Transnational Dimensions of a ‘German Case’: The Expatriation of Wolf Biermann and the Politics of Solidarity in the 1970s

Abstract

In November 1976, the German Democratic Republic (GDR) announced the expatriation of the dissident singer-songwriter Wolf Biermann, preventing his return from a concert tour in West Germany. This step attracted widespread press coverage and sparked a substantial expression of solidarity by East German intellectuals. This article proposes an alternative perspective on this well-known episode in German history by highlighting its transnational dimensions and its international contexts. Biermann’s work interacted with broader cultural currents of the period, while his political engagement with events in Chile and Spain testified to the importance of transnational solidarity for left-wing mobilizations. Moreover, the article points to two important international factors that are crucial for understanding the events of 1976: the role of Eurocommunism within left-wing debate on the one hand, and the resonance of human rights discourse during the 1970s on the other.

Introduction: Subversion, Dissent and Opposition in Communist Europe and Beyond

“…The ways that people subverted official rhetoric in private while complying in public (Scott 1990) and the use of jokes and music to challenge state ideology have also been explored (Djaglov 2013;Laqua 2021). The disjunction between public performance and private belief was articulated already in Václav Havel's "The Power of the Powerless" in 1978: the greengrocer who puts a sign in his window every day calling on workers of the world to unite makes a public statement not that he believes in this slogan, or that he blindly follows authority, but rather that he is a member of society who understands his obligations and his interests and acts accordingly (Havel 1991: 132-133).…”