Bernhard Seeger
Encyclopedia
Bernhard Seeger was a German
author
.
in Roßlau
. He attended the gymnasium
and then a teaching education school in Köthen
. In 1944, he joined the Nazi Party. After doing his Reichsarbeitsdienst
in Zerbst
, he participated in World War II
as a soldier in the Wehrmacht
in 1944/45. He was imprisoned in a Soviet prisoner of war
camp from May through December 1945.
After his return from the prison, Seeger completed a course for New Teachers. In 1946, he joined the SED
and the Freie Deutsche Jugend. Between 1946 and 1952, he worked as a teacher in a village school. He was a literary editor
at the Verlag Neues Leben in 1952/53 then a freelance writer in Stücken district of Michendorf
near Potsdam
. In 1954/55, he was a reporter in Vietnam
then he was department manager to the secretary of the Schriftstellerverband of East Germany. He became a writer again in 1957.
In the year 1967, Seeger was incapable of writing for a long time because of a difficult accident. Since he already belonged to the SED's Bezirk of Potsdam leadership since 1964, he was a member of the SED's Central Committee
from 1967. Between 1953 and 1972, he was an unofficial informer of the East German Stasi
.
Bernhard Seeger wrote reportages, narrative
s, novel
s and poems
though best known for his radio
and televised dramas
. Seeger's party politic works dealt with the prominent problems of the building phase of the East German society, that of the East German critic highly praised work"Herbstrauch" about the collective farming
of the East German agriculture in 1959/60 had strong influence of Sholokhov
's "New Land under the Plough".
Bernhard Seeger belonged to the Schriftstellerverband of East Germany since 1952 and the Akademie der Künste
between 1969 and 1991. He won the following awards: the 1956 Theodor Fontane Prize of the Bezirk Potsdam, the 1960 Erich Weinert Medal, the 1962 Heinrich Mann Prize
and Literature Prize of the Free German Trade Union Federation
(FDGB), the 1963 and 1967 National Prize of East Germany
, the 1968 Johannes R. Becher
Medal, the 1969 Order of the Banner of Labor
, the 1981 and 1983 Art Prize of the FDGB, the 1983 Vaterländischer Verdienstorden of East Germany as well as the 1987 Order of Karl Marx
.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
.
Life
Bernhard Seeger was born to a locksmithLocksmithing
Locksmithing began as the science and art of making and defeating locks. A lock is a mechanism that secures buildings, rooms, cabinets, objects, or other storage facilities. A key is often used to open a lock...
in Roßlau
Roßlau
Roßlau is a town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, part of the town Dessau-Roßlau. It is situated on the right bank of the Elbe, here crossed by two railway bridges, 3 m. by rail N. of Dessau and 35 m. S.E. of Magdeburg. Pop. 13,939...
. He attended the gymnasium
Gymnasium (school)
A gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual...
and then a teaching education school in Köthen
Köthen (Anhalt)
Köthen is a city in Germany. It is the capital of the district of Anhalt-Bitterfeld in Saxony-Anhalt, about north of Halle.Köthen is the location of the main campus and the administrative center of the regional technical university Hochschule Anhalt which is especially strong in information...
. In 1944, he joined the Nazi Party. After doing his Reichsarbeitsdienst
Reichsarbeitsdienst
The Reichsarbeitsdienst was an institution established by Nazi Germany as an agency to reduce unemployment, similar to the relief programs in other countries. During the Second World War it was an auxiliary formation which provided support for the Wehrmacht.The RAD was formed during July 1934 as...
in Zerbst
Zerbst
Zerbst is a town in the district of Anhalt-Bitterfeld, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Until the administrative reform of 2007, Zerbst was the capital of the Anhalt-Zerbst district. Since the 1 January 2010 local government reform, Zerbst has about 24,000 inhabitants.It is not clear when was it founded;...
, he participated in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
as a soldier in the Wehrmacht
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
in 1944/45. He was imprisoned in a Soviet prisoner of war
Prisoner of war
A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
camp from May through December 1945.
After his return from the prison, Seeger completed a course for New Teachers. In 1946, he joined the SED
Socialist Unity Party of Germany
The Socialist Unity Party of Germany was the governing party of the German Democratic Republic from its formation on 7 October 1949 until the elections of March 1990. The SED was a communist political party with a Marxist-Leninist ideology...
and the Freie Deutsche Jugend. Between 1946 and 1952, he worked as a teacher in a village school. He was a literary editor
Literary editor
A literary editor is an editor in a newspaper, magazine or similar publication who deals with aspects concerning literature and books, especially reviews. A literary editor may also help with editing books themselves, by providing services such as proof reading, copy-editing, and literary...
at the Verlag Neues Leben in 1952/53 then a freelance writer in Stücken district of Michendorf
Michendorf
Michendorf is a municipality in the Potsdam-Mittelmark district, in Brandenburg, Germany.-Geography:The municipality is composed by Michendorf itself and 5 civil parishes . Statistics of population are as of December 31, 2009...
near Potsdam
Potsdam
Potsdam is the capital city of the German federal state of Brandenburg and part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. It is situated on the River Havel, southwest of Berlin city centre....
. In 1954/55, he was a reporter in Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
then he was department manager to the secretary of the Schriftstellerverband of East Germany. He became a writer again in 1957.
