{{Short description|German writer (1912–1994)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2022}} {{Infobox person | name = Erwin Strittmatter | image = Erwin Strittmatter, Berlin 1956 (1).jpg | caption = Strittmatter in 1956 | birth_date = {{Birth date|1912|8|14|df=y}} | birth_place = Spremberg, Germany | death_date = {{Death date and age|1994|1|31|1912|8|14|df=y}} | death_place = Stechlin, Germany | political_party = SED | occupation = Writer | spouse = {{Marriage|Eva Braun|1956<!--No end date per template instructions-->}} | children = 3 | notable_works = ''Der Laden'' }}
'''Erwin Strittmatter''' (14 August 1912 – 31 January 1994) was a German writer. Strittmatter was one of the most famous writers in the GDR.
==Biography== Strittmatter was born the son of a baker and foods wholesaler.<ref name=BiographischeDatenbankenES>{{cite web|url=http://www.bundesstiftung-aufarbeitung.de/wer-war-wer-in-der-ddr-%2363%3B-1424.html?ID=3454|author1=Bernd-Rainer Barth|author-link=Bernd-Rainer Barth|title=Strittmatter, Erwin * 14.8.1912, † 31.1.1994 Schriftsteller|publisher= Bundesstiftung zur Aufarbeitung der SED-Diktatur: Biographische Datenbanken |accessdate= 1 January 2015}}</ref> Between 1924 and 1930 he attended the secondary school in Spremberg which has subsequently been named after him. 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 worked as baker, waiter, chauffeur, zookeeper and unskilled laborer.
In October 1939 he volunteered to the Schutzpolizei,<ref>Verordnung über die Einstellung von Wehrpflichtigen in die Schutzpolizei des Reichs, 31.10.1939, RBGl. S.2137</ref> in March 1941 he was drafted into the Ordnungspolizei, He served in the Order Police Battalion Nr. 325, since summer 1942 III.Batl. of the Polizei-Gebirgsjäger-Regiment 18 <ref>Ralph Klein: ''Das Polizei-Gebirgsjäger-Regiment 18: Massaker, Deportation, Traditionspflege.'' Zeitschrift für Geschichtswissenschaft Nr. 1/2007, 18 January 2007</ref> Strittmatter completed courses in anti-partisan warfare and was deployed in Slovenia, Finland und Greece.<ref name=Tagesspiegel>[http://www.tagesspiegel.de/kultur/Erwin-Strittmatter;art772,2734515 Tagesspiegel.de Erwin Strittmatter: Das unbefragte Schweigen]</ref>
Strittmatter deserted in March 1945<ref name=Aufbau>[http://www.aufbau-verlag.de/index.php4?page=32&&show=910775 Biography on German publisher's website.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100115191507/http://www.aufbau-verlag.de/index.php4?page=32 |date=15 January 2010 }}</ref> and lived (without documentation) in Wallern/Volary (south-west Bohemia) for a few months.<ref name=BiographischeDatenbankenES/> He was interrogated by the US Military in May 1945, but they released him, thinking him a civilian.<ref name=BiographischeDatenbankenES/> By June 1945 he was back in what remained of Germany, working for a fruit and vegetable wholesaler in Saalfeld and also for his father as a baker<ref name=BiographischeDatenbankenES/> while also working as a correspondent and later as an editor for a newspaper. In 1947, he became head official of seven municipalities. In 1954 Strittmatter began working as a freelance writer.<ref name=Aufbau/> Strittmatter married Eva Strittmatter, who went on to become one of the most successful poets of East Germany, in 1956.<ref name=MZ>[http://www.mz-web.de/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=ksta/page&atype=ksArtikel&aid=1225104637783&openMenu=1013083806110&calledPageId=1013083806110&listid=0 Christian Eger, Tischgespräche in Schulzenhof], article on website of German newspaper ''Mitteldeutsche Zeitung''.</ref>
In 1955 he was awarded the National Prize of the GDR for his novel ''Tinko'', in 1961 he received the Lessing award of the GDR. He was a Stasi informer from 1958 to 1964.<ref>{{cite magazine |author=Joachim Walther|title=Petzen und Plaudern. Die Stasi-Kontakte des ostdeutschen Erfolgsautors Erwin Strittmatter|magazine=Der Spiegel | issue=39| date=23 September 1996|pages=226–227}}</ref> 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.<ref name=Monatshefte>[https://www.jstor.org/pss/30153411 Gregory D. Hanners, Erwin Strittmatter's 'Ole Bienkopp" and the Original of Political Criticism in GDR Literature] scholarly article on Strittmatter's work.</ref>
On 31 January 1994, Strittmatter died after a long illness.<ref name=BZ>[http://www.berlinonline.de/berliner-zeitung/archiv/.bin/dump.fcgi/1994/0202/feuilleton/0006/index.html Christel Berger, Der Poet und Verzauberer aus Schulzenhof], obituary on website of German newspaper ''Berliner Zeitung''.</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *{{Commons category-inline|Erwin Strittmatter}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Strittmatter, Erwin}} Category:1912 births Category:1994 deaths Category:People from Spremberg Category:Writers from the Province of Brandenburg Category:Sorbian people Category:Socialist Unity Party of Germany members Category:Cultural Association of the GDR members Category:East German writers Category:Writers from Brandenburg Category:20th-century German male writers Category:20th-century German police officers Category:Ordnungspolizei Category:Gebirgsjäger of World War II Category:Stasi informants Category:Recipients of the National Prize of East Germany Category:Recipients of the Order of Karl Marx Category:Recipients of the Patriotic Order of Merit in gold Category:Recipients of the Banner of Labor