Communist politician and minister of national
defense in the German Demo-
cratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) during 1960–1985. Born in Mann-
heim, Germany, on 28 November 1910 into a working-class family, Heinz
Hoffmann became a mechanic, joined the Communist Party’s youth section,
and was involved in party activities at a young age. In 1935 he immigrated to
the Soviet Union. In the late 1930s he fought in the Spanish Civil War, was
wounded, and returned to the USSR. Following the June 1941 German inva-
sion of the Soviet Union, Hoffman was trained by the Soviet intelligence
organization (NKVD) in partisan warfare and was subsequently employed in
the indoctrination of German prisoners of war.
In January 1946 Hoffmann returned to Germany, where he worked as an
assistant to several communist leaders. After the formation of East Germany,
he was appointed deputy minister of interior in 1950. In 1955 he entered the
Academy of the Soviet General Military Staff in Moscow and graduated in
1957. Appointed deputy minister for national defense in 1958, he advanced
to the ministry’s top position in 1960 and remained there until his death in
1985.
Hoffmann was a standing member of the East German politburo dur-
ing 1973–1985. During his last years, alcoholism and charges of corruption
diminished his status, and he eventually became only a figurehead. Hoffman
died in Berlin on 2 December 1985.
Bernd Schaefer
See also
German Democratic Republic; German Democratic Republic, Armed Forces
References
Forster, Thomas. The East German Army: The Second Power in the Warsaw Pact. Trans-
lated by Deryck Viney. Boston: Allen and Unwin, 1980.
Hoffmann, Heinz. Mannheim, Madrid, Moskau: Erlebtes aus drei Jahrzehnten. Berlin:
Militaerverlag, 1981.
———. Moskau, Berlin. Erinnerungen an Freunde. Berlin: Militaerverlag, 1989.
Ten Hollywood scriptwriters and directors jailed because of their alleged
affiliations with the Communist Party and for their refusal to provide infor-
mation to the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) during the
1950s McCarthy era in the United States.
American films in the post–World War II era had begun to grow increas-
ingly bold, both in their sociopolitical messages and in their depictions of
sexuality. Summoned to speak before HUAC, Hollywood artists of all kinds
(directors, actors, writers) who had ties to the Communist Party or had simply
been leftists or progressives were faced with a daunting challenge: they were
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Hoffmann, Heinz
Hoffmann, Heinz
(1910–1985)
Hollywood Ten
expected to admit their guilt but also had to give up names of other Holly-
wood types who had allegedly participated in communist activities. If they
chose not to do so, they faced jail time and banishment from Hollywood
through a blacklist generated by frightened movie producers.
Many “friendlies,” as friendly witnesses were dubbed, capitulated to
save their own careers, among them director Elia Kazan, an ex-communist
who benefited greatly from his cowardice before HUAC. But a few defied
the McCarthyist witch-hunt at great cost to their lives and careers. The most
famous of these became known as the Hollywood Ten. They were Alvah
Bessie, Herbert Biberman, Lester Cole, Edward Dmytryk, Ring Lardner Jr.,
John Howard Lawson, Albert Maltz, Sam Ornitz, Robert Adrian Scott, and
Dalton Trumbo. Most were screenwriters whose scripts had dealt with anti-
fascist topics.
Hollywood Ten
917
Hollywood writers and producers, known as the Hollywood Ten, stand with their lawyers before their arraignment in
U.S. District Court. (Bettmann/Corbis)
The Hollywood Ten were accused of writing and producing films that
advanced procommunist propaganda. They argued in return that their First
Amendment rights were being violated by being forced to speak when their
conscience prevented them from doing so. The courts did not agree, and
they were subsequently sentenced to prison.
The careers of these men were either ruined or painfully diminished.
The solidarity of the Hollywood Ten also crumbled when Dmytryk, a direc-
tor, turned on his friends and claimed that they forced him to include com-
munist elements in his films. Forgiven by Hollywood, his career actually
improved.
Much has been made of the other nine members avoiding the blacklist
by writing under pseudonyms. It is often pointed out that Trumbo was able
to write Stanley Kubrick’s Spartacus under his own name in 1960. Never-
theless, the number of scripts they could write and the compensation they
received were greatly reduced compared to their pre-HUAC indictments.
When contrasted with Dmytryk’s career, they undoubtedly suffered for their
position.
The Hollywood Ten were among many whose lives were ruined by
HUAC’s Hollywood witch-hunt. Actors and actresses branded as commu-
nists saw their lives destroyed to a greater extent than other HUAC targets.
Legendary actor Sam Jaffe, who played such roles as Gunga Din, died in
penurious obscurity. Other performers whose livelihoods were virtually wiped
out include Zero Mostel, Burl Ives, and Dorothy Parker.
The Hollywood Ten remained in the public eye long after McCarthyism
came to an end. In 1970 Trumbo gave a speech when presented with a life-
time award by the Screen Writer’s Guild proclaiming that young screenwriters,
when looking back upon that time, should not “search for villains or heroes
or saints or devils because there were none; there were only victims.”
Hollywood’s reasons for keeping the blacklist in the public eye have less
to do with history and justice than with profiting from a sensational topic. At
least ten feature films have been produced dealing with the subject. In the
1970s, The Front, a comedy starring Woody Allen, represented the hands-off
approach that Hollywood was taking toward the era. The early 1990s pro-
duced Guilty by Suspicion, a dark drama starring Robert De Niro that por-
trayed the Hollywood Ten as nothing less than saints. But perhaps the finest
balance is struck in the The Majestic (2001) that combines the comedy of The
Front with the drama of
Guilty By Suspicion, with Jim Carrey playing a black-
listed screenwriter.
Ranjan Chibber
See also
Film; McCarthy, Joseph Raymond; McCarthyism
References
Trumbo, Dalton. Time of the Toad: A Study of Inquisition in America, and Two Related
Pamphlets. New York: Harper and Row, 1972.
Wagner, Dave. Blacklisted: The Film Lover’s Guide to the Hollywood Blacklist. New York:
Palgrave, 2003.
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Hollywood Ten