Die neuen Leiden des jungen W.

Ulrich Plenzdorf was born on October 26, 1934, in Berlin-Kreuzberg. He died on August 9, 2007, in Berlin. His parents were imprisoned multiple times due to their membership in the KPD during the National Socialist era. From 1949 to 1952, he attended the Schulfarm Scharfenberg in Himmelpfort near Fürstenberg (Havel). In 1950, the family moved from West to East Berlin, where Plenzdorf passed his Abitur in Lichtenberg in 1954. He then studied Marxism-Leninism and philosophy at the Franz-Mehring-Institut of the Karl Marx University of Leipzig but left without a degree. From 1959, he attended the German Academy of Film Art in Potsdam-Babelsberg. Starting in 1963, he worked as a screenwriter and dramaturge at the DEFA Studio Babelsberg. Concurrently with his studies, Plenzdorf worked as a stagehand from 1955 to 1958. He served as a soldier in the National People's Army from 1958 to 1959. The GDR author gained recognition in the Federal Republic of Germany with his socially critical novel "The New Sufferings of Young W." Originally written as a play and premiered in Halle (Saale) in 1972, the novel was published a year later and has since been translated into more than 30 languages. Plenzdorf also made a name for himself as a screenwriter for numerous feature films (The Legend of Paul and Paula, The Drinker, Abgehauen) and television series (fourth season of Liebling Kreuzberg). Since 1992, he was a member of the Academy of Arts in Berlin. In 2004, he held a guest professorship at the German Literature Institute of the University of Leipzig. Ulrich Plenzdorf was married to Helga Lieske since 1955 and had three children.