Konrad Wolf

Biografie

Konrad Wolf was one of the most important directors of DEFA. With films such as STARS (STERNE, 1959), DIVIDED HEAVEN (DER GETEILTE HIMMEL,1964), I WAS NINETEEN (ICH WAR NEUNZEHN, 1967), and SOLO SUNNY (1978/79), he brought German history and the German present to the big screen. Wolf became not only a nationally, but also an internationally recognized artist. His family had emigrated to Moscow when he was only eight years old, and at nineteen, he returned to his country in the uniform of the Red Army. The years in the Soviet Union shaped his view and attitude towards life. Politically socialized at an early age, Konrad Wolf remained true to communist ideals throughout his life but always asked critical questions. Along with his work as a director, he took on numerous (cultural-) political functions, making it a difficult balancing act.

Konrad Friedrich Wolf was born on October 20, 1925, in Hechingen (Württemberg) as the son of Friedrich and Else Wolf (née Dreibholz). Friedrich Wolf (1888–1953) was a doctor, naturopath, free spirit, writer, communist, and German Jew; Else Wolf (1898–1973), formerly a kindergarten teacher, organized the family’s everyday life, supported her husband in his medical practice and with his writing. Along with an older brother of two years, Markus, Wolf had two half-siblings from Friedrich Wolf's first wife, and he went on to have three more children with other women, most recently Thomas Naumann (born 1953). In October 1927, the family moved to Stuttgart. The sons were introduced to theatre and film at an early age by their father, who was involved in the People's Film Association (Volksfilmverband) and the Workers' Theatre Association (Arbeiter-Theater-Bund). Konrad became a Red Young Pioneer and, from 1932, attended the school of the progressive pedagogue Friedrich Schieke. After the takeover of the National Socialists in January 1933, his father fled the country via Austria and Switzerland, first to France. Else and their sons followed in the summer of 1933. For some months, the mother and sons lived in Switzerland; the sons attended school there while their father prepared their move to Moscow in the Soviet Union, which became possible in March 1934.

In the summer of 1934, Konrad Wolf was enrolled in the Karl-Liebknecht German-speaking school in Moscow, where mainly exiled teachers from Germany taught numerous children of emigrants. After the school closed, he studied at the 110th Secondary School "Fridtjof Nansen" in Moscow from September 1937 to June 1941. In 1936, like his mother and brother, he received Soviet citizenship (the Soviet authorities refused to grant his father one) and became a member of the pioneer organization. In his schooldays, Konrad Wolf was an enthusiastic moviegoer; revolutionary films like TSCHAPAJEW (1934) and WIR AUS KRONSTADT (1936) shaped his experiences. In the film KÄMPFER (1936) by the German emigrant Gustav von Wangenheim, Wolf played a small role as the child of an anti-fascist couple and found himself fascinated by the film shooting process. In the Soviet Union, the Stalinist show trials began. Friedrich Wolf wanted to join the International Brigades in Spain, not least to avoid arrest in Moscow. At the end of 1937, he fled to France, where the brigades were being disbanded. He stayed in France. An emigration to the US failed. After the outbreak of the Second World War, he was arrested in Paris in 1939 and interned in various camps, including Le Vernet. Else Wolf organized his Soviet citizenship with friends. In March 1941, Friedrich Wolf finally managed to emigrate to Moscow under a false name.

After the invasion of the Soviet Union by German troops in June 1941, Konrad Wolf evacuated to the children's home of the Writers' Union in Chistopol, joined his parents in Alma-Ata in January 1942, and returned with them to Moscow a month later. After helping to build defenses, he finished the 9th grade in December 1942. Within the same month, the seventeen-year-old registered voluntarily for the Red Army. His first orders in the army brought him to the Transcaucasian Front in January 1943. Shortly afterward, he was assigned to the political department of the 47th Army. There, he interrogated prisoners of war and conducted intelligence work; he translated Russian leaflets into German and Allied messages into Russian, and through loudspeaker speeches, he tried to persuade German soldiers to defect. As a lieutenant, Wolf followed the Red Army's path through Ukraine and Poland, experienced the battles for Warsaw, the liberation of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, and the attack on Berlin. In April 1945, he was appointed Soviet city commander of Bernau for one day. His last stop was Premnitz in Brandenburg. Wolf recorded everything in his war diaries. For his services, Wolf was awarded the Order of the Red Star and the Order of the Patriotic War 1st Class, among others. In 1975, Konrad Wolf was named an honorary citizen of Bernau.

