Thomas Brasch was born in England in 1945, one year before his family moved to the area of the future GDR. After graduating from high school and serving in the East German army, Brasch questioned state authority on several occasions: Consequently, he was forced to quit his journalism studies for his "existentialist beliefs". In August 1968, he was removed from the Babelsberg film school, arrested, convicted to 25 months in prison for distributing flyers protesting the invasion of Czechoslovakia, Brasch’s prose, poetry and theater plays remained unpublished for the most part or were prohibited immediately after their premieres. When it became obvious that a West Berlin publisher intended to release a collection of short stories ("Vor den Vatern sterben die Sohne"), the rebel was allowed to move to the West where he settled in the Western part of Berlin. In the following years, Brasch received both public and critical acclaim for novels such as "Kargo". His Plays "Lovely Rita", "Lieber Georg", "Rotter" or "Mercedes" were performed at leading German theaters. In addition, Brasch wrote the script to and directed the films "Engel aus Eisen", "Domino" (with his former partner Katharina Thalbach) and "Der Passagier" ("Welcome to Germany", with Tony Curtis). In 1987, he was granted the prestigious Kleist prize. In 1999, he reclaimed his position as one of the foremost German authors with his novel "Madchenmorder Brunke" alongside several theater premieres.
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