Lothar-Günther Buchheim
Lothar-Günther Buchheim | |
---|---|
Grand Duchy of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, German Empire | |
Died | 22 February 2007 Starnberg, Bavaria, Germany | (aged 89)
Occupation | Author, artist |
Period | 1941–2000 |
Notable work | Das Boot |
Notable awards | Bavarian Maximilian Order for Science and Art Bavarian Order of Merit German Order of Merit |
Spouse | |
Signature | |
Military career | |
Allegiance | Nazi Germany |
Branch | Kriegsmarine |
Years of service | 1940-1945 |
Rank | Oberleutnant zur See |
Unit | |
Battles/wars | World War II |
Awards | Iron Cross 2nd Class |
Lothar-Günther Buchheim (
Early life
Buchheim was born in
He travelled to the Baltic Sea with his brother, and canoed along the Danube to the Black Sea. After taking his Abitur in 1937, he spent time in Italy, where he wrote his first book, Tage und Nächte steigen aus dem Strom. Eine Donaufahrt ("Days and nights rise from the river. A journey on the Danube"), published in 1941. He studied art in Dresden and Munich in 1939, and volunteered for the Kriegsmarine in 1940.[2]
Second World War
Buchheim was a Sonderführer in a propaganda unit of the Kriegsmarine in the Second World War,[3] writing as a war correspondent about his experiences on minesweepers, destroyers and submarines. He also made drawings and took photographs.
As a Leutnant zur See in the autumn of 1941, Buchheim joined Kapitänleutnant Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock and the crew of U-96 on her seventh patrol in the Battle of the Atlantic.[4][2] His orders were to photograph and describe the U-boat in action. From his experiences, he wrote a short story, "Die Eichenlaubfahrt" (The Oak-Leaves Patrol; Lehmann-Willenbrock had been awarded the Knight's Cross with oak leaves). Buchheim ended the war as an Oberleutnant zur See.
Post-war career
After the war, Buchheim worked as an artist, art collector, gallery owner, art auctioneer and art publisher. Through the 1950s and 1960s, he established an art publishing house, and he wrote books on
In 1973 he published a novel based on his wartime experiences,
His novel was followed by a non-fiction work, U-Boot-Krieg (U-Boat War) in 1976, which became the first part of a trilogy, together with U-Boot-Fahrer (U-Boat Sailors, 1985), and Zu Tode Gesiegt (Victory in the Face of Death, 1988). The trilogy includes over 5,000 photographs taken during
Das Boot was turned into
Even though impressed by the technological accuracy of the film's set-design and port construction buildings, Buchheim expressed great disappointment with Petersen's adaptation in a film review published in 1981,[6] describing Petersen's film as converting his clearly anti-war novel into a blend of a "cheap, shallow American action flick" and a "contemporary German propaganda newsreel from World War II".[3][6] He also criticised the hysterical overacting of the cast, which he called highly unrealistic, despite their talent. Buchheim, after several attempts for an American adaptation had failed, had provided his own script as soon as Petersen was chosen as new director. It would have been a six-hour epic; Petersen turned him down because the producers were aiming for a 90-minute feature for international release. However, today's Director's Cut of Das Boot amounts to over 200 minutes, and the complete TV version of the film is 282 minutes long.[citation needed]
Art collection
In later life, Buchheim sought a location to house his art collection, including curiosities ranging from
In June 2000, the Sprengel Museum in Hanover voted to return a Lovis Corinth’s painting, “Walchensee, Johannisnacht” (“The Walchensee on St John’s eve”) which its donor, Dr. Bernhard Sprengel, had purchased from Buchheim, to the heirs of Dr Gustav Kirstein and his wife Therese Clara Stein, who committed suicide due to Nazi persecution.[7]
Private life and death
Buchheim married Geneviève "Gwen" Militon, a resistance fighter from Britanny who appears in his novels as Simone Sagot, and whom he also painted. They had a daughter, Nina, and a son, Yves.[8][9] They divorced in 1951 and he remarried in 1955 to Diethild Wickboldt.[8]
Despite a fortune estimated at 14.1 million Swiss francs in the late 1980s, Buchheim was known for his frugality. He used a camping table in his dining room, and according to his son, did not pay taxes and reused print blocks made by Otto Müller, forging the artist's initials.[3] His son published a highly critical biography in 2018.[9]
Buchheim died of heart failure in Starnberg on 22 February 2007, at the age of 89.[5][10]
Awards
- Iron Cross 2nd Class[4]
- U-boat War Badge
- Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, 1983[11]
Filmography
- Doctor Faustus (1982) - Dr. Erasmi
- Erfolg (1991) - Galerist (last appearance)
References
- ^ "WÜRDIGUNG DIETHILD BUCHHEIM (1922-2014)". buchheimmuseum.de (in German). 11 March 2014. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
- ^ a b c d e Dan van der Vat (5 March 2007). "Obituary: Lothar-Günther Buchheim". The Guardian.
- ^ a b c d e f g Jörg Luyken (6 February 2018). "LG Buchheim: the multi-talented and irascible genius behind Das Boot". The Local. Germany.
- ^ ISBN 9783039115327.
- ^ New York Times. AP. 24 February 2007.
- ^ a b Lothar-Günter Buchheim (1981). "Kommentar - Die Wahrheit blieb auf Tauchstation" [Commentary: The truth remained hidden under the sea]. Geo. No. 10.
- ^ "Sprengel Museum, Hanover". www.lootedart.com. Archived from the original on 23 June 2021. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
The Leipzig publisher and collector Dr. Gustav Kirstein had purchased the work at the 1920 Berlin Secession. Kirstein committed suicide in 1934. Soon afterwards his firm was taken over by the Nazis. The family's art collection was handed over to the Leipzig art gallery C.G. Boerner and forty-four works were placed with the storage firm Erhardt Schneider. The proceeds of the sale went to a blocked account. Kirstein's daughters had already emigrated to the USA. In 1949 the Hanover collector Dr. Bernhard Sprengel purchased the Corinth from Lothar-Günter Buchheim in Berlin. In 1979 Sprengel donated his collection to the city of Hannover and the Sprengel Museum was founded as a result. After inquiries instituted in 1999 by the Commission for Art Recovery, the museum restituted the painting to the family.
- ^ a b "Lothar-Günther Buchheim". Buchheim Museum (in German). Retrieved 7 November 2023.
- ^ ISBN 9783453201972.
- ^ "Lothar-Günther Buchheim ist tot: Wortgewaltiger Poltergeist". Süddeutsche Zeitung (in German). 19 May 2010 [23 February 2007].
- ^ "Lothar-Günther Buchheim - Author of the Novel". Das Boot. Archived from the original on 27 January 2020. Retrieved 6 February 2018.
External links
- Buchheim Museum of Imagination
- Collection of Buchheim's U-Boat Photos
- Lothar-Günther Buchheim at IMDb
- Lothar-Günther Buchheim at Find a Grave (not in the famous section, requires search)