Uwe Johnson was a German writer, editor, and scholar. Such prominent writers and scholars as Günter Grass and Hans Mayer declared Johnson to be the most significant writer to emerge from East Germany. During the 1950s, he had troubles with the East German authorities, being treated as a "dissident" both for political reasons and for Modernist experiments in his works which made him opposed to the dominant doctrine of Socialist realism; after moving to West Berlin in 1959, he gained the label of "the author of the two Germanies", as, while criticizing the East Germany as the state which betrayed the Socialist ideals, he didn't regard the West Germany as a viable alternative and opposed the division of Germany in general. His works were dedicated both to East and West German societies and examined the relations between them.

Hans Mayer was a German literary scholar. Mayer was also a jurist and social researcher and was internationally recognized as a critic, author and musicologist.