Yaak Karsunke (born 4 June 1934,

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 ...

) is a German author and actor. The son of an engineer and the procurer of a publishing house, he grew up in the borough of

Pankow Pankow () is the most populous and the second-largest borough by area of Berlin. In Berlin's 2001 administrative reform, it was merged with the former boroughs of Prenzlauer Berg and Weißensee; the resulting borough retained the name Pankow. P ...

. In 1949 his family moved to

Friedenau Friedenau () is a locality (''Ortsteil'') within the borough (''Bezirk'') of Tempelhof-Schöneberg in Berlin, Germany. Relatively small by area, its population density is the highest in the city. Geography Friedenau is part of the southwestern s ...

where he passed the

Abitur ''Abitur'' (), often shortened colloquially to ''Abi'', is a qualification granted at the end of secondary education in Germany. It is conferred on students who pass their final exams at the end of ISCED 3, usually after twelve or thirteen year ...

in 1953 and studied

jurisprudence Jurisprudence, or legal theory, is the theoretical study of the propriety of law. Scholars of jurisprudence seek to explain the nature of law in its most general form and they also seek to achieve a deeper understanding of legal reasoning a ...

for three semesters. From 1955 to 1957 he studied drama at the Max-Reinhardt-Schule, today known as the

Ernst Busch Academy of Dramatic Arts The Ernst Busch Academy of Dramatic Arts (German: ''Hochschule für Schauspielkunst Ernst Busch'', ''HFS''), based in the Niederschöneweide district of Berlin, Germany, was founded in 1951 as the National Theatre School in Berlin with the stat ...

. In 1964, Karsunke moved to

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

, where he became involved with the , becoming a spokesman for the

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) is an organisation that advocates unilateral nuclear disarmament by the United Kingdom, international nuclear disarmament and tighter international arms regulation through agreements such as the Nucle ...

in 1968. Along with other leftist authors, he founded the literary review , for which he served as editor in chief from 1965 until August 1968, when he resigned as a protest against the

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

repression of the

Prague Spring The Prague Spring ( cs, Pražské jaro, sk, Pražská jar) was a period of political liberalization and mass protest in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. It began on 5 January 1968, when reformist Alexander Dubček was elected First Sec ...

. In the early 1970s, Karsunke befriended

Rainer Werner Fassbinder Rainer Werner Fassbinder (; 31 May 1945 – 10 June 1982), sometimes credited as R. W. Fassbinder, was a German filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the major figures and catalysts of the New German Cinema movement. Fassbinder's main ...

, appearing in his films '' Love Is Colder Than Death'' (1969), ''

Gods of the Plague ''Gods of the Plague'' (german: Götter der Pest) is a 1970 West German black-and-white drama film directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder. Plot After his release from prison, ex-convict Franz Walsch finds his way back into the Munich criminal underw ...

'' (1970), and '' Berlin Alexanderplatz'' (1980). From 1976 to 1979 he served as Fassbinder's technical adviser at the German Film and Television Academy Berlin. From 1981 to 1999 he taught creative writing at the

Berlin University of the Arts The Universität der Künste Berlin (UdK; also known in English as the Berlin University of the Arts), situated in Berlin, Germany, is the largest art school in Europe. It is a public art and design school, and one of the four research universiti ...

. Karsunke has also worked extensively as a lyricist. Since the late-1960s he has written many

plays Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * P ...

and

radio drama Radio drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre) is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine ...

s. In 1989 he published a

crime novel Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professional detective, of a crime, ...

, ''Toter Mann'', for which he won the in 1990.https://oe1.orf.at/artikel/215058/Hand-und-Fuss (in german)

Works

* ', Berlin 1967 * ', Berlin 1969 * ', Weinheim .a.1970 (with Dietlind Blech) * ', Munich 1972 (with Riki Hachfeld) * ', 1973 (with

Peter Janssens Peter Janssens (17 June 1934 – 24 December 1998) was a German musician and composer who wrote and performed incidental music for several theatres, and songs and musicals of the genre Neues Geistliches Lied, a pioneer of . He worked at a Germa ...

) * ', Berlin 1973 * ', 1975 (with Peter Janssens) * ', Berlin 1979 * ', 1979 (with Wilhelm Dieter Siebert) * ', Berlin 1982 * ', 1982 * ', Berlin 1984 (with Arwed D. Gorella) * ', 1986 * ', Berlin 1989 * ', Berlin 1992 * ', Munich 2004

In translation

Arnold Wesker Sir Arnold Wesker (24 May 1932 – 12 April 2016) was an English dramatist. He was the author of 50 plays, four volumes of short stories, two volumes of essays, much journalism and a book on the subject, a children's book, some poetry, and oth ...

: ', 1970 (with Ingrid Karsunke)

References

External links

* 1934 births Living people German male film actors German lyricists Writers from Berlin Male actors from Berlin 20th-century German male actors Ernst Busch Academy of Dramatic Arts alumni Academic staff of the Berlin University of the Arts 20th-century German dramatists and playwrights German male dramatists and playwrights German-language poets 20th-century German male writers {{Germany-writer-stub