{{Short description|German musician}} {{Infobox musical artist | honorific_prefix = | name = Kurt Demmler | honorific_suffix = | image = Bundesarchiv Bild 183-1989-1104-053, Berlin, Demonstration, Kurt Demmler.jpg | image_upright = | image_size = | landscape = <!-- yes, if wide image, otherwise leave blank --> | alt = | caption = | native_name = | native_name_lang = | birth_name = <!-- leave empty if the same "name" --> | alias = | birth_date ={{birth date|1943|09|12|df=y}} | birth_place = Berlin, Germany | origin = | death_date = {{death date and age|2009|2|3|1943|09|12|df=y}} | death_place = Berlin, Germany | genre = | occupation = Singer | instrument = Guitar | years_active = <!-- YYYY–YYYY (or –present) --> | label = | associated_acts = | website = <!-- {{URL|example.com}} or {{Official URL}} --> | module = | module2 = | module3 = }} '''Kurt Demmler''' (born ''Kurt Abramowitsch'', 12 September 1943 Posen &ndash; 3 February 2009 Berlin) was a German songwriter, who in the earlier part of his life was a dissident East German songwriter.<ref>John Rodden (2014). [https://books.google.com/books?id=iapFf3E31BgC&dq=Kurt+Demmler&pg=PA16 ''Dialectics, Dogmas, and Dissent; Stories from East German Victims of Human Rights Abuse'']</ref> Accused of alleged sexual abuse of underage girls during castings for a female pop group, he hanged himself in his Berlin jail cell.

==Career==

Demmler grew up in Cottbus, Brandenburg, in East Germany.<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/kurt-demmler-pop-and-rock-lyricist-whose-career-ended-in-disgrace-1605400.html|title=Kurt Demmler: Pop and rock lyricist whose career ended in disgrace|date=February 10, 2009|website=The Independent}}</ref> He qualified as a doctor in 1969.<ref name="auto"/>

He was a well-known dissident lyricist and songwriter for many German rock bands.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pK2bDwAAQBAJ&dq=Kurt+Demmler&pg=PT30|isbn=9781000310252|title=Rocking the State: Rock Music and Politics in Eastern Europe and Russia|date=4 June 2019|publisher=Routledge}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cSDlAAAAIAAJ&q=Kurt+Demmler|title = GDR Review|year = 1989|publisher = Verlag Zeit im Bild}}</ref> Some of Demmler's compositions, such as “Come Into My Guitar Boat” and “Every Person Can Love Everyone”, were award-winning works.<ref name=local>[https://www.thelocal.de/20090203/17171/ East German Songwriter Commits Suicide in Jail]. ''The Local'', February 3, 2009.</ref>

He was active in the peaceful revolution against the East German communist government, which led to the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.<ref name="local" />

==Accusations and suicide== In 2009, Demmler was to stand trial for alleged sexual abuse, stemming from accusations that he molested six underage girls between 1995 and 1999 during castings in his Prenzlauer Berg district apartment in Berlin for a female pop group.<ref name=local/><ref name="auto"/>

The day of the trial, Demmler hanged himself in his jail cell in the Moabit district in Berlin.<ref name=local/><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_urIDQAAQBAJ&dq=Kurt+Demmler&pg=PA126|isbn=9781137592736|title=Popular Music in Eastern Europe: Breaking the Cold War Paradigm|date=21 December 2016|publisher=Springer}}</ref> He was 65.<ref name="auto"/><ref name="local"/>

== Discography == * 1971 ''Kurt Demmler – Lieder'' (Amiga Records) * 1974 ''Verse auf sex Beinen'' (Amiga) * 1979 ''Komm in mein Gitarrenboot'' (Amiga) * 1982 ''Jeder Mensch kann jeden lieben'' (Amiga) * 1985 ''Die Lieder des kleinen Prinzen'' (Amiga) * 1989 ''Kerzenlieder 1989'' (Amiga) * 1990 ''Windsandundsternenlieder'' (DSB) * 2001 ''Mein Herz muss barfuß gehn'' (Unionton)

== References == {{reflist}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Demmler, Kurt}} Category:1943 births Category:2009 suicides Category:2009 deaths Category:Child sexual abuse in Germany Category:German people who died in prison custody Category:German rock musicians Category:German male songwriters Category:20th-century German musicians Category:Recipients of the National Prize of East Germany Category:People who died by suicide in prison custody Category:Prisoners who died in German detention Category:Suicides by hanging in Germany