Surveillance and the Gdr's Cultural Sphere

Franz Fühmann was one of the GDR's most prolific and celebrated writers, whose earliest texts were applauded for their strong support for GDR society. Over time, he became disillusioned with the stark contradiction between socialist ideology and the realities of everyday life. Because he provoked confrontations with cultural policy‐makers, some of his texts were subjected to censorship. Fühmann died in 1984, and as a result he never had the opportunity to view Party files, read Stasi documents or otherwise confront the legacy of the GDR's totalitarian regime. For this reason, he serves as an interesting case study illustrating how the strictures of GDR cultural policy succeeded in alienating an originally strong proponent. This essay examines two open letters Fühmann addressed to the Ministry of Culture and his failed attempt to publish an anthology of young writers, in order to highlight the ways in which the State conspired to prevent Fühmann's most decisive criticisms from entering the public sphere. Using unofficial informants within the publishing houses, the Stasi succeeded not just in censoring texts, but also in manipulating Fühmann and his writings for their own aims

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