Heiner Müller's “first play”,
Der Lohndrücker,written in collaboration with Inge Müller in 1956, consists of 15 short scenes set in a newly nationalised foundry in the GDR in 1948/9. It presents the conflicts surrounding the attempts of a “model worker” and activist, Balke, to improve productivity and develop innovative practices in restoring the furnances of the damaged and run down plant so that it can contribute to post-war recovery. Balke has to struggle not only with the scepticism and hostility of his fellow-workers, a motley crew including status-conscious engineers, opportunists, former Nazis, crooks and layabouts, but with the deep suspicion of the party secretary Schorn, whose attempts to sabotage arms production during the Third Reich Balke revealed to the Nazi…
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Citation: Milfull, John. "Der Lohndrücker". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 06 February 2004 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=14462, accessed 21 November 2024.]
