THE INFLUENCE OF BRIGITTE REIMANN'S FRANZISKA LINKERHAND ON THE POLITICAL SONGS OF GERHARD GUNDERMANN

Abstract

Gerhard Gundermann was an East German open cast miner and ‘Liedermacher’ who died prematurely in 1998 at the age of forty-three. Although he is known for his controversial involvement with the Stasi in his early career, very little has been written about his art, including the ‘Liedertheater’ work he performed with Brigade Feuerstein in the GDR. This article looks at the role of literary intertextuality in the productions of this group between 1978 and 1988. It specifically examines Gundermann's connection with Brigitte Reimann's socially critical novel Franziska Linkerhand, particular themes from which recur in his songs and theatrical scenes. These include ‘waiting’, as Gundermann and his contemporaries struggled to assert themselves, faced with the older generation's stranglehold on power and information. The Brigade Feuerstein productions will be examined against the background of Gundermann's own protracted conflict with the Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands (SED) in the years 1978 to 1984. Another theme of Franziska Linkerhand which appears in his work are the portraits of characters from the margins of society that conflict with ideal heroic depictions of workers as propagated by the SED. In the final decade of Gundermann's life, society's ‘losers’ continue to be portrayed in songs such as ‘Und musst du weinen’.