Jan Petersen (writer)
Jan Petersen | |
|---|---|
Portrait of Petersen taken during the IV German Writers' Congress in 1956 | |
| Born | Hans Otto Schwalm 2 July 1906 |
| Died | 11 November 1969 (aged 63) |
| Resting place | Müggelheim |
| Occupation | Lathe operator, toolmaker, and writer |
| Notable awards | |
| Children | Bienchen Ohly |
Literature portal | |
Jan Petersen (German pronunciation: [jaːn ˈpeːtɐzn̩]; 2 July 1906 – 11 November 1969) was a German writer who was a member of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD), a leader of the Association of Proletarian-Revolutionary Authors (BPRS), and a participant in the German resistance to Nazism who recorded daily life during the Gleichschaltung.[1]
Biography
Early years
Petersen was born Hans Otto Schwalm to a working-class family in Berlin, Germany. As a teenage boy, he started working as a skilled labourer, and became a member of the Young Communist League of Germany (KJVD) before joining the KPD.[2]
Nazi Germany and Unsere Straẞe
In 1928 the KPD established the BPRS and Petersen took the role of its leading the organisation in Berlin. With the Nazi party's takeover of the German state in the early 1930's, Petersen began to clandestinely record the Gleichschaltung as it happened in his Kiez.[3] This became the manuscript for the book Our Street (German: Unsere Straẞe) which was written over the course of 1933-4. Petersen typed the majority of the book in a room he rented in Charlottenburg, while other sections were produced in Oranienburg. In total, he made three copies of the manuscript.[4]
Our Street is an account of the Kiez around the Wallstraẞe (today Zillestraße), which was a working-class street and communist stronghold in Charlottenburg, novelised in order to protect its protagonist's identities. The memoir was written in the style of contemporary German Marxist street fighting novels.[5] In 1934 Petersen smuggled a copy of the manuscript out of Germany by baking it inside a cake and transporting it across the Czechoslovak border.[6]
Exile
In 1935 Petersen attended the First International Writers’ Congress for the Defence of Culture, hosted in Paris. Throughout the conference, he wore a mask to hide his identity, and presentations of his work were read by André Gide. Following the conference, Petersen was pursued by the Nazis, fleeing to Switzerland before emigrating to the United Kingdom.[7][8]
Personal life
Petersen had a daughter named Bienchen Ohly.[9]
Work
Petersen's most well known work is the book Our Street, which was first published in English in 1938 by the Left Book Club. A later print on demand edition was republished by Faber & Faber in 2010.[10] He also wrote scripts for the films Der Fall Dr. Wagner and The Call of the Sea.[11][12]
See also
References
- ^ "Anti-Nazi Resistance: Jan Petersen". Community Languages.
- ^ Pilsworth, Ellen (2021). "Four responses to Nazism" (PDF). Journal of the British Academy. 9: 63. doi:10.5871/jba/009.059.
- ^ Zachau, Reinhard (2017). "Writing under National Socialism". In Webber, Andrew J. (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to the Literature of Berlin. Cambridge University Press. pp. 113–114. doi:10.1017/9781107449466.008.
- ^ Petersen, Jan (1961). "Introduction to the Seven Seas Books Edition of "Our Street"". Our Street: A Chronicle of Only Yesterday. Translated by Rensen, Betty. German Democratic Republic: Seven Seas Books. pp. 8–12.
- ^ Zachau, Reinhard (2017). "Writing under National Socialism". In Webber, Andrew J. (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to the Literature of Berlin. Cambridge University Press. pp. 113–114. doi:10.1017/9781107449466.008.
- ^ Flood, Alison (18 February 2010). "Faber republish novel smuggled out of Nazi Germany in a cake". The Guardian.
- ^ Zachau, Reinhard (2017). "Writing under National Socialism". In Webber, Andrew J. (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to the Literature of Berlin. Cambridge University Press. p. 114. doi:10.1017/9781107449466.008.
- ^ "Anti-Nazi Resistance: Jan Petersen". Community Languages.
- ^ Flood, Alison (18 February 2010). "Faber republish novel smuggled out of Nazi Germany in a cake". The Guardian.
- ^ Flood, Alison (18 February 2010). "Faber republish novel smuggled out of Nazi Germany in a cake". The Guardian.
- ^ "Movie Database: Der Fall Dr. Wagner". DEFA Foundation. Federal Government of Germany.
- ^ "Movie Database: Die Meere rufen". DEFA Foundation. Federal Government of Germany.