Johannes R. Becher and the agony of responsibility, 1945-1949 (German Democratic Republic, poetry, politics)

This article explores the significance of Johannes R. Becher's influence on the cultural life of the GDR. Taking issue with views which see Becher sim ply as a mouthpiece for SED propaganda, it examines the development of his self-image as a pot-politician in the years of exile in the Soviet Union an d his work in the 'Kulturbund' after 1945. An analysis of documentary mater ial and of his literary output reveals that Becher saw himself as the embod iment of an aspiration to the unity of 'Geist' and 'Macht' in Germany, this aspiration, which governed his actions after his return from Moscow, helps to explain Becher's marked ambivalence about the direction of SED cultural policy and hist enduring influence on GDR cultural institutions such as th e Academy of Arts and the journal Sinn und Form.