The Arrest of Günter Hofé at the 1963 Frankfurt Book Fair: Competing Media Representations in East and West Germany

Abstract. The arrest of East German writer and publishing director Günter Hofé at the 1963 Frankfurt Book Fair became a unique episode of ideological confrontation between East and West Germany. Hofé is primarily known for his documentary-fiction trilogy about World War II, in which he actively participated as a Wehrmacht soldier. The analysis of the writer’s arrest is based on newspaper materials from both German states, as well as previously unexamined television recordings. The methodological framework rests on a comparative discourse analysis of press materials from the two Germanys. The study focuses on the competing media images of Hofé — as a “victim of political repression” in East Germany and as an “agent of Eastern intelligence services” in West Germany. The article reconstructs the rival narratives in the East and West German press and demonstrates how the incident was transferred from the legal sphere to the symbolic realm, becoming a tool of mutual discreditation.

Keywords: Günter Hofé, Verlag der Nation, Frankfurt Book Fair, GDR and FRG, historical memory, media representations.