After the end of the war, Konrad Wolf initially worked as a "special correspondent for local news" at the Berliner Zeitung (newspaper) and rode a motorcycle through the destroyed city to gather impressions of everyday life that was starting to return. In July 1945, he went to Halle to command the Saale and worked in the department of culture and censorship in the Soviet Military Administration (SMA). He watched old Ufa films and decided on their release for cinema screenings. As a cultural advisor, he gave lectures on theatre work and Soviet culture and supervised the work of local newspapers. In December 1946, Konrad Wolf was discharged from the Red Army as a first lieutenant to take up a position as a consultant in the departments for youth, student and sports affairs, and for films of the newly opened "House of Culture of the Soviet Union" in Berlin at the beginning of 1947. He organized screenings of Soviet films and spoke the German dialogues himself, led discussion events, gave lectures, and wrote newspaper articles, all while attending the evening school of SMA in Berlin-Karlshorst and passing his Abitur in May 1949.

Four months later, Wolf passed his entrance exam at the Moscow Film School VIKD and, in due course, started his directing studies in September 1949. The directing classes were led by Grigori Alexandrow, and Wolf's teachers also included Mikhail Romm and Sergei A. Gerasimov. Starting in his third school year, he worked during his semester break as a director’s assistant at the DEFA production company. His first experiences were working on the documentaries FRIENDSHIP TRIUMPHS (FREUNDSCHAFT SIEGT, Joris Ivens, 1951), about the III World Festival of Youth and Students in Berlin, and BLUE BANDANAS IN THE SUMMER WIND (BLAUE WIMPEL IM SOMMERWIND, Herbert Ballmann, 1952), about a meeting of the Young Pioneers in Dresden. In February 1952, Wolf received his German citizenship, and in August of the same year, he became a member of the Socialist Unity Party (SED). In 1953, Wolf assisted as an intern on director Kurt Maetzig's monumental film ERNST THÄLMANN – SON OF HIS CLASS (ERNST THÄLMANN – SOHN SEINER KLASSE, 1953/54). In October 1953, his father Friedrich Wolf died.

For the final film project at school, Wolf presented the film-synopsis developed with Walter Gorrish and Wolfgang Kohlhaase: A boy who believed he had lost his mother in a bomb attack in Dresden was picked up by Soviet soldiers in the spring of 1945. One of the soldiers took the boy to Ukraine. There, the boy became a Communist and Komsomol. In 1952, he received a message that his mother was alive. The boy returned to his homeland now as a stranger but found his place after initial difficulties. The subject material already contained Wolf's central themes: homelessness, the search for one's own self-image, and the relationship between Germans and Soviets. The project was unfortunately declined by HV Film, allegedly because the film could trigger anti-Soviet resentment. So instead, Wolf finished his studies in March 1955 with the musical comedy ONCE DOES NOT COUNT (EINMAL IST KEINMAL, 1954/55). It was a commission from the studio management, which wanted to increase comedy production at DEFA. Wolf seemed to offer himself as a student of Grigori Alexandrov, who was known for his musical comedies from the 1930s. In the end, the finished film contained various reminiscences. But it could also be seen as an alternative to the West German homeland films: with colorful landscape shots, cheerful exuberance, and the genre-typical love entanglements. It was about Peter Weselin (Host Drinda), a young composer from Düsseldorf, who traveled to Klingenthal in the Vogtland to visit his uncle to spend a relaxing holiday. But the annual Music Days festival would soon begin, and various musical actors in the village hoped for very different compositions from Peter. Then Peter also fell in love with the cheeky Anna (Brigitte Krause), who wanted dance music that Peter hated, of all things. When the big day finally came and it was a grand party, of course, everything came together in a happy ending. Wolf also used these playful elements in later films, but otherwise, the film stood alone in his body of work. The most momentous thing was that Wolf met colleagues with whom he would continue to work, especially cameraman Werner Bergmann. Afterwards, they made eleven films together.

