Peter Hacks and the Revolution in 20th Century Literature. Are art and politics, art and revolution inextricably linked? When the poet Peter Hacks moved from West Germany to East Germany, it certainly implied a positive reference to the October Revolution of 1917. In 2017, on the 100th anniversary, the literary conference organized by the Peter Hacks Society focused on the relationship of the East German poet to revolutions in general. How did his perspective on the political and societal impact of theater change from "didactic" to "classical" drama, and eventually to the resigned tendencies of his later works? What role did the French Revolution play for Peter Hacks and East German poetry? How did Hacks relate to the views of Hegel and Lukács? What role did East-West relations and the Cold War play?.