Brigitte Reimann

Brigitte Reimann (21 July 1933 – 22 February 1973) was a German writer who is best known for her posthumously published novel Franziska Linkerhand.

Life

Brigitte Reimann was the daughter of Willi Reimann (1904–1990) and Elisabeth (1905–1992) and the oldest of four children. Her father was a bank clerk from a family of Cologne burghers.

She decided to become a writer at the age of 14, when she was recovering from polio. After graduating with the Abitur, Reimann worked as a teacher, bookseller, and reporter. She married a machine fitter when she was 20. In 1960, she began working at the brown coal mine Schwarze Pumpe, where she and her second husband Siegfried Pitschmann headed a circle of writing workers. She received the Heinrich Mann Prize in 1964.

Reimann never joined the Socialist Unity Party of Germany and was critical of the East German State's involvement in the country's literary movement. Afterwards, she was given a stipend from the Committee of Young Authors and book contracts from the states publishing houses.

When troops of the Warsaw Pact states invaded the ČSSR on 20 August 1968 as a reaction to liberalisations during the Prague Spring, Reimann refused to sign the declaration by the East German Writers' Association (DSV) approving of the measure.

On 22 February 1973, Reimann suddenly died of cancer at the age of 39 in the Robert-Rössle-Klinik in Berlin, Buch. As there was no recorded will of Reimann, all copyright inheritance was passed on to her last husband, Rudolf Burgartz.

Reimann's diaries are well-regarded in Germany 'for their clear-eyed account of life in the GDR.' and in English in February 2023 for Penguin. Her 1956 novella, Woman in Pillory, was recognised as a Penguin Modern Classic in 2025.

A mural of Reimann is located in Burg, Germany. There is also a commemorative stamp that uses her likeness.

Works Katja. Eine Liebesgeschichte aus unseren Tagen (1953) Der Legionär (1955) Zwei schreiben eine Geschichte (1955) Die Frau am Pranger (1956) Die Kinder von Hellas (1956) Das Geständnis (1960) Ein Mann steht vor der Tür (1960) Ankunft im Alltag (1961) Sieben Scheffel Salz (1961) Im Kombinat (1963) Die Geschwister (1963) Das grüne Licht der Steppen (1965) Sonntag, den ... (1970) Franziska Linkerhand (incomplete novel, 1974) Erster Verlust (1990) Das Mädchen auf der Lotosblume (incomplete novels, 2005) I Have No Regrets — Diaries, 1955–1963, translated by Lucy Jones