Zwischen Vertrauen und Verrat: Deutschsprachige kommunistische Intellektuelle und ihre sozialen Beziehungen (1918-1960)

Text in German. Can members of a communist party be friends? At first, this seems unthinkable, since the principle of friendship is difficult to reconcile with the principle of Communist party discipline. Friendship has been understood in Europe since modern times as a relationship that is entered into voluntarily and is shaped individually. On the other hand, the Communist Party demands that its members follow it absolutely faithfully. But a look at the history of the party shows that friendship, along with brotherhood and solidarity, was definitely one of those ideals that communists were committed to. The author resolves this paradox by examining the example of communist intellectuals from the 1900 generation. To do this, she takes a look at the social relationships between Willi Bredels, Wieland Herzfeldes and Anna Seghers’ between 1918 and 1960. She also tries to clarify the question that has been debated to this day, why these intellectuals are committed to communism for life.