11 Facts About Paul Gratzik

Paul Gratzik was a German dramatist and novelist.

Paul Gratzik came to wider public attention in 2011 as the subject of the documentary film Vaterlandsverrater by Annekatrin Hendel about his past as a Stasi informer.

Paul Gratzik's father fell in the first days of the Second World War.

From 1963 to 1968, Paul Gratzik studied at the Weimar teacher training institute.

Paul Gratzik then taught at a children's home in Donschten in the Osterzgebirge.

From 1977, Paul Gratzik lived in Berlin, employed as playwright by the Berliner Ensemble.

Paul Gratzik was awarded the Heinrich Mann Prize in 1980.

Paul Gratzik was no longer allowed to publish, and many friends shunned him.

Paul Gratzik's work reflects his own experiences as a manual worker under East German socialism.

Vaterlandsverrater is a 97-minute documentary film about Paul Gratzik directed by the German film maker Annekatrin Hendel, who had known Gratzik for twenty years before making the film.

Paul Gratzik allows him no excuses, forces him to confront his past, the while respecting him as a person.