Erich Loest (; 24 February 1926 – 12 September 2013) was a German writer born in Mittweida, Saxony. He also wrote under the pseudonyms Hans Walldorf, Bernd Diksen and Waldemar Naß. Life and career He was a conscript soldier in World War II and a Nazi Party member, he was captured by US troops in 1945. In 1947 he joined the Socialist Unity Party of Germany and became a journalist for the Leipziger Volkszeitung. His first novels were heavily criticized, he was dismissed from the Volkszeitung and became a freelance writer. In 1957 he lost his SED membership and was held as a prisoner in a Stasi prison in Bautzen for "konterrevolutionärer Gruppenbildung (counter-revolutionary grouping)" until 1964, during which he was prohibited from writing. From 1965 to 1975, he wrote eleven novels and 30 short stories, some under pseudonyms. In 1979 he was ostracized from East Germany and did not return until after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1990. In 1995, Frank Beyer directed the film Nikolaikirche, which was written, at first, as a screenplay by Loest, who later made it a novel. In his later years, Loest became seriously ill and announced at an Academy of Arts ceremony in 2010 that he did not have the strength to write another novel. On 12 September 2013, he committed suicide by jumping from a second-floor hospital window. He was 87 years old. Works Jungen, die übrig blieben, Leipzig 1950 Nacht über dem See und andere Kurzgeschichten, Leipzig 1950 Liebesgeschichten, Leipzig 1951 Die Westmark fällt weiter, Halle (Saale) 1952 Sportgeschichten, Halle (Saale) 1953 Das Jahr der Prüfung, Halle (Saale) 1954 Aktion Bumerang, Halle (Saale) 1957 Sliwowitz und Angst, Berlin 1965 Der Mörder saß im Wembley-Stadion, Halle (Saale) 1967 (pseudonym Hans Walldorf) Waffenkarussell, Berlin 1968 (pseudonym Hans Walldorf) Hilfe durch Ranke, Berlin 1968 (pseudonym Hans Walldorf) Der Abhang, Berlin 1968 Öl für Malta, Berlin 1968 Der elfte Mann, Halle (Saale) 1969 Gemälde mit Einlage, Berlin 1969 (pseudonym Hans Walldorf) Schöne Frau und Kettenhemd, Berlin 1969 (pseudonym Hans Walldorf) Mit kleinstem Kaliber, Halle (Saale) 1973 (pseudonym Hans Walldorf) Schattenboxen, Berlin 1973 Das Vorurteil, Berlin 1974 (pseudonym Bernd Diksen) Wildtöter und Große Schlange, Berlin 1974 Ins offene Messer, Berlin 1974 Eine Kugel aus Zink, Berlin 1974 (pseudonym Hans Walldorf) Etappe Rom, Berlin 1975 Oakins macht Karriere, Berlin 1975 Rotes Elfenbein, Halle (Saale) 1975 (pseudonym Hans Walldorf) Die Oma im Schlauchboot, Berlin 1976 Ich