10 Best Facts about Erich Kästner

By Basch, […] / Opdracht Anefo –Wikipedia

10 Best Facts about Erich Kästner

Erich Kästner was a German author, poet, screenwriter, and satirist. He lived from 23 February 1899 to 29 July 1974. Moreover, he is best known for his humorous, socially conscious poems and his children’s books. These books include  Emil and the Detectives.  He was born and raised in Dresden.  On July 29, 1974, Kästner passed away from esophageal cancer at the Neuperlach Hospital in Munich. He was laid to rest in Munich’s St. George cemetery in the Bogenhausen neighborhood. The Bavarian Academy of Arts created a literary award in his honor shortly after his passing. Here are some of the 10 best facts about Erich Kästner. 

1. He is one of the popular German Authors

Thanks to his insightful social commentary, satirical poems, and, above all, his adored children’s books, Erich Kästner is remembered as one of Germany’s most well-known authors.

Additionally, Kästner read passages from his works frequently. He not only recorded some of his socially critical poems in the 1920s  but also acted as the narrator in some of the movies based on his books, as he did for the first audio version of Pünktchen und Anton. Other recordings for Deutsche Grammophon include his adaptation of the fairy tale Till Eulenspiegel, poems, and epigrams. He also performed readings for the radio and in theaters, including the Cuvilliés Theatre in Munich, where he read As ich ein kleiner Junge war and other works.

2. The Nazis set his books on fire

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Kästner was subjected to multiple Gestapo interrogations, which led him to be expelled by the national writers’ guild. The Nazis also burned his books on May 10, 1933, during the Goebbels-instigated books. His books were set on fire because they were “contrary to the German spirit.”  However, Kästner personally saw the incident and later wrote about it.  He was not allowed to join the Reichsverband deutscher Schriftsteller (RDS),  due to what its officials referred to as the “culturally Bolshevist attitude in his writings before 1933.”

3. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature

The Nobel Prize in Literature is a Swedish literary award given each year since 1901 to an author from any nation. The award is based on an author’s body of work as a whole, even though particular works may occasionally be mentioned as being particularly noteworthy. If anyone wins the award, it is decided by the Swedish Academy. Early in October, the academy released the laureate’s name. As one of the five Nobel Prizes established by Alfred Nobel’s will is this one. However, Kästner received nominations for the Nobel Prize in Literature in six different years.

4. His autobiography won the international Hans Christian Andersen Medal in 1960

By kembalikan –Wikipedia

The Hans Christian Andersen Award is the highest honor bestowed on a children’s book author or illustrator on a global scale. It is given by IBBY every other year to honor lifetime achievement and is given to an author and an illustrator whose complete works have made a significant, enduring contribution to children’s literature.  However, Kästner is among the authors who have won the Hans Christian Andersen Medal. Since his autobiography  Als ich ein kleiner Junge war [de]  won the international medal in 1960.

5. He was the president of the West German PEN Center

PEN International was established in London in 1921 to foster friendship and intellectual cooperation among writers worldwide. Over 100 countries around the world have independent International PEN centers. However, Kästner was elected president of the West German PEN Center in 1951. He held the position until 1961. 

Additionally, he played a significant role in the establishment of Munich’s Internationale Jugendbibliothek, a collection of children’s books, and also was named President Emeritus in 1965. 

6. Kästner won several prizes

By Burkhard Mücke –Wikipedia

Kästner not only won the Hans Christian Andersen Award in 1960 but also other several awards. They include; Lewis Carroll Shelf Award in 1961, and Filmband in Gold for best screenplay. He also won the Munich Literary Prize in 1956 and the Georg Büchner Prize in 1957. In 1959, the West German government awarded Kästner the Bundesverdienstkreuz, the nation’s highest honor. He received both the German Masonic Order’s literary award and the Lessing-Ring [de] in 1968.

7. He began his career as a journalist

Erich Kästner started as a journalist before transitioning into a freelance theater critic. Emil and the Detectives are his first book for young readers. It was published in 1929 and has since been translated into nearly 60 different languages and sold millions of copies all over the world. The Flying Classroom and Dot and Anton, both illustrated by Walter Trier, who has contributed elegant, insightful illustrations to many of Kästner’s books, were the next two works he published.

8. He was active in Literary Cabaret

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Additionally, he was involved in radio, the Schaubude (1945–1948), Die kleine Freiheit (after 1951) productions, and literary cabaret. He wrote several skits, songs, audio plays, speeches, and essays about National Socialism, the war, and the harsh realities of life in post-war Germany during this period. The two most notable of these pieces are Deutsches Ringelspiel and Marschlied 1945. 

9. He was a pacifist

He wrote for children because he believed in the regenerative powers of youth. Die Konferenz der Tiere [de] is a pacifist parody in which animals from all over the world band together to persuade humans to give up their weapons and establish peace. Curt Linda turned this children’s book into an animated movie. Additionally, Kästner and Edmund Nick, whom he first met in Leipzig in 2013, renewed their partnership.

10. He successfully passed the Abitur exam, earning a scholarship from the city of Dresden

In 1913, Kästner enrolled in a Dresden teacher training program. Later on, in 1916 he left school. He was trained at a heavy artillery unit in Dresden before being enlisted in the Royal Saxon Army in 1917. Although Kästner was not deployed to the front, the brutality of his military training and the deaths of his fellow soldiers had a significant impact on his later antimilitarism. He developed a lifelong heart condition as a result of the brutal drilling he endured at the hands of his drill sergeant. This is portrayed by Kästner in Sergeant Waurich. However, after the war was over Kästner returned to school, whereby he successfully passed the Abitur exam, earning a scholarship from the city of Dresden.

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