The revocation of the singer’s citizenship causes a stir in the DDR
The Third Reich stripped almost 40,000 people of their citizenship and expelled them from their homes. Whilst Jews retained German citizenship under the Nuremberg Laws of 1935, they no longer enjoyed full civil rights. In 1941, they lost their citizenship when they left the country, regardless of whether they emigrated or were deported. Seeking to learn from these experiences, West Germany ruled that the state could only strip a German citizen of their citizenship if they acquired another citizenship without permission or joined the armed forces of another state. Those who make false declarations upon naturalization can also lose their newly acquired German citizenship. In contrast, East Germans could be stripped of their DDR citizenship if they took up residence outside the DDR.
The Hamburger Wolf Biermann moved from West Germany to East Berlin in 1953 at the age of 16, as he identified with the values and policies of the DDR. In the 1960s, he gradually became critical of developments under socialism, expressing his discontent through his poetry and song lyrics. As he was banned from publishing or performing in the DDR, he published books and recordings in West Germany, where he was invited to tour. After Biermann criticized the DDR during a concert tour of West Germany, the Politburo moved on 16 November 1976 to expatriate him for “gross violation of his civic duties”, thereby preventing him from returning home to his family. Prominent DDR dissidents and writers immediately composed an open letter in which they referenced Karl Marx’s dictum that “Proletarian revolutions … constantly criticize themselves” to argue that Wolf Biermann should be permitted to return to his adopted home. Several signatories were imprisoned or placed under house arrest. Some critical artists were deported; others left voluntarily in protest. Many commentators regard the subsequent cultural exodus as marking the beginning of the end for the DDR.
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