1. Heinz Kamnitzer was a German writer and historian.
18 Facts About Heinz Kamnitzer
1. 2.
Heinz Kamnitzer was part of the political-cultural establishment and a vocal government supporter in the German Democratic Republic.
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Heinz Kamnitzer's younger brother Peter was an architect and a professor of Architecture and Urban Planning at UCLA, who emigrated to Los Angeles.
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In 1931 he joined the Socialist school students' League, and in Autumn 1933, while still at school, Heinz Kamnitzer was arrested for undertaking illegal political work.
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Heinz Kamnitzer was released and emigrated to England where he concluded his schooling at a London polytechnical college.
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In 1940, like many Jewish and political exiles from Nazi Germany who had sought refuge in Britain, Heinz Kamnitzer was arrested and interned in Canada.
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Heinz Kamnitzer returned from exile in 1946 and joined the new country's newly formed ruling SED.
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Heinz Kamnitzer joined Berlin's Humboldt University to study Philosophy, and in 1950 received his doctorate for a dissertation produced under the supervision of Alfred Meusel and entitled "Germany's Economic Structure at the Time of the 1848 Revolutions".
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In 1950 Heinz Kamnitzer married the actress Irene Eisermann; they remained together till her death in 1997.
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For some time Heinz Kamnitzer lived in the so-called "Intellectuals' District" in the Schonholz quarter of Berlin where the regime had gathered together its favoured scholars.
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Heinz Kamnitzer was relieved of his position as director of The Institute, surrendered his professorship, and embarked on a career as a freelance writer.
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Heinz Kamnitzer published numerous non-fiction books and works of poetry.
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Heinz Kamnitzer's best known book is Der Tod des Dichters which concerns the death of Arnold Zweig.
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Heinz Kamnitzer was a loyal citizen of the German Democratic Republic, but he demonstrated loyalty to the state of Israel that reflected his own Jewish origins.
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Heinz Kamnitzer refused to sign a resolution that attributed sole responsibility to Israel for the 1967 War in the Middle East, taking a position that demonstrated public solidarity with, among others, the Dutch singer Lin Jaldati and the German leader of the Jewish community, Helmut Aris.
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From 1970 till 1989 Heinz Kamnitzer was president of the writer's association PEN in the German Democratic Republic.
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Heinz Kamnitzer resigned the presidency in October 1989 during the run up to German reunification, and resigned his membership of the organisation in 1995.
18.
Between 1978 and 1989 Heinz Kamnitzer was listed in the Stasi files as an Informal Collaborator under the alias "IM Georg".