Gerd Gaiser

Gaiser, Gerd 

Born Sept. 15, 1908, in Oberriexingen. German writer (Federal Republic of Germany). Son of a clergyman. Studied theology and the history of the arts.

Gaiser was a pilot in Hitler’s army from 1939 to 1945. During the war he published two collections of verses. In the novel A Voice Is Raised (1950), he portrays the fate of a German prisoner of war after he returns home. The novel Dying Fighter Planes (1953) contains an attempt to justify the actions of fascist pilots during World War II. The Last Ball (1958) and other of his works, while obscuring the acuteness of the social contradictions in capitalist society, affirm a certain fatal inevitability of the disunity of people. He is the recipient of West German literary prizes.

WORKS

Das Schiff im Berg. [Berlin] 1953.
Sizilianische Notizen. [Munich] 1959.
Gazelle, grün. [Munich] 1965.

REFERENCES

“Gerd Gaizer ‘Kritikuet.’” Inostrannaia literatura, 1959, no. 8, pp. 273-74.
Kalnin’, D. “Romany Gerda Gaizera.” Filologicheskie nauki, 1968, no. 5.
Hohoff, K. Gerd Gaiser: Werk und Gestalt. Munich, 1962.

V. I. STEZHENSKII