In 1955, Konrad Wolf was appointed to the Arts Council at DEFA-Studio for feature films. In the same year, he married Annegret Reuter. From their marriage, they had two children together, Judith-Katharina (1956) and Oleg (1958). Shortly after, Wolf started working on his next film. In February 1956, the premiere of RECOVERY (GENESUNG, 1955) took place. It was the story of a hoax. One man, Friedel Walter (Wolfgang Kieling), worked after the war with fake documents as a doctor in a hospital in Stralsund (North-west Coast). He had never been able to finish his medical studies there due to being against the National Socialists. At that time, he saved the life of an escaped communist (Wilhelm Koch-Hogge) who needed medical help. Friedel actually wanted to escape Germany with his lover but was transferred to the front as a medic. During the liberation with the help of American troops, his identity was switched with the identity of a dead man. Friedel didn’t clear up the error. Later, as he was treating a patient – chance would have it – he found out that the very patient was the man he had saved all the way back then and was confronted with his past. He surrendered himself to the authorities, was acquitted in a trial, and was given the chance to complete his medical studies. It was a film about duty, guilt, and responsibility, told in complex flashbacks, the first identifiable signs of Wolf's later aesthetic.

A year later, he followed with his movie LISSY (1957) from the novel “The Temptation” (“Die Versuchung”) by F.C. Weiskopf. The book explored the question of why the German petty bourgeoisie and sections of the working class were susceptible to National Socialism. Lissy (Sonja Sutter) was a working girl from Berlin. She dreamed of a well-situated life and married at the beginning of the 30s to the worker Alfred Frohmeyer (Horst Drinda). As soon as the first child was born, Frohmeyer lost his job. The Nazis promised a way out, and Frohmeyer made a career in the SA. This seemed to be the way to social advancement. Lissy's brother (Hans-Peter Minetti) also switched from the Young Communists to the SA. But one day, he was shot in the back by the Nazis. Lissy began to understand the situation and separated from Frohmeyer. The ending was left open by Wolf. The filmmaker tried to tell the contradictions of the time through the characters' inner conflicts. LISSY was an atmospherically densely photographed drama, which through its staging was close to poetic realism.

The following project, Wolf counted as one of his most important works for the rest of his life. The background of SUN SEEKERS (SONNENSUCHER,1958), as in “The Way Home”, was formed by two antagonistic experiences: of Germans and Soviets, and thus also two emotional worlds that characterized Wolf's life. The main setting of the film was Wismut, where in 1950, very different characters met in a differentiated way: demoralized Germans, former members of the SS, cranky anti-fascists, petty party secretaries, and Soviet officers who monitored uranium mining as an occupying power. The main character was the young orphan Lutz (Ulrike Germer), who was forcibly conscripted to work in a mine by the welfare authorities. Within the conflict, pain from her past kept coming up. Everyone was looking for a little love and happiness. But Wolf was accused of anti-Sovietism while the rough cut was being approved, and those in charge demanded changes, so the film was reshot, and scenes had to be removed. Initially, the film remained on the shelf. In June 1959, the Politburo gave the green light. But at the last minute, the premiere was suddenly cancelled due to an objection from the Soviet ambassador: the depiction of uranium mining could lead to misunderstandings, and the Soviet Union was calling for a general nuclear ban at the time. The real reason probably lay in the harsh, realistic picture that the film painted of Wismut as a microcosm of the GDR. SUN SEEKERS (SONNENSUCHER) was not released in cinemas until 1972.

