On 6 June 1946, the dramatist and novelist, and 1912 Nobel Laureate for Literature, Gerhart Hauptmann, died at the age of 84.

Hauptmann began writing in 1885. His first work was the romantic drama "Tiberius", but later he turned to realism. In 1889, the drama Vor Sonnenaufgang (“Before Daybreak”) brought him his first triumph and within 15 years he became a prominent writer and leader of modern German drama.

His style is defined as naturalism. However, he sometimes proved himself to be a real innovator: for example, the protagonist of the drama Die Weber ("The Weavers") is a crowd, the composition of which changes in every act. So in 1912, the Nobel committee said that his award was "in recognition of his seminal and outstanding work in the field of dramatic art."

After the Nazis came to power, he was not allowed to leave the country. His works were constantly checked and corrected by censors, and a number of works were banned. However, Hauptmann’s 80th birthday in 1942 was celebrated as a national holiday by the Nazis. Complete Works of Hauptmann were published in 17 volumes.

Two years later, the writer was included in the Gottbegnadeten-Liste – “God-gifted list”, compiled by the Reich Ministry of Education and Propaganda and personally certified by Hitler. This allowed Hauptmann to escape "total mobilisation", enjoying the status of an "irreplaceable artist".

At the end of the war, Hauptmann witnessed the bombing of Dresden, about which he said: “Whoever had forgotten how to cry learnt again at the destruction of Dresden. I stand at the end of my life and envy my dead comrades, who were spared this experience.”

After the defeat of Nazi Germany, Hauptmann was elected honorary chairman of the Kulturbund - the union of the German democratic creative intellectuals. He spent the last months of his life in Silesia, in his home. However, this time was overshadowed by anxiety: after the war, the territory went to Poland, and the Polish government insisted on the deportation of all Germans. On 6 June the playwright died of bronchitis. Before he died, he asked: "Am I still in my house?" Writer Johannes Becher, communist leader Wilhelm Pieck and Colonel Sergei Tyulpanov spoke at the memorial service from the Soviet command.


Source: John Osborne - Gerhart Hauptmann and the Naturalist Drama. Amsterdam: Harwood Academic Publishers, 1998.