In the year 1967, Seeger was incapable of writing for a long time because of a difficult accident. Since he already belonged to the SED's Bezirk of Potsdam leadership since 1964, he was a member of the SED's Central Committee
Central Committee
Central Committee was the common designation of a standing administrative body of communist parties, analogous to a board of directors, whether ruling or non-ruling in the twentieth century and of the surviving, mostly Trotskyist, states in the early twenty first. In such party organizations the...
from 1967. Between 1953 and 1972, he was an unofficial informer of the East German Stasi
Stasi
The Ministry for State Security The Ministry for State Security The Ministry for State Security (German: Ministerium für Staatssicherheit (MfS), commonly known as the Stasi (abbreviation , literally State Security), was the official state security service of East Germany. The MfS was headquartered...
.
Bernhard Seeger wrote reportages, narrative
Narrative
A narrative is a constructive format that describes a sequence of non-fictional or fictional events. The word derives from the Latin verb narrare, "to recount", and is related to the adjective gnarus, "knowing" or "skilled"...
s, novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
s and poems
Lyric poetry
Lyric poetry is a genre of poetry that expresses personal and emotional feelings. In the ancient world, lyric poems were those which were sung to the lyre. Lyric poems do not have to rhyme, and today do not need to be set to music or a beat...
though best known for his radio
Radio drama
Radio drama is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance, broadcast on radio or published on audio media, such as tape or CD. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine the characters and story...
and televised dramas
Dramatic programming
Dramatic programming in the UK, or television drama and television drama series in the US, is television program content that is scripted and fictional along the lines of √a traditional drama. This excludes, for example, sports television, television news, reality show and game shows, stand-up...
. Seeger's party politic works dealt with the prominent problems of the building phase of the East German society, that of the East German critic highly praised work"Herbstrauch" about the collective farming
Collective farming
Collective farming and communal farming are types of agricultural production in which the holdings of several farmers are run as a joint enterprise...
of the East German agriculture in 1959/60 had strong influence of Sholokhov
Michail Aleksandrovich Sholokhov
Mikhail Aleksandrovich Sholokhov was a Soviet/Russian novelist and winner of the 1965 Nobel Prize in Literature. An asteroid in main-belt is named after him, 2448 Sholokhov.-Life and work:...
's "New Land under the Plough".
Bernhard Seeger belonged to the Schriftstellerverband of East Germany since 1952 and the Akademie der Künste
Akademie der Künste
The Akademie der Künste, Berlin is an arts institution in Berlin, Germany. It was founded in 1696 by Elector Frederick III of Brandenburg as the Prussian Academy of Arts, an academic institution where members could meet and discuss and share ideas...
between 1969 and 1991. He won the following awards: the 1956 Theodor Fontane Prize of the Bezirk Potsdam, the 1960 Erich Weinert Medal, the 1962 Heinrich Mann Prize
Heinrich Mann Prize
The Heinrich Mann Prize is a literary award given annually by the Berlin Academy of Art . The prize given for works with socially critical aspects in a character that would honor Heinrich Mann...
and Literature Prize of the Free German Trade Union Federation
Free German Trade Union Federation
The Free German Trade Union Federation, in German Freier Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund , was the trade union federation in East Germany. It was part of the National Front and had representatives in the Volkskammer....
(FDGB), the 1963 and 1967 National Prize of East Germany
National Prize of East Germany
The National Prize of the German Democratic Republic was an award of the German Democratic Republic given out in three different classes for scientific, artistic, and other meritorious achievement...
, the 1968 Johannes R. Becher
Johannes R. Becher
Johannes Robert Becher was a German politician, novelist, and poet.-Early life:Johannes R. Becher was the son of Judge Heinrich Becher. In 1910 he tried to commit suicide with a friend; only Becher survived. From 1911 he studied medicine and philosophy in Munich and Jena...
Medal, the 1969 Order of the Banner of Labor
Banner of Labor
The Banner of Labor was an order issued in the German Democratic Republic .It was given for "outstanding achievements of many years which stabilized and strengthened the country, and in particular for high results of working in the national economy"....
, the 1981 and 1983 Art Prize of the FDGB, the 1983 Vaterländischer Verdienstorden of East Germany as well as the 1987 Order of Karl Marx
Order of Karl Marx
The Order of Karl Marx was the most important order in the German Democratic Republic . Award of the order also included a prize of 20,000 East German marks....
.
Works
- Eisenhüttenkombinat Ost, Berlin 1952
- Millionenreich und Hellerstück, Berlin 1956
- Sturm aus Bambushütten, Berlin 1956
- Wo der Habicht schießt, Halle (Saale) 1957
- Wie Jasgulla zu seinem Recht kam, Leipzig 1960
- Herbstrauch, Halle (Saale) 1961
- Hannes Trostberg. Die Erben des Manifests, Halle (Saale) 1968
- Vater Batti singt wieder, Halle (S.) 1972
- Menschenwege, Halle (Saale)
- 1 (1974)
- 2 (1987)
- Der Harmonikaspieler, Halle [u.a.] 1981
- Frühe Wege, Leipzig 1987
External links
- Literature by and on Bernhard Seeger in the catalog of the German National LibraryGerman National LibraryThe German National Library is the central archival library and national bibliographic centre for the Federal Republic of Germany...
- Wer war wer in der DDR? Bernhard Seeger (Who was who in East Germany? Bernhard Seeger)