Wolfgang Hilbig was born on 31 August 1941 in the small town of Meuselwitz in Saxony, Germany, about 40 kilometers south of Leipzig. Hilbig’s childhood in Meuselwitz, a target for Allied bombings during World War II and later the site for a thriving brown coal industry (much to the detriment of the environment) during the East German era, has had an influence on much of the writer’s work. Hilbig grew up with his mother and her parents in Meuselwitz, never having known his father, who was reported missing in 1942 during the Battle of Stalingrad.
Trained to work with drilling machines, Hilbig served an obligatory period in the German Democratic Republic’s People’s Army (Volksarmee) and then worked for many years as a stoker in Meuselwitz and later in East Berlin. At various times,
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Citation: Marston William, Jennifer. "Wolfgang Hilbig". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 18 March 2004 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=5632, accessed 23 November 2024.]
