Bodo Uhse (12 March 1904 in

Rastatt Rastatt () is a town with a Baroque core, District of Rastatt, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located in the Upper Rhine Plain on the Murg river, above its junction with the Rhine and has a population of around 50,000 (2011). Rastatt was a ...

Grand Duchy of Baden The Grand Duchy of Baden (german: Großherzogtum Baden) was a state in the southwest German Empire on the east bank of the Rhine. It existed between 1806 and 1918. It came into existence in the 12th century as the Margraviate of Baden and subs ...

– 2 July 1963 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 ...

) was a German writer, journalist and political activist. He was recognised as one of the most prominent authors 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 ...

Early years

Uhse came from a

Prussian Junker The Junkers ( ; ) were members of the landed nobility in Prussia. They owned great estates that were maintained and worked by peasants with few rights. These estates often lay in the countryside outside of major cities or towns. They were an impo ...

family with a long tradition of military service.McLellan, ''Antifascism and Memory in East Germany'', p. 32 In his early years Uhse was associated with the agrarian movement and was considered to be on the

far-right Far-right politics, also referred to as the extreme right or right-wing extremism, are political beliefs and actions further to the right of the left–right political spectrum than the standard political right, particularly in terms of being ...

of this group. This was evidenced by his involvement with the extremist ''Landvolkbewegung'' of

Schleswig-Holstein Schleswig-Holstein (; da, Slesvig-Holsten; nds, Sleswig-Holsteen; frr, Slaswik-Holstiinj) is the northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Sch ...

. He took part in the right-wing

Kapp Putsch The Kapp Putsch (), also known as the Kapp–Lüttwitz Putsch (), was an attempted coup against the German national government in Berlin on 13 March 1920. Named after its leaders Wolfgang Kapp and Walther von Lüttwitz, its goal was to undo the ...

in 1920. In 1927 he became a member of 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 ...

as a protege of Gregor Strasser. He remained a member until 1930, when he joined the

Communist Party of Germany The Communist Party of Germany (german: Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands, , KPD ) was a major political party in the Weimar Republic between 1918 and 1933, an underground resistance movement in Nazi Germany, and a minor party in West German ...

under the influence of Bruno von Salomon (the elder brother of writer

Ernst von Salomon Ernst von Salomon (25 September 1902 – 9 August 1972) was a German novelist and screenwriter. He was a Weimar-era national-revolutionary activist and right-wing Freikorps member. Family and education He was born in Kiel, in the Prussian prov ...

). During his Nazi membership he became editor to the Nazi party newspaper in

Ingolstadt Ingolstadt (, Austro-Bavarian: ) is an independent city on the Danube in Upper Bavaria with 139,553 inhabitants (as of June 30, 2022). Around half a million people live in the metropolitan area. Ingolstadt is the second largest city in Upper Bav ...

Communism

After the

Reichstag fire The Reichstag fire (german: Reichstagsbrand, ) was an arson attack on the Reichstag building, home of the German parliament in Berlin, on Monday 27 February 1933, precisely four weeks after Nazi leader Adolf Hitler was sworn in as Chancellor of ...

in 1933 he fled to Paris, where he was in contact with

Ernst Niekisch Ernst Niekisch (23 May 1889 – 23 May 1967) was a German writer and politician. Initially a member of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), he later became a prominent exponent of National Bolshevism. Early life Born in Trebnitz (Silesia), and b ...

. At the first International Writers Congress in Paris in 1935 he met

Bertolt Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known professionally as Bertolt Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a pl ...

and

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 ...

(both of whom would also later become prominent East German writers). Uhse spent the rest of the 1930s in exile in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

where he wrote for ''Neue Deutsche Blätter'', a

German language German ( ) is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and Official language, official or co-official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and the Ita ...

journal that was sympathetic to

communism Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

as well as in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

with

Bruno von Salomon Bruno may refer to: People and fictional characters *Bruno (name), including lists of people and fictional characters with either the given name or surname * Bruno, Duke of Saxony (died 880) * Bruno the Great (925–965), Archbishop of Cologne, ...

. During this time he was involved in the establishment of the Free German University, a Paris-based body that involved both the Communist Party and the

Social Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, ; SPD, ) is a centre-left social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been the ...

. In 1936 Uhse was one of a number of exiled dissidents to be declared ''ausgebürgert'' (deprived of German citizenship) by the Nazi regime. During the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, lin ...

, he served as an officer in the

International Brigades The International Brigades ( es, Brigadas Internacionales) were military units set up by the Communist International to assist the Popular Front government of the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War. The organization existed f ...

and wrote regularly about the conflict, with some of his work even smuggled into

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 ...

. His experiences in Spain and as a former member of the Nazi Party led him to write the 1944 novel ''Leutnant Bertram'', which dealt with a

Condor Legion The Condor Legion (german: Legion Condor) was a unit composed of military personnel from the air force and army of Nazi Germany, which served with the Nationalist faction during the Spanish Civil War of July 1936 to March 1939. The Condor Legio ...

pilot switching sides to the Republicans. The novel was a success and was translated into several languages.

