Konrad Wolf

Born Oct. 20, 1925, in Hechingen, German film director (German Democratic Republic). Son of the playwright F. Wolf.

After the Nazis came to power, Wolf emigrated from Germany with his parents, and since 1934 he has lived in the USSR. During World War II, Wolf fought in the ranks of the Soviet Army, and he returned to his native land after its liberation from fascism. In 1949, Wolf enrolled at the All-Union State Institute of Cinematography (VGIK) in Moscow in the department of directing, where he studied with S. A. Gerasimov. After graduating from VGIK he worked in the GDR, where he made the film comedy Once Doesn’t Count (1955). Wolfs subsequent motion pictures have been devoted to the problems of personality formation in the new socialist Germany, the civic responsibility of human beings for the destiny of their country, and the overcoming of Nazi ideology. Among these films are Recovery (1956), Stars (1959), and People With Wings (1960). Wolf has also made screen versions of well-known works by German writers: Lissy (1957, based on the work by F. Weiskopf), Professor Mamlock (1961, based on the play by F. Wolf; this picture won the prize at the Second International Film Festival in Moscow), and Divided Heaven (1967, based on a work by K. Wolf himself). Wolf also wrote the scenario and made the film / Was Nineteen (1967), devoted to the problem of a young man’s choice of a road to follow after the defeat of fascism and of his moral responsibility for the future of his people. Since 1965, Wolf has been president of the Academy of Arts of the GDR. He won the National Prize of the GDR in 1959 and again in 1968.