Wolf Biermann nominated for Nobel Prize in Literature

Uwe Lehmann-Brauns, a long-time CDU cultural expert and former member of the Berlin state parliament, has proposed German singer-songwriter and poet Wolf Biermann for the Nobel Prize in Literature. The proposal comes ahead of Biermann’s 90th birthday this November.

Lehmann-Brauns stated that Biermann’s work and poetic voice represent the “inviolability of individual freedom as the dignity of the single human being.” He noted that Biermann’s lyrics and poems use originality and humor to express the experiences of millions of people in the former GDR and Eastern Europe, as well as those currently facing similar conditions in countries like China and Russia.

Biermann, born in Hamburg in 1936, moved to East Berlin as a teenager. After falling out with the SED, he faced a performance ban and was eventually stripped of his citizenship by the GDR in November 1976. His work has consistently addressed the experience of political oppression.