While SUN SEEKERS (SONNENSUCHER) was held back and still being discussed, Wolf was getting ready for his next film, whose screenplay was written by Bulgarian Angel Wagenstein and was based on his experiences as a partisan and Jew. With Wolf's movie STARS (STERNE, 1959), Auschwitz was addressed for the first time in a German feature film. In the fall of 1943, the non-commissioned officer Walter (Jürgen Frohriep) was stationed in a Bulgarian city. In what seemed like an idyllic place, one day reality hit: a transport of Greek Jews arrived, who were to be deported to Auschwitz. They were being kept in a temporary camp. A Jewish woman, Ruth (Sascha Kurscharska), challenged Walter's indifference. Affection grew between the two. Walter began to realize what crimes he was participating in. He wanted to help, but he came too late. In the end, he procured weapons for the partisans. The European dimension of the story, the use of the original languages, the use of music and sound gave Sterne a modern touch. At first, Wolf worked with a visual script. Many images became symbols. The film won many awards, including the Special Jury Prize at the Cannes International Film Festival in 1959. Under pressure from the Hallstein Doctrine, the film was shown there as a Bulgarian contribution. Until the very end, the Federal Republic tried to prevent the screening. In the West German version, the ending was ultimately cut out. In Bulgaria, on the other hand, the film was initially not approved because the image of the Germans was too positive and the suffering of the Bulgarian people and their contribution to the resistance were not sufficiently acknowledged. Today, STARS (STERNE) is one of the most important films about the Shoah.

In the same year of 1959, Wolf already began filming his next film, PEOPLE WITH WINGS (LEUTE MIT FLÜGELN,1960). The story followed a communist aircraft mechanic Ludwig Bartuschek (Erwin Geschonneck), from the Nazi era to his role as party secretary in an aircraft factory in Dresden. The story served as a blueprint for the development of the GDR. Wolf experimented with making the scenes representing the present filmed in color and the scenes representing the past filmed in black and white. The film failed not only because of its overt didactics but also because the plans to build an aircraft industry in the GDR were shattered. The metaphor no longer held.

In 1959, Konrad Wolf took over the chairmanship of the Union of the Arts until 1966, and from 1961 was a member of the Academy of Arts (East) in the performing arts section. He wanted to get involved in cultural politics. As a member of the DEFA combat group, he took part in the “securing of the state border” on August 13, 1961. Like many artists and intellectuals in the GDR, he welcomed the closing of the borders.

In 1960, he separated from his wife Annegret Reuter. Just before the divorce, he met the actress Christel Bodenstein. In 1961, their son, Mirko, was born, and the two married.

With PROFESSOR MAMLOCK (1960/61), Wolf translated what was probably his father's most important play into a visually powerful film. Hans Mamlock (Wolfgang Heinz) was the head physician at a surgical clinic; he was also a patriot and humanist. With the change in the political and societal climate in Germany in 1933, he did not want to acknowledge the openly articulated anti-Semitism he saw in the country. He had fierce arguments with his son, who had joined the communists. He was eventually released from his own clinic, humiliated as a Jew, and driven into isolation. In the end, he knew no other way out than to shoot himself. Wolf attempted to use the means of film to bring back to life the dimensions of his father's drama that had been lost or ignored in many versions and interpretations. The result was one of the most cinematic DEFA films of those years.

The next film was again about the political present. THE DIVIDED HEAVEN (DER GETEILTE HIMMEL,1964) was based on the novel of the same name by author Christa Wolf, which had been published a year earlier. The story began before the Wall was built, and the author turned the division of the country into literary material. The young student Rita (Renate Blume) was in love with a ten-years-older chemist, Manfred (Eberhard Esche). Daily issues overshadowed the relationship. After professional failures, Manfred left the GDR disappointed and went to West Berlin. The borders were still open, while Rita met people in Halle during a company internship who were self-sacrificially committed to work and socialism. When Rita visited Manfred in West Berlin, they both noticed a rift that divided not only the country but also the lovers. Rita almost broke down over the decision of where to live. In the end, she chose the GDR. The thoughtfulness of the film, the differentiated argumentation, and the portrayal of a torn emotional world aroused suspicion among some functionaries. But the film was allowed to be released. Stylistically, THE DIVIDED HEAVEN (DER GETEILTE HIMMEL) impressed with its expressionistic visual language, artistic montages, and staggered flashbacks reminiscent of the Nouvelle Vague.

