Background
Strittmatter was born the son of a baker and foods wholesaler.
Strittmatter was born the son of a baker and foods wholesaler.
Between 1924 and 1930 he attended the secondary school in Spremberg which has subsequently been named after him.
Strittmatter was one of the most famous writers in the German Democratic Republic. His left his school early due to shortage of money, and at the age of 17 he started an apprenticeship as a baker. Later Strittmatter he worked as baker, waiter, chauffeur, zookeeper and unskilled laborer. In 1940 he volunteered to the Waffen-Steamship but was rejected.
Instead, in March 1941 he was drafted into the Ordnungspolizei in the Steamship-Polizei-Gebirgsjäger-Regiment 18, which operated under the control of the Waffen-Steamship and which was involved in the deportation of Jews from Athens.
In October till December 1941 his unit was stationed at Cracow, probably as guards of the Krakau Ghetto. Later Strittmatter completed courses in anti-partisan warfare and was deployed in Slovenia, Finland und Greece.
On 31 January 1994, Erwin Strittmatter died after long illness.
His 1963 novel "Ole Bienkopp" was the first widely read work of literature in East Germany to break the constraints of Socialist Realism and offer a tragic hero who criticized representatives of the ruling Socialist Unity Party in the course of the novel.
Academy of Arts of the German Democratic Republic.