Werner Bräunig (May 12, 1934 – August 14, 1976) was a German author. He is best known for his posthumously published novel ''Rummelplatz'' (German for ''"Fairground"''). The novel was to be part of a

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. ...

campaign to establish a new kind of working class literature by encouraging talented labourers to write fiction about their everyday lives. Bräunig started work on his only novel ''Rummelplatz'' in 1960. The novel deals with work in the Soviet owned uranium mines of the Wismut AG and covers the time span from the foundation of the GDR in 1949 to the uprising in East Germany on June 17, 1953. Though the novel clearly shows the author's conviction that

capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, price system, priva ...

always ends up in

Fascism Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy an ...

and therefore

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 ...

is the only chance for mankind, the preprinted chapters of the book were heavily criticized by the 11th plenum of the Central Committee of 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 ...

as defaming the working class and the

Soviet 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 nation ...

Union. In contrast to official propaganda, Bräunig portrayed the Wismut miners not as a kind of working-class elite, but as ordinary people struggling to make a living after World War II, spending their spare time in pubs or at the local fairground ("Rummelplatz") and with little interest in politics. In 2007 the novel was published and nominated for the

Leipzig Book Fair Prize The Leipzig Book Fair Prize () is a literary award assigned annually during the Leipzig Book Fair to outstanding newly released literary works in the categories "Fiction", "Non-fiction" and "Translation". The Leipzig Book Fair Prize has been award ...

. An English translation by Samuel P. Willcocks was published in 2015 by Seagull Books. The 2012 film Barbara was partially inspired by the novel.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Braunig, Werner 1934 births 1976 deaths People from Chemnitz Socialist Unity Party of Germany members East German writers Writers from Saxony German male writers Working-class literature