Wolf Biermann at 90: The singer who defied East Germany

Wolf Biermann, the German singer-songwriter and dissident, is marking his 90th birthday with a new album that reflects on freedom, responsibility and current political conflicts. His career and songs trace Germany’s recent history, especially his disillusionment with East Germany and his challenge to its restrictions on expression.

Born in Hamburg in 1936, Biermann’s Jewish communist father resisted the Nazis and was murdered at Auschwitz in 1943. Biermann moved to East Berlin voluntarily in 1953, aged 16, hoping to help build communism, but later criticised the state through his songs. His new album, *Unterm Haar nur Himmel* (“Beneath Hair, Only Sky”), uses inner freedom as a central image, while a recent song urges people to take responsibility rather than stand by.