Premium
Johannes R. Becher and the Agony of Responsibility, 1945–1949
Author(s) -
Davies Peter
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
german life and letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.1
H-Index - 12
eISSN - 1468-0483
pISSN - 0016-8777
DOI - 10.1111/1468-0483.00163
Subject(s) - ambivalence , soviet union , the arts , art , literature , sociology , law , psychology , political science , social psychology , politics
This article explores the significance of Johannes R. Becher’s influence on the cultural life of the GDR. Taking issue with views which see Becher simply as a mouthpiece for SED propaganda, it examines the development of his self‐image as a poet‐politician in the years of exile in the Soviet Union and his work in the ‘Kulturbund’ after 1945. An analysis of documentary material and of his literary output reveals that Becher saw himself as the embodiment of an aspiration to the unity of ‘Geist’ and ‘Macht’ in Germany; this aspiration, which governed his actions after his return from Moscow, helps to explain Becher’s marked ambivalence about the direction of SED cultural policy and his enduring influence on GDR cultural institutions such as the Academy of Arts and the journal Sinn und Form.