''Naked Among Wolves'' (german: Nackt unter Wölfen) is a novel by 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 ...
author
Bruno Apitz
Bruno Apitz (28 April 1900 – 7 April 1979) was a German writer and a survivor of the Buchenwald concentration camp.
Life and career
Apitz was born in Leipzig, as the twelfth child of a washer woman. He attended school until he was fourteen, t ...
. The novel was first published in 1958 and tells the story of prisoners in the
Buchenwald concentration camp
Buchenwald (; literally 'beech forest') was a Nazi concentration camp established on hill near Weimar, Germany, in July 1937. It was one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps within Germany's 1937 borders. Many actual or su ...
who risk their lives to hide a young Polish-Jewish boy. Apitz himself had been imprisoned in Buchenwald as a communist from 1937 to 1945. The boy, whose name in the novel is Stefan Cyliak, was revealed to be based on
Stefan Jerzy Zweig
Stefan Jerzy Zweig (born January 28, 1941) is an author and cameraman. He is known as ''the Buchenwald child'' from the novel by Bruno Apitz, '' Naked Among Wolves''. He survived the Buchenwald concentration camp at age four under protection fro ...
after publication of the novel.
The book has since been translated into 30 languages
and published in 28 countries.
Adaptations
* In 1960 a first TV movie titled ''Nackt unter Wölfen'' was adapted for
East German television.
* In
1963
Events January
* January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Cov ...
the novel was adapted for a film, also titled ''
Naked Among Wolves'', by the East German director
Frank Beyer
Frank Paul Beyer (; 26 May 1932 – 1 October 2006) was a German film director. In East Germany he was one of the most important film directors, working for the state film monopoly DEFA and directed films that dealt mostly with the Nazi era ...
.
* In
2015
File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...
an
adaptation for TV was released, directed by
Philipp Kadelbach
Philipp Kadelbach (born 9 September 1974, Frankfurt am Main) is a German film and television director. In discussing Kadelbach, actor Jürgen Schornagel stated "He's in the top five of the 116 directors I've worked with. He helps young people and e ...
.
See also
*
Buchenwald Resistance
The Buchenwald Resistance was a resistance group of prisoners at Buchenwald concentration camp. It involved Communists, Social Democrats, and people affiliated with other political parties, unaffiliated people, and both Jews and Christians. Be ...
References
1958 German novels
East German novels
German historical novels
Novels about Nazi Germany
Novels about the Holocaust
German novels adapted into films
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