The Significance of Opposition

Abstract

In fact, until the famous declaration against Biermann’s expulsion, not a single bourgeois intellectual in the GDR came out openly and publicly in support either of Biermann, or of our position, or of any unambiguous criticism of the SED’s policy. None of these people, many of them very pleasant, as well as intelligent and artistically highly gifted people, dared to make a stand like Wolf, nor to stand beside him, because they were afraid their own work would suffer the same ban as was being very visibly imposed on him. By the manner in which they composed and wrote their books, their poems, novels and whatever else, they attempted to escape the party’s criticism, as one takes shelter from a light shower, just remaining within the bounds of permissibility, and acting as an ideological safety valve for opposition in the GDR. Basically almost all of them shared our opinion, and showed it by keeping actively in touch with us and us often meeting them. Wolf’s birthday parties in particular always saw a gathering of a very large number, a hundred or more literary people, writers, actors and artists of every kind, all celebrating his birthday. He sang his songs, and it was one big demonstration of shared feelings, of solidarity with Wolf, which always made me very happy, and him too.