On June 12, 1965, Konrad Wolf became the youngest president of the German Academy of Art (East) at the age of thirty-nine. He wanted to “open up” the academy and turn it into a formative, intervening authority. One of his first projects was the world premiere of Peter Weiss' “The Investigation”, the stage adaptation of the recently concluded Auschwitz trial in Frankfurt/Main, on October 19, 1965, with the participation of prominent personalities from politics and culture. Wolf was re-elected three times as President of the Academy and remained in office until his death in 1982.

In 1965, GDR television commissioned DEFA to film Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's “The Little Prince”. The adaptation was intended to introduce color television in the GDR, the budget was unusually large, and the film crew was first-rate. Angel Wagenstein wrote the screenplay, and Konrad Wolf directed. It was Wolf's first work for television. In terms of content and design, THE LITTLE PRINCE (DER KLEINE PRINZ, 1965/66) was closely based on Saint-Exupéry's text and illustrations. The existential classic told the story of a pilot (Eberhard Esche) who had to make an emergency landing in the middle of the desert. There, he met a little prince (Christel Bodenstein). The prince told the pilot about his planet, his loneliness, his journey to other stars, and his experiences with their inhabitants. Everyone lived alone in their own world; they were all socially deformed figures. The theme was human self-alienation. THE LITTLE PRINCE (DER KLEINER PRINZ) pleaded for friendship, love, and fantasy. Formally, the film was an experiment, heavily stylized and staged in fantastic landscapes and scenery. However, the finished film had to wait a long time for its release. The filming coincided with the 11th plenary session—Wolf was present as a guest without speaking rights. His academy concept was also criticized. Nevertheless, THE LITTLE PRINCE (DER KLEINER PRINZ) got through the censors without complaint. However, the copyrights were not clarified. It was not until 1972 that the film was broadcast for the first time in the second program of GDR television, virtually hidden away, and then disappeared into the archives.

In 1967, Konrad Wolf was a founding member of the Association of Film and Television Professionals of the GDR (VFF) and was elected to the board.

Despite his feelings of general confusion and resignation following the 11th Plenary, the shooting of Konrad Wolf's most personal film, I WAS NINETEEN (ICH WAR NEUNZEHN), began in 1967. Based on Wolf's war diaries, Wolf and his screenwriter Wolfgang Kohlhaase told the story of the last days of the war from the perspective of 19-year-old German Red Army soldier Gregor Hecker (Jaecki Schwarz) in an episodic structure, subjectively, without pathos or idealization, of fleeting encounters with people, with followers, defectors, opportunists, perseverance fanatics, and anti-fascists. Werner Bergmann's camera captured impressions and events almost like a documentary. I WAS NINETEEN (ICH WAR NEUNZEHN) was once again a film about antagonistic feelings and experiences. Because of the realism and his honesty, the film made a huge impact on its audiences. Until today, it remains one of the most important films about Germany and Germans in 1945.

In 1976, Wolf and Kohlhaase came together once more for MAMA, I'M ALIVE (MAMA, ICH LEBE) and returned to the themes of war. The story of four young German soldiers who decided to stay in Soviet captivity and fight for the side of the Red Army could be seen as a complementary piece to I WAS NINETEEN (ICH WAR NEUNZEHN). Trained as anti-fascists, the four Germans traveled by train to the front. The Soviet soldiers traveling with them behaved differently toward them. The Germans struggled with their new role. On an assignment behind German lines, they had to decide whether they were prepared to shoot at their German compatriots. In 1977, the filmmakers of MAMA, I’M ALIVE (MAMA, ICH LEBE) were invited to the Berlinale. Among other things, Wolf asked questions about the situation in the GDR after the expatriation of singer-songwriter Wolf Biermann in November 1976. Wolf had not protested against the expatriation but tried to keep the conversation between signatories and non-signatories of the Biermann resolution open. Nevertheless, Wolf, the bridge-builder, became increasingly isolated. The events hit him with a serious personal crisis. Christel Bodenstein left him. The marriage ended in divorce in 1978. Soon afterward, he met the makeup artist Inge-Lore Kindt.

