Peter Hacks

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Peter Hacks (March 21, 1928 – August 28, 2003) was a German playwright, author, and essayist.

Hacks was born in Breslau (Wrocław), Lower Silesia. 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.

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 supported the East German government's 1976 expatriation of the singer Wolf Biermann.