Hans-Joachim Kunert was born September 24, 1929, in Berlin. After finishing school, he became an assistant director at DEFA studio for feature films. There, Kunert worked with directors such as Kurt Maetzig, and Wolfgang Schleif, in particular. At the end of the 1940s, Kunert worked with Schleif on several film productions including the films "Grube Morgenrot" (1948) und "Die blauen Schwerter" (1949). Furthermore, Kunert also worked at Deutsches Theater as an assistant director for directors Wolfgang Langhoff and Rudolf Noelte, before he became a director on his own and worked for several theatres in the GDR.

In 1954, Kunert became a director for DEFA studio for newsreels and documentary films. During this time, Kunert for instance directed the 30-minute documentary film "Ein Strom fließt durch Deutschland" (1954), a portray of the Elbe river between Schmilka and Hamburg. He also portrayed the Danish writer Martin Anderson Nexö in his 1960 film under the same name.

In 1956, Kunert landed a job as a director at DEFA studio for feature films and stayed with DEFA until 1970. He made his debut feature film as a director with the post war film "Besondere Kennzeichen: keine" (1955) that by the example of main protagonist Gerda Krause, played by Erika Müller-Fürstenau, described the fate of many women after the end of World War II who had to care for their children without a husband and without a regular job.

In the following years, Kunert made a number of crime films but in his films was also a keen observer of human fate that sometimes ended tragic, and sometimes ended hopeful but still full of suffering. The crime film "Tatort Berlin" (1958), for instance, tells the story of former inmate Rudi Prange who has to engage in criminal activities again to get a new job and is then made the scapegoat for two murders. In the drama "Der Lotterieschwede" (1958), based on a story by Nexö, Kunert depicted the descent of a worker who tries to ameliorate his life by means of gambling.

Kunert’s best-known film is without a doubt "Die Abenteuer des Werner Holt" ("The Adventures of Werner Holt", 1964), whose young protagonist is ordered to defend the East of Germany against the advancing Red Army. During this task, he recalls the stations of his life and more and more realizes the insanity and the pointlessness of the cause he had dedicated himself to. In the end, he revolts, kills an SS charge that is calling for perseverance, and leaves his post. The anti-fascist film won several awards, including the Great Prize of the Soviet Peace Committee in 1965.

In 1971, Kunert started to work for the GDR television and made several TV movies, including "Die große Reise der Agathe Schweigert" (1972), "Das Schilfrohr" (1974), based on stories by Anna Seghers, "Steckbrief eines Unerwünschten" (1975), based on reports by Günter Wallraff, and "Die Spur des Vermissten" (1980). His last work, the seven-part series "Die gläserne Fackel" (1989) after Wolfgang Helds novel, combines a family story with the chronicle of the company Carl Zeiss Jena.

Hans-Joachim Kunert died in Potsdam a few days before his 91st birthday, on 18 September 2020.

The contents of this entry were funded with the support of the DEFA-Stiftung.