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Wolf Biermann

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Wolf Biermann was born in Hamburg in 1936. His father, a Jewish resistance fighter, was murdered in Auschwitz in 1943. At seventeen Wolf moved to East Germany, because he wanted to put his communist ideals into practice there. In Berlin he studied political economy, philosophy and mathematics and from 1957 to 1959 worked at the Berliner Ensemble. In 1960 he met the composer Hanns Eisler, who took him on as a protégé. Biermann wrote poems and songs and sang them with his guitar.

Music and breakthrough

Although he was a convinced communist, the regime was alarmed by his independent views. In 1963 he was refused membership of the ruling party. His programme about the building of the Berlin Wall was banned. His records appeared in the West, such as Chausseestraße 131 from 1969, recorded in his own flat in East Berlin, with street noise in the background and sarcastic, pointed German lyrics. They found their way back to East Germany clandestinely. In 1976 he was allowed to go on tour in West Germany, after which the government stripped him of his citizenship. Famous East German intellectuals protested, among them Christa Wolf.

Influence

Biermann is best known for the song Ermutigung from 1968. His music is that of a songwriter with a guitar, close to poetry and to political criticism. In this way he became a symbol of the dissident who was no longer allowed to perform in the Eastern Bloc. In the story of rock behind the Iron Curtain he appears as the singer who had not been allowed to play in his own country for years.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to Chausseestraße 131, the record Biermann made at home. Notice the bare guitar sound, the street noises in the background and how sharply the singing delivers the words.

Discography

Studio albums

In School of Rock

The chapters, maps and magazine stories of School of Rock are currently available in Dutch only.

Categories: Artists