Mexico

In 1939, he accepted an invitation from the

League of American Writers The League of American Writers was an association of American novelists, playwrights, poets, journalists, and literary critics launched by the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) in 1935. The group included Communist Party members, and so-called " fell ...

to join some other German dissidents in the United States but, despite settling there briefly, Uhse and other communist writers soon left, feeling uncomfortable in the United States due to the prevalence of

anti-communist Anti-communism is Political movement, political and Ideology, ideological opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in the Russian Empire, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, w ...

attitudes. Uhse finally settled in

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

in 1940, becoming part of a large group of emigrant German writers and thinkers who made their home in the capital

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

.Conrad Kent, Thomas Wolber, Cameron M. K. Hewitt, ''The Lion and the Eagle: Interdisciplinary Essays on German-Spanish Relations over the Centuries'', Berghahn Books, 2000, p. 32 Within Mexico City Uhse found a number of like-minded exiles including

Alexander Abusch Alexander Abusch (14 February 1902 27 January 1982) was a German journalist, non-fiction writer, and politician. According to one source he was born into a Jewish family in Kraków, Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, Austria-Hungary. Accordin ...

, Ludwig Renn and

Egon Erwin Kisch Egon Erwin Kisch (29 April 1885 – 31 March 1948) was an Austrian and Czechoslovak writer and journalist, who wrote in German. He styled himself ''Der Rasende Reporter'' (The Raging Reporter) for his countless travels to the far corners of the ...

. Here he co-founded the influential exile journal ''Freies Deutschland'' along with Renn, Kisch and André Simone, and served as co-editor of this review from its 1942 foundation. His time in Mexico was chronicled in his diary, ''Mexicanische Erzahlungen'', published in 1957.

East Germany

Bundesarchiv Bild 183-26715-0002, Berlin, Volksbühnen-Matinee, B

After marrying the Jewish Lithuanian-American divorcee Alma Agee (second wife of

James Agee James Rufus Agee ( ; November 27, 1909 – May 16, 1955) was an American novelist, journalist, poet, screenwriter and film critic. In the 1940s, writing for ''Time Magazine'', he was one of the most influential film critics in the United States. ...

) in 1945, Uhse left Mexico in 1948 to settle in

, where he immediately joined the

Socialist Unity Party of Germany The Socialist Unity Party of Germany (german: Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands, ; SED, ), often known in English as the East German Communist Party, was the founding and ruling party of the German Democratic Republic (GDR; East German ...

.Stephen Parker & Matthew Philpotts, ''Sinn und Form: The Anatomy of a Literary Journal'', Walter de Gruyter, 2009, p. 180 He became the editor in chief of the East German monthly cultural journal ''Aufbau'' in 1949, holding the position until 1958 when he was sacked as part of a wider purge of East German cultural life. His stepson Joel Agee later wrote a memoir about his family life, ''Twelve Years: An American Boyhood in East Germany'' (1981). Uhso was a member of the

People's Chamber __NOTOC__ The Volkskammer (, ''People's Chamber'') was the unicameral legislature of the German Democratic Republic (colloquially known as East Germany). The Volkskammer was initially the lower house of a bicameral legislature. The upper house ...

and became the first chairman of the German Writers' Association, a position that he held from 1950 to 1952. In 1954 Uhse joined the Literature Section of the German Academy of Arts, the most influential cultural body in the East. In 1963 he was appointed editor-in-chief of the influential literary magazine '' Sinn und Form''. Uhse, who was suffering from severe ill health due to a lifetime of heavy drinking and smoking, died after only a few months in the post.Parker & Philpotts, ''Sinn und Form'', p. 181

Selected works

* ''Söldner und Soldat'', 1935 (Mercenary and Soldier; novel) * '' Leutnant Bertram'', 1944 (''Lieutenant Bertram, a Novel of the Nazi Luftwaffe'', 1944) * ''The Shadow Thrower'', 1945 * ''Wir Söhne'', 1948 (We Sons; novel) * ''Die heilige Kunigunde im Schnee und andere Erzählungen'', 1949 (Saint Kunigunde in the Snow and Other Stories) * ''Landung in Australien: Reisebericht'', 1950 (Arrival in Australian: A Travelogue) * ''Die Brücke: 3 Erzählungen'', 1952 (The Bridge: 3 Stories) * ''Die Patrioten'', 1954 (The Patriots; novel) * ''Tagebuch aus China'', 1956 (Diary from China) * ''Mexikanische Erzählungen'', 1957 (Mexican Stories) * ''Die Aufgabe: Eine Kollwitz-Erzählung'', 1958 (The Task: A Kollwitz Story) * ''Gestalten und Probleme'', 1959 (Figures and Problems) * ''Reise in einem blauen Schwan: Erzählungen'', 1959 (Trip Inside a Blue Swan: Stories) * ''Sonntagsträumerei in der Alameda'', 1961 (Sunday Dreamings in the Alameda) * ''Im Rhythmus der Conga: Ein kubanischer Sommer'', 1962 (To the Beat of the Conga: A Cuban Summer)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Uhse, Bodo 1904 births 1963 deaths People from Rastatt People from the Grand Duchy of Baden Nazi Party members Communist Party of Germany politicians Socialist Unity Party of Germany politicians Members of the 1st Volkskammer Cultural Association of the GDR members East German writers Writers from Baden-Württemberg German travel writers German male short story writers German short story writers German newspaper editors 20th-century German novelists German male novelists 20th-century German short story writers 20th-century German male writers Exilliteratur writers German expatriates in Czechoslovakia German expatriates in France German expatriates in Mexico International Brigades personnel German people of the Spanish Civil War Recipients of the National Prize of East Germany