The tension between art and political power was not coincidentally at the center of these last three films by Konrad Wolf. As early as 1963, he began thinking about a film about the Spanish painter Francisco de GOYA. Angel Wagenstein wrote the screenplay based on Lion Feuchtwanger's novel Goya or The Poor Way of Knowledge. At the center was the story of an artist who transformed from court painter to rebel; it was about truthfulness in art and political violence. It would be a big international production. However, the realization of the film dragged on until 1971. The planned co-production with Spain, France, or Artur Brauner's CCC did not materialize. Finally, the DEFA feature film studio collaborated with the Soviet Lenfilm. With eleven months of filming in five countries, actors from eight countries, shooting on 70mm, in color, and with opulent sets, GOYA became the most elaborate and expensive project in Wolf's working biography. Despite winning numerous awards, the hoped-for broad resonance with audiences did not materialize.

As a complete contrast to GOYA, Wolf started his next joint project with Wolfgang Kohlhaase, THE NAKED MAN ON THE SPORTS FIELD (DER NACKTE MANN AUF DEM SPORTPLATZ,1973/74), shot with a small crew, without great technical effort, and out of improvisation. The result was a quiet and contemplative film about a reclusive sculptor in the GDR. Herbert Kemmel (Kurt Böwe) made his art, but most of the time people stood in front of his work perplexed. Nor could they understand why Kemmel could not let go of the German past. Wolf and Kohlhaase thought calmly, and not without humor, about the different ways of dealing with art, its task, its suitability for everyday use, and the relationship between artist and audience, casually creating a snapshot of the country. But the audience's response was—almost ironically—once again poor.

On July 3, 1973, Wolf's mother died. The courageous Else Wolf, called Meni, had been the central point of reference for Wolf.

SOLO SUNNY (1978/79), the fourth film with Wolfgang Kohlhaase, finally hit the nerve of the times. With the help of Kohlhaase, Wolf seemed to be leaving his life's theme behind. The film told the story of a young singer from Berlin, Sunny (Renate Krößner), who traveled the country with a Tingeltangel band and dreamed of artistic self-realization, recognition, and personal happiness in equal measure. The film captured the longings and frustrations of a generation and was enthusiastically received by the audience. The realistic milieu images of Prenzlauer Berg also attracted attention. Renate Krößner was awarded the Silver Bear for Best Actress for her performance at the 1980 Berlin International Film Festival.

In 1981, Konrad Wolf was a delegate to the X. Party Congress of the SED and was elected a member of the Central Committee. In the same year, his son Oleg was arrested while trying to escape from the GDR. His father and uncle stood up for him. One of Wolf's last cultural-political initiatives was his support for the Berlin Meeting for Peace Promotion in December 1981, initiated by Stephan Hermlin. Almost 100 personalities from the arts and sciences of the East and West spoke there about the threat of war against the position of the planned deployment of medium-range missiles in both German states.

At this time, Wolf was already working on his six-part film series for GDR television. BUSCH SINGS (BUSCH SINGT, 1982) was about the composer Ernst Busch, who had died a year earlier, and reconstructed the history of the first half of the 20th century. Wolf tried to revive the great ideals once again. This was the first time Wolf had dared to make a documentary. He gathered a team of like-minded people around him, including directors Peter Voigt and Erwin Burkert. Wolf took over the artistic direction. BUSCH SINGS (BUSCH SINGT) was produced by DEFA, GDR television, and the Academy of Arts. The films were based on acoustic documents: historical recordings of Busch, records, interviews from audio cassettes, and film footage. They were accompanied by visual documents: pictures, photos, drawings, excerpts from newsreels, old feature films, and newly shot material. Wolf directed the third and fifth parts, appearing in the latter as the narrator himself. But he was no longer able to complete it. On March 7, 1982, Wolf died of cancer at the age of just 56. The team had to complete the sixth part alone.

