delit1-9, Exercise 3: Judging individual writers

Model answer (check the method):

Why individual evidence is needed: under both the Nazi regime and the GDR, writers faced pressure, rewards and risks that varied by person, time and place. Labels such as "collaborator", "dissident" or "inner emigrant" hide a wide range of behaviour, from enthusiastic support through accommodation and silence to resistance. Judgments made in the heat of 1945 or 1990 were often rushed or political.

Evidence to seek:
1. The writer's published work, in its original editions, with dates.
2. Letters, diaries and interviews from the time.
3. Official records: membership lists, censorship files, and Stasi files for the GDR (which need careful reading, since informants' reports and files can be incomplete or have been shaped by the officers who wrote them).
4. What others who knew the writer said, then and later.
5. What the writer said afterwards, and whether it matches the records.

Conclusion: state what is documented, what is claimed and what is unknown, and avoid verdicts that go beyond the evidence.