The Cultural Association of the GDR was a federation of local clubs in the German Democratic Republic (GDR). It formed part of the Socialist Unity Party

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...

-led National Front

National Front (East Germany)

The National Front of the German Democratic Republic was an alliance of political parties and mass organisations in East Germany...

, and sent representatives to the Volkskammer

Volkskammer

The People's Chamber was the unicameral legislature of the German Democratic Republic . From its founding in 1949 until the first free elections on 18 March 1990, all members of the Volkskammer were elected on a slate controlled by the Socialist Unity Party of Germany , called the National Front...

. The association had numerous writers as its member, including Willi Bredel

Willi Bredel

Willi Bredel was a German writer and president of the Akademie der Künste. Born in Hamburg, he was a pioneer of socialist realist literature....

, Fritz Erpenbeck, Bernhard Kellermann

Bernhard Kellermann

Bernhard Kellermann was a well known German author and poet.- Life :Bernhard Kellermann enrolled in 1899 at Munich's Technical University initially in general studies, but later focused on German literature and painting....

, Victor Klemperer

Victor Klemperer

Victor Klemperer was a businessman, journalist and eventually a Professor of Literature, specialising in the French Enlightenment at the Technische Universität Dresden. His diaries detailing his life under successive German states—the German Empire, the Weimar Republic, Nazi Germany and the German...

, Anna Seghers

Anna Seghers

Anna Seghers was a German writer famous for depicting the moral experience of the Second World War.- Life :...

, Bodo Uhse

Bodo Uhse

Bodo Uhse was a German writer, journalist and political activist. He was recognised as one of the most prominent authors in East Germany.-Early years:...

, Arnold Zweig

Arnold Zweig

Arnold Zweig was a German writer and anti-war activist.He is best known for his World War I tetralogy.-Life and work:Zweig was born in Glogau, Silesia son of a Jewish saddler...

. Its first chairman was Johannes Robert Becher.

Wilfried Maaß

Wilfried Maaß

Wilfried Maaß was a German politician. He was the Secretary of Science, Education and Culture in the Frankfurt/Oder District Leadership of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany 1962-1966. In 1966 he became Deputy Minister of Culture of the German Democratic Republic. Between 1968 and 1972 he was a...

 was the Secretary of Kulturbund 1984-1990.

Chairmen of the Cultural Association of the GDR

Name	Entered Office	Left Office
Johannes Robert Becher	1949	1958
Max Burghardt	1958	1977
Hans Pischner	1977	1989