Wolfgang Hilbig Biography

Wolfgang Hilbig (31 August, 1941, –2 June, 2007, Berlin) was a German author and poet. He was a member of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany

Wolfgang Hilbig's grandfather emigrated to Thuringia from Biłgoraj before the First World War. In 1942, his father was reported missing at Stalingrad. He left behind Hilbig and his mother.
After his schooling in his home town of Meuselwitz, Hilbig began to work at a boring mill, learning the trade. Later, after military service, he worked as a tool-maker, on the ground, and in assembly construction at the Meuselwitz lignite mine.
In 1978 Hilbig moved to East-Berlin and in 1979 he became an independent writer. In 1985, he left the GDR with a travel visa to go to West Germany.
He lived in Berlin after the fall of the Berlin Wall and was married to Natascha Wodin from 1994 to 2007. They had one daughter. He died from cancer in 2007 and is buried in the 'Dorotheenstädtischen' cemetery in Berlin.