Erich Loest | |
|---|---|
 Loest in 2008 | |
| Born | 24 February 1926 Mittweida, Saxony |
| Died | 12 September 2013 (aged 87) Leipzig, Saxony |
| Pen name |
|
| Occupation | Writer |
| Language | German |
| Nationality | German |
| Genre | German history |
| Notable awards | Hans Fallada Prize (1981) |
Erich Loest (German: [ˈeːʁɪç ˈløːst] ⓘ; 24 February 1926 – 12 September 2013) was a German writer born in Mittweida, Saxony.[1] He also wrote under the pseudonyms Hans Walldorf, Bernd Diksen and Waldemar Naß.
He was a conscript soldier in World War II and a Nazi Party member, he was captured by US troops in 1945. In 1947 he joined the Socialist Unity Party of Germany and became a journalist for the Leipziger Volkszeitung. His first novels were heavily criticized, he was dismissed from the Volkszeitung and became a freelance writer.[1] In 1957 he lost his SED membership and was held as a prisoner in a Stasi prison in Bautzen for "konterrevolutionärer Gruppenbildung (counter-revolutionary grouping)" until 1964, during which he was prohibited from writing.[1][2]
From 1965 to 1975, he wrote eleven novels and 30 short stories, some under pseudonyms. In 1979 he was ostracized from East Germany and did not return until after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1990.[1]
In 1995, Frank Beyer directed the film Nikolaikirche, which was written, at first, as a screenplay by Loest, who later made it a novel. In his later years, Loest became seriously ill and announced at an Academy of Arts ceremony in 2010 that he did not have the strength to write another novel.[1] On 12 September 2013, he committed suicide by jumping from a second-floor hospital window. He was 87 years old.[1]
