Background
Brězan was born in Räckelwitz near Kamenz, the son of a quarry worker and smallholder.
Brězan was born in Räckelwitz near Kamenz, the son of a quarry worker and smallholder.
He attended school in Bautzen and then studied political economics.
He lived, following its creation during and after 1945, in the German Democratic Republic (East Germany). He had three younger sisters whose insatiable appetite for new stories encouraged him to exercise his narrative talents from an early age. However, he was excluded from his studies in 1936.
After 1933, he worked illegally for Domowina and was active in a Sorbian resistance group.
Domowina was closed down by government in 1937, and in 1937-1938, Brězan emigrated to Prague. After his return, he was arrested and was held in prison in 1938-1939.
From 1942 to 1944, he was a soldier in the Wehrmacht and became a prisoner of war with the Americans. Between 1945 to 1948, he was a youth official for the Domowina.
After 1949, he worked as a freelance writer
Between 1969 and 1989 he was vice-president of the writers union of East Germany. He lived near his birthplace until his death in Kamenz.
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In 1946, he joined the Socialist Unity Party.
Akademie der Künste Berlin]
In 1946, he became a member of the German Poets, Playwrights, Editors, Essayists and Novelists association-Zentrum East and West, in 1965 a member of the Akademie der Künste.