Drachens grauer Atem'', 1976 *''Der Gaukler'' (2 Bde.), 1978 *''Der schwarze Monsun'', 1986 *''Operation Mekong'', 1988 *''Die Lagune'', 1991 *''

Summer of Dead Dreams ''Summer of Dead Dreams'' (german: Sommer der toten Träume) is a novel by German writer Harry Thürk, published in 1993 by Mitteldeutscher Verlag. It is an autobiography with fictional elements. The book was translated to English, Polish (by M ...

'', 1993 *''Piratenspiele'', 1995

Crime novels

*''Der maskierte Buddha'', 1991 *''Die toten Masseusen von Kowloon'', 1992 *''Tod auf Tahiti'', 1993 *''Die tätowierte Unschuld'', 1994 *''Tuan Subutu läßt schießen'', 1995 *''Das letzte Aloha'', 1996 *''Schwarze Blüte – sanfter Tod'', 1997 *''Hongkongs Leichen sind sehr tot'', 1998 *''Der Tod kam aus Shanghai'', 1999 *''Mord mit zarter Hand'', 2000

Children's books

*''Fahrten und Abenteuer von Pitt und Ursula'', 1955/56 *''Su-su von der Himmelsbrücke'', 1960

External links

Harry-Thürk-Forum
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thurk, Harry 1927 births 2005 deaths German military personnel of World War II People from Prudnik County People from the Province of Upper Silesia German male writers East German writers