In 1963, he was refused membership in the ruling Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED), although no reason was given at the time for his rejection. Although a committed communist, Biermann's nonconformist views soon alarmed the East German establishment. The play was officially banned and Biermann was forbidden to perform for six months.

In 1961, Biermann formed the Berliner Arbeiter-Theater ('Berlin Workers' Theater'), which was closed in 1963 before the production of Biermann's show Berliner Brautgang, which documented the building of the Berlin wall. Eisler used his influence with the East German cultural elite to promote the songwriter's career, but his death in 1962 deprived Biermann of his mentor and protector. In 1960, Biermann met composer Hanns Eisler, who adopted the young artist as a protégé. Despite his successful defense of his thesis, he did not receive his diploma until 2008 when he was also awarded an honorary doctorate degree. At university he changed courses to study philosophy and mathematics under Wolfgang Heise until 1963, when he completed his thesis. From 1957 to 1959, he was an assistant director at the Berliner Ensemble. He lived at a boarding school near Schwerin until 1955, and then began studying political economics at the Humboldt University of Berlin. Upon finishing school at the age of 17, Biermann emigrated from West to East Germany where he believed he could live out his Communist ideals. After the Second World War, he became a member of the Free German Youth (Freie Deutsche Jugend, FDJ) and in 1950, he represented the Federal Republic of Germany at the FDJ's first national meeting. īiermann was one of the few children of workers who attended the Heinrich-Hertz-Gymnasium (high school) in Hamburg. In 1942, the Nazis decided to 'eliminate' their Jewish political prisoners and Biermann's father was deported to Auschwitz concentration camp, where he was murdered on 22 February 1943. Biermann's father, a Jewish member of the German Resistance, was sentenced to six years in prison for sabotaging Nazi ships. His mother, Emma ( née Dietrich), was a Communist Party activist, and his father, Dagobert Biermann, worked on the Hamburg docks.

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