[2] On leaving school he began an apprenticeship in road construction, water management and civil engineering.

[2] In 1955 he enrolled as a student at the Johannes R. Becher Institute for Literature (as it was then called) where he also undertook work as a teaching assistant.

From 1958 till 1965 he was employed at the Eisenhüttenstadt steel works as a Cultural Official by the country's Trades Union Federation (FDGB / Freier Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund).

He also worked between 1966 and 1975 as Poetry Editor of Neue Deutsche Literatur (NDL) which was one of the country's two most important literary newspapers.

After 1961 he defended the erection of the Berlin Wall, for instance in his poem entitled "No one comes through, comrades" ("Keiner kommt durch, Genossen").