V o L u m e I : a d

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

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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)

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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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