Schalom, genosse schriftsteller! German-Jewish literature in the German Democratic Republic

This dissertation addresses the question of whether it is possible to speak of a German-Jewish literature in the GDR. It conceptualizes texts by writers of Jewish descent as German-Jewish literature in the GDR which allow themselves to be read as literary expressions of the difficulties to negotiate their post-Holocaust existence between self-determination and external attribution within the social, cultural, and political reality in East Germany. Drawing on a critical analysis of definitions of German-Jewish literature before and after the Holocaust, it investigates the presence and/or absence of Jewish themes and traditions as well as depictions of Jews and their relationship with 'other' Germans within a selected body of literature by German writers of Jewish descent in the German Democratic Republic. This study examines literary texts by Anna Seghers, Stefan Heym, and Barbara Honigmann as representative of three generational groups: Ruckkehrer, Dableiber, and Auswanderer.;By analyzing how their narratives express their (non)existing Jewish identity this dissertation demonstrates how the authors' Jewish background and the cultural and political reality in the GDR informed their writing and their relationship to their Jewishness. This study explores ruptures and continuities to previous literary expressions of German-Jewish existence in Germany as well as changes within this literature. It suggests that despite a continuous presence of the Holocaust as a referential frame, significant transformations take place during the forty years of East Germany's existence in how these writers approached their Jewishness. Whereas Anna Seghers' and Stefan Heym's texts imply that they were able to develop a Jewish self-understanding that justified and complemented their commitment for a Socialist GDR, Barbara Honigmann's testify to her perceived inability to explore the meaning of her Jewish origin in this country. This study ascertains that although it can in many respects be considered a continuation of previous literary traditions, the experience of the Holocaust and the Socialist experiment in the GDR re-defined not only the relationship of Germans and Jews but also the literature of German-Jewish writers in Germany.