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GEHARD UHDE, novelist, journalist, poet, actor and theater director, was born on 07 August 1902 in Torun (Thorn), a town in West Prussia, which became part of Poland under the Treaty of Versailles in 1920. His full name at birth was Gerhard Gotthilf Karl Krienke. Already as a young adult, he was permitted, due to his artistic stature, to adopt the professional name of Uhde.

Life
As a child he moved to Ratibor, Upper Silesia where he received his high school diploma in 1921 and joined an amateur traveling theater group. At the same time, he started to study medicine in Hamburg, but was unfortunately unable to continue his medical studies due to the hyperinflation of the Reichsmark. Based on his acting experience, he found employment as an actor in Schleswig-Holstein and by 1925 was able to continue his university studies in the humanities in Hamburg. There he refined his writing skills, contributing articles to various newspapers and journals. His first book, Bibelrekrut (The Bible Recruit), was published in 1929 and received a local literary prize. He was simultaneously pursuing an acting career and in 1927 came into contact with the well-established director Gottfried Haass-Berkow, whose troupe of professional and amateur actors performed in theaters throughout Germany. Gerhard joined this group while continuing his studies.

In 1933, Gottfried Haass-Berkow was appointed the director of a new theater in Esslingen, near Stuttgart, which Gerhard joined as an actor and assistant director. There he met Tordis, the stepdaughter of Haass-Berkow, who was employed as an actress and teacher at the theater. They were married on 03 October 1933 and their son Björn was born on 01 July 1934. It was at this time that the political situation in Germany became very unstable, which created the opportunity for the eventual takeover by the Nazis under the leadership of Adolf Hitler.

Later in 1934 Gerhard met Beryl Sharland, a young actress of English/American background in Haass-Berkow’s theater, whom he eventually married following his divorce from Tordis. They had four children: Sven, born on 09 October 1935, Pamela in 1937, Volker in 1939 and Monika in 1948.

In view of Gerhard Uhde’s success at the theater in Esslingen, he was offered a position as director of an open-air theater in Heidenheim, while also continuing his activities as an author and poet.

With World War II underway, he was drafted to serve in the German army in 1941. Due to his experience as a writer, he was named a war correspondent with the rank of a non-commissioned officer. While serving in eastern Europe, including Ukraine, and later in France and Czechoslovakia, he luckily survived many brutal war experiences, notably during the Allied invasion of Normandy. As an officer in the German army, however, he was taken prisoner by the American Army in October 1945 and held in a prison camp in Moosburg, Germany, until July 1947.

Upon his release, Gerhard joined his wife Beryl and their children in Bad Hersfeld, where they rented an apartment. Beryl, who had continued her acting career during the war, joined the theater in Mannheim. Gerhard wrote and published a number of novels and poems, as well as numerous articles in various publications. From 1955 until 1975, he published a yearbook for the town of Bad Hersfeld, where he became a highly respected local personality. He also directed open-air theatrical productions staged during the town’s annual Bad Hersfelder Festspiele in the Stiftsruine, the ruins of an ancient monastery dating back to the ninth century.

Toward the end of his life, Gerhard Uhde formed a close relationship with Ella Schneider, a long-time friend dating from his years in Heidenheim, who was instrumental in organizing his literary estate. Gerhard Uhde passed away on 07 August 1980, his 78th birthday, and was buried in a section of the Bad Hersfeld cemetery reserved for distinguished citizens.

Works
Spiel vom verlorenen sohn, Play, 1924 (about a lost son) Der Bibelrekrut, Novel, 1929 Kristall aus Sieben, Chronicle, 1931 (about an amateur theater group) Die Goldene Gans, Play, 1932 (based on fairy tales An beiden Ufern, Poems, 1935 April bis Marz und ein Kinderkerz, (Children's?) Stories, 1936 Königin aus Holz, Novel, 1937 Veronika and Angela, Novella, 1938 Gesicht im Dunkeln, Novel, 1939 Moosburger Tafeln, Poems, 1946 (written during his imprisonment) Die Botschaft des Schlafenden, unpublished manuscript, 1946 Westöstliches Geständnis, Novella, 1950 Der Sprechende Stein, 1956 (novel?) (about the Stiftsruine cloister ruins in Bad Hersfeld) Lioba Lebt, Novel, 1960. An “expanded” seventh edition was published in 1976 Umtrunk im Sternensaal, Poems, 1962 Der Lebensbaum, Short Stories, 1962 Das Rettende Buch, Memoir (of wartime experiences), 1965 Allen Gewalten zum Trutz, 1969 (reflections on life’s experiences) Tagellöhner in einer kleinen Stadt, a combination of facts and fiction (novel?), 1977 Die Gesandten, Play, 1977 Auf der Brücke, anthology of poems from five decades (which decades?), 1979

Awards and Honors
1968 – Eichendorff Literary Prize 1974 – Golden Honorary Plaque from Bad Hersfeld 1977 – Cross of Merit of the German Republic 1981 – Certificate of the AWMM (Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Werbung Markt- und Meinungsforschung),, Buchs, Switzerland, «awarded posthumously to the poet and writer Gerhard Uhde for his complete body of works, thus honoring him as one of the most important German-speaking authors of the 20th century.”