Another incomplete project was “Troika.” Since his first trip to the USA in 1975, during which his films were shown, Wolf had carried the idea of a film that told the story of a boyhood friendship from the 20th century with its extreme fates. It was, among other things, Wolf's own story. Wolf was one of the boys we met in Moscow in the 1930s: Konrad Wolf and Lothar Wloch, both from German emigrant families, and Viktor Fischer, the son of American journalist Louis Fischer. The spark for the film came from a photo taken of Viktor Fischer, Lothar Wloch, and Konrad Wolf in Berlin in 1945: Fischer was in a US Army uniform, Wolf in a Red Army uniform, and Wloch, formerly a Luftwaffe pilot in the Wehrmacht, was in civilian clothes, standing in the middle. In 1975, Wloch had accompanied Wolf to the USA, where they visited Viktor and Louis Fischer. In 1976, Wloch committed suicide. In 1977, Wolf drafted a sketch. The film was meant to be a bold confrontation with the ideals, deformities, and crimes committed in the name of communism. Wagenstein was recruited for the screenplay. Both traveled to their childhood places and, for the second time, to the USA. However, they failed to find a convincing cinematic solution. The project was repeatedly postponed. In the end, shortly before his death in the hospital, Konrad Wolf handed the folder to his brother. In 1989, Markus Wolf published the book “The Troika. History of an Unmade Film.”

Contrary to his wishes, Konrad Wolf was given a grand state funeral on March 12, 1982, at the Berlin-Friedrichsfelde Cemetery.

On October 18, 1985, the College of Film and Television in the GDR in Potsdam-Babelsberg was renamed in his honor. Two months before his death, he had opened the series “The First Film” at the Academy, where graduates of the film school could present their final films, including those that had fallen victim to the internal censorship of the school.

Written by Lisa Schoß, translated by Mia Alonso. (Status: November 2024)

You can find more information about 100 years of Konrad Wolf here (in German ).

Awards

• 1956: RECOVERY (GENESUNG) - International Film Festival Damascus: Bronze Medal
• 1957: LISSY - International Film Festival Karlovy Vary: Grand Prix
• 1957: LISSY - International Film Festival Moscow: Bronze Medal
• 1959: STARS (STERNE) - International Film Festival Cannes: Special Jury Prize
• 1959: STARS (STERNE) - National Award II. Class (shared with Werner Bergmann)
• 1961: PROFESSOR MAMLOCK - International Film Festival Moscow: Gold Medal
• 1961: PROFESSOR MAMLOCK - International Film Festival New Delhi: Silver Lotus Blossom
• 1965: THE DIVIDED HEAVEN (DER GETEILTE HIMMEL) - Erich Weinert Medal to Eberhard Esche
• 1965: THE DIVIDED HEAVEN (DER GETEILTE HIMMEL) - Patriotic Order of Merit in Silver
• 1968: I WAS NINETEEN (ICH WAR NEUNZEHN) - National Award I. Class (shared with Werner Bergmann and Wolfgang Kohlhaase)
• 1969: Johannes R. Becher Medal in Gold
• 1971: GOYA - National Award I. Class to the Collective
• 1971: GOYA - Art Prize of the GDR to the Collective
• 1971: GOYA - International Film Festival Moscow: Special Jury Prize
• 1974: Karl Marx Order
• 1975: Art Prize of the Society for German-Soviet Friendship
• 1977: MAMA, I'M ALIVE (MAMA, ICH LEBE) - Art Prize of the FDGB (shared with Werner Bergmann and Wolfgang Kohlhaase)
• 1977: MAMA, I'M ALIVE (MAMA, ICH LEBE) - International Film Festival Avellino: Silver Medal
• 1979: National Award I. Class
• 1980: SOLO SUNNY - National Feature Film Festival: Directing Award (shared with Wolfgang Kohlhaase)
• 1980: SOLO SUNNY - International Film Festival Berlin: International Film Critics' Prize

Literature

Countless books and essays have been published on Konrad Wolf and his cinematic work over the past decades. The German bibliography compiled in the following PDF document attempts to provide a comprehensive overview: Bibliography Konrad Wolf ( in German (246 KB)).

