Peter Hacks
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Peter Hacks ( b. March 21, 1928, Breslau/Wrocław - formerly in Germany, now in present-day Poland, d. 2003), was a German playwright, author, and essayist.
Displaced by World War II, Hacks settled in Munich in 1947, where he made acquaintance with Thomas Mann and Bertolt Brecht. Hacks then followed Brecht to East Berlin in 1955, where the two collaborated closely.
[edit] Life
Although Hacks faced initial displeasure from the literary watchdogs of the GDR, his success on the world stage--most notably with "Ein Gespräch im Hause Stein über den abwesenden Herrn von Goethe" (A Discussion in the Stein Home about the Absent Mr. Goethe)--led to his literary acceptance within the party leadership.
Hacks' support of the East German government's 1976 expatriation of the satiric folk singer Wolf Biermann, however, led to widening unpopularity, first within the Federal Republic of Germany, and later inside the GDR.
Hacks viewed the 1990 dissolution of the East German state as a counterrevolution; he spent the remainder of his life withdrawn from public life.
For a list of Hacks' significant works, see the article in German.
[edit] External links
- Peter Hacks Homepage in German, also a Peter Hacks Forum with some English sources.
