Seeger, Bernhard

Born Oct. 6, 1927, in Rosslau. German writer (German Democratic Republic). Member of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany.

Seeger, the son of a worker, fled from Hitler’s army and was taken prisoner by Russian troops during World War II (1939–45). After his return to Germany, he worked as a teacher in a village school. His first collection of poems, Millions and Pennies (1956), describes episodes from his life or the life of his lyrical hero. His novella Where the Hawk Flies (1957) shows the fate of German youths who fought in the name of the fascist Reich, unable to understand who their real enemies were. Seeger’s novel Autumn Smoke, which is devoted to the socialist reconstruction in the German countryside (1961; Russian translation, 1963), was awarded the H. Mann Prize. Seeger has also won other literary prizes, including the T. Fontane (1956), E. Weinert (1960), and H. Heine (1962) prizes, as well as the National Prize of the GDR (1963).