Gustav Just
Encyclopedia
Gustav Just was First Secretary of the German Writers' Association (DSV) and editor-in-chief of the East German weekly Sonntag until 1957, when he was sentenced to four years imprisonment after a show trial
in which he was accused of having engaged in anti-constitutional activities ("inciting to boycott") along with Walter Janka, Heinz Zöger, and Richard Wolf. He was born in Reinowitz, Bohemia
.
After his release he became a prolific translator of primarily Czech
but also Slovak
works into German
and was "rehabilitated" in 1990.
He served in the Brandenburg
State Parliament (as its Alterspräsident, or "chairman by seniority") in the newly-unified Germany
until he was forced to resign in 1992 following allegations of having participated in wartime atrocities on the Eastern Front
during World War II
.
Show trial
The term show trial is a pejorative description of a type of highly public trial in which there is a strong connotation that the judicial authorities have already determined the guilt of the defendant. The actual trial has as its only goal to present the accusation and the verdict to the public as...
in which he was accused of having engaged in anti-constitutional activities ("inciting to boycott") along with Walter Janka, Heinz Zöger, and Richard Wolf. He was born in Reinowitz, Bohemia
Bohemia
Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...
.
After his release he became a prolific translator of primarily Czech
Czech language
Czech is a West Slavic language with about 12 million native speakers; it is the majority language in the Czech Republic and spoken by Czechs worldwide. The language was known as Bohemian in English until the late 19th century...
but also Slovak
Slovak language
Slovak , is an Indo-European language that belongs to the West Slavic languages .Slovak is the official language of Slovakia, where it is spoken by 5 million people...
works into German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
and was "rehabilitated" in 1990.
He served in the Brandenburg
Brandenburg
Brandenburg is one of the sixteen federal-states of Germany. It lies in the east of the country and is one of the new federal states that were re-created in 1990 upon the reunification of the former West Germany and East Germany. The capital is Potsdam...
State Parliament (as its Alterspräsident, or "chairman by seniority") in the newly-unified Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
until he was forced to resign in 1992 following allegations of having participated in wartime atrocities on the Eastern Front
Eastern Front (World War II)
The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of World War II between the European Axis powers and co-belligerent Finland against the Soviet Union, Poland, and some other Allies which encompassed Northern, Southern and Eastern Europe from 22 June 1941 to 9 May 1945...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
Publications
- Zeuge in eigener Sache: Die fünfziger Jahre in der DDR, Berlin: Luchterhand, Morgenbuch, 1990.
- Witness in His Own Cause: The Fifties in the German Democratic Republic, Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1995.
- Deutsch, Jahrgang 1921: ein Lebensbericht, Potsdam: Verlag für Berlin und Brandenburg, 2001.