Becher, Johannes R.

ESSAYIST, PLAYWRIGHT, NOVELIST (GERMANY)
BORN 22 May 1891, München, Bayern - DIED 11 Oct 1958, Berlin
BIRTH NAME Becher, Johannes Robert
CAUSE OF DEATH cancer
GRAVE LOCATION Berlin: Dorotheenstädtischen Friedhof, Chausseestrasse (CAM-1-37/38 (CAM 1. Weg li., li. S.) (Ehrengrab))

Johannes Becher tried to commit suicide in 1910 together with hs girlfriend. He shot at Fanny Fuß and then at himself. She was killed, but he survived. He escaped from imprisonment, but had to undergo psychiatrical treatment.

He studied Medicine and Philosophy in Munich and Jena but ended his studies to become an author. His early work was expressionistic. Between 1914 and 1918 he was several times in a clinic for his morphine addiction.

He joined the German communist party KPD in 1923 and in 1928 he became the co-founder and the president of the Proletarian Revolutionary Union of Writers. In 1933 he went in Exile in Moscow, where he edited a magazine for international literature. After he was moved to Taschkent in 1941 he tried to commit suicide several times.

After the Second World War he was active in East Berlin and in 1954 he became Minister of Culture of the DDR. In 1952 he received the Lenin-peace-Prize. Work: "Abschied" (1940); "Winterschlacht" (1942).

Related persons
• supported Bronnen, Arnolt
• was a friend of Weiskopf, Franz Carl

Images

The grave of J.R. Becher at the Dorotheenstädtischen Friedhof, Berlin.
Picture by Androom (26 Mar 2007)

 

Sources
Schriftsteller Lexikon, VEB Bibiographisches Institut Leipzig, Leipig, 1990
Johannes R. Becher – Wikipedia


Bechstein, Ludwig

Published: 15 Jul 2007
Last update: 20 May 2023