Jurek Becker
(probably 30 September 1937 in Lodz, Poland; died 14 March 1997 in Sieseby, Germany); author, screenwriter
When Germany invaded Poland in 1939, Jurek Becker and his parents were deported to the Lodz Ghetto. Becker spent 1944 in different concentration camps and was in Königs Wusterhausen, a sub-camp of Sachsenhausen, when the war came to an end. Together with his father, he moved to East Berlin where he studied Philosophy. Becker then worked as a screenwriter for DEFA, the state-owned film studio. His first novel, Jakob der Lügner (Jacob the Liar), was published in 1969, having originally been rejected as a film script. However, five years later, DEFA did make a film based on the story, which was nominated for an Oscar in the best foreign film category. In 1974, Becker was awarded the Bremen Literature Prize for his novel Irreführung der Behörden (Cultures of Discontent) and received the National Prize of the German Democratic Republic in 1975. After he was openly critical of the expatriation of songwriter Wolf Biermann, Becker was expelled from the writers’ association and left East Germany. Jurek Becker wrote other novels, radio dramas and filmscripts, including the script for the television series Liebling Kreuzberg (Darling Kreuzberg), which won the Adolf Grimme Award.