page_title: Ermutigung
section_title: Background
hierarchical_section_title: Ermutigung / Background
caption_attribution_description: For documentary purposes the German Federal Archive often retained the original image captions, which may be erroneous, biased, obsolete or politically extreme. ADN-ZB / Grubitzsch / 1.12.89 / Leipzig: Biermann-Konzert Der Liedermacher, der nach jahrelangen Auftrittsverboten 1976 während einer BRD-Tournee ausgebürgert worden war, trat zum erstenmal wieder in der DDR auf. In der Messehalle 2 wurde er von den etwa 5.000 Besuchern mit einem Beifallsorkan empfangen. (siehe auch 47N)
context_page_description: "Ermutigung" is a poem and song by the German Liedermacher and lyricist Wolf Biermann. It was first published in 1968 in the poetry collection Mit Marx- und Engelszungen by Verlag Klaus Wagenbach, which also released the poem set to music as part of the single 4 neue Lieder. Biermann later released the song on his 1974 LP album aah-ja!, released by Columbia Records.
  The text of "Ermutigung" warns the listener/reader not to become hardened or embittered. The final verse ends with the optimistic image of a coming spring. Biermann dedicated the poem to his friend Peter Huchel, who was under house arrest and surveillance by the Stasi at the time. It also reflected on his own resignation as a blacklisted East German artist. The song version was popular in both East and West Germany and remains one of Biermann's most famous songs.
context_section_description: Wolf Biermann dedicated the poem "Ermutigung" to his friend Peter Huchel. Since 1949, Huchel had been the editor in chief of the literary publication Sinn und Form, which enjoyed an international reputation as a platform for East German literature. His undogmatic views repeatedly brought him in conflict with the East German government, culminating in his forced resignation in 1962. For the following nine years, Huchel lived under surveillance by the Stasi, isolated in his house in Wilhelmshorst from much of the outside world aside from a small number of friends who were permitted to visit. He was forbidden from travel and his mail was confiscated; he was only allowed to emigrate in 1971. Andreas M. Reinhard described the poem as a "declaration of solidarity from the younger and stronger […] meant for the older and disillusioned."
  After the publication of his book of poetry Die Drahtharfe (The Wire Harp) in 1965 through the West German publisher Verlag Klaus Wagenbach, Biermann had been forbidden from performing or publishing by the Central Committee of the Socialist Unity Party and described himself as having achieved the status of an "officially recognized enemy of the state" In a 1973 interview with Franz Hohler, he stated that did not write the song just for his friend and honorable colleague Peter Huchel, but "also for myself." After his forced emigration, he stated in an interview in 1981 "I wrote this red 'church song' as I myself was in danger of hardening. I had at first in East Germany not yet learned, under the hammer of being completely blacklisted, to conquer my distress with vital serenity."
caption: Wolf Biermann performing in Leipzig in 1989
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