DEFA-Filmografie

• Freundschaft siegt (1951) - Regieassistenz | Director: Iwan Pyrjew, Joris Ivens
• Ernst Thälmann - Sohn seiner Klasse (1954) - Regieassistenz | Director: Kurt Maetzig
• Einmal ist keinmal (1955) - Drehbuch | Director: Konrad Wolf
• Genesung (1955) - Director: Konrad Wolf
• Trailer: Einmal ist keinmal (1955) - Director: Konrad Wolf
• Interview mit Konrad Wolf (1957) - Darsteller | Director: Heinz Thiel
• Lissy (1957) - Drehbuch | Director: Konrad Wolf
• Trailer: Lissy (1957) - Director: Konrad Wolf
• Sonnensucher (1958) - Director: Konrad Wolf
• Der Augenzeuge 1959/A 59 (1959) - Person, primär
• Sterne (1959) - Director: Konrad Wolf
• Trailer: Sterne (1959) - Director: Konrad Wolf
• Leute mit Flügeln (1960) - Director: Konrad Wolf
• Professor Mamlock (1960 - 1961) - Drehbuch | Director: Konrad Wolf
• Trailer: Leute mit Flügeln (1960) - Director: Konrad Wolf
• Der Augenzeuge 1964/19 (1964) - Person, primär
• Der geteilte Himmel (1964) - Drehbuch | Director: Konrad Wolf
• Trailer: Der geteilte Himmel (1964) - Director: Konrad Wolf
• Der Augenzeuge 1966/27 (1966) - Person, primär
• Der kleine Prinz (1966) - Director: Konrad Wolf
• Der Augenzeuge 1967/09 (1967) - Person, primär
• GRENADA, GRENADA, GRENADA MOJA / Granada, Granada, Du mein Granada (1967) - Synchronisation (Autor) | Director: Roman Karmen
• Ich war neunzehn (1967) - Drehbuch | Director: Konrad Wolf
• Der Augenzeuge 1968/07 (1968) - Person, primär
• Der Augenzeuge 1968/08 (1968) - Person, primär
• Der Augenzeuge 1968/20 (1968) - Person, primär
• Der Augenzeuge 1968/50 (1968) - Person, primär
• Der Augenzeuge 1968/51 (1968) - Person, primär
• DDR-Magazin 1969/01 (1968) - Person, primär | Director: Helmut Schneider
• Der Augenzeuge 1970/06 (1970) - Person, primär
• Goya (1971) - Drehbuch | Director: Konrad Wolf
• Der Augenzeuge 1972/22 (1972) - Person, primär
• DDR-Magazin 1972/15 (1972) - Person, primär | Director: Horst Winter
• Der nackte Mann auf dem Sportplatz (1973) - Drehbuch | Director: Konrad Wolf
• Der Augenzeuge 1976/20 - 30 Jahre DEFA / 30 Jahre Filmkunst im Auftrag der Arbeiterklasse (Erinnerungen an Filme und Filmschöpfer) (1976) - Person, primär
• Mama, ich lebe (1976) - Drehbuch | Director: Konrad Wolf
• Trailer: Mama, ich lebe (1976) - Director: Konrad Wolf, Heinz Thiel
• Der Augenzeuge 1977/11 (1977) - Person, primär
• Addio, piccola mia (1978) - Darsteller | Director: Lothar Warneke
• Solo Sunny (1978 - 1979) - Drehbuch | Director: Konrad Wolf
• Trailer: Solo Sunny (1979) - Director: Konrad Wolf
• Busch singt (1982) - Director: Konrad Wolf, Peter Voigt, Erwin Burkert, Reiner Bredemeyer, Ludwig Hoffmann