Siegfried Lenz

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Siegfried Lenz
German
Alma materUniversity of Hamburg
Period1956–2014
Notable worksThe German Lesson
Notable awards
  • Peace Prize of the German Book Trade
    (1988)
  • Goethe Prize (2000)
  • Honorary citizen of Schleswig-Holstein
    (2004)
Website
www.siegfried-lenz.de

Siegfried Lenz (German:

novels, short stories and essays, as well as dramas for radio and the theatre. In 2000 he received the Goethe Prize on the 250th Anniversary of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's birth. He won the 2010 International Nonino Prize
in Italy.

Life

Siegfried Lenz was born in

Lyck, East Prussia (now Ełk, Poland), the son of a customs officer. After graduating in 1943 he was drafted into the Kriegsmarine
.

According to documents released in June 2007, he joined the

Naestved in Denmark. Shortly after the German surrender at Lüneburg Heath he deserted and was held briefly as a prisoner of war in Schleswig-Holstein. He then worked as an interpreter for the British army.[2][3]

At the

literary history. His studies were cut off early when he became an intern for the daily newspaper Die Welt
, where he served as an editor from 1950 to 1951. It was there he met his future wife, Liselotte, whom he married in 1949.

In 1951, Lenz used the money he had earned from his first novel, Habichte in der Luft ("Hawks in the air"), to finance a trip to

Mau Mau Uprising in his short story "Lukas, sanftmütiger Knecht" ("Luke, gentle servant"). After 1951, Lenz worked as a freelance writer in Hamburg, where he joined the Group 47 group of writers. Together with Günter Grass he became engaged with the Social Democratic Party and championed the Ostpolitik of Willy Brandt. As a supporter of rapprochement with Eastern Europe, he was a member of the German delegation at the signing of the Treaty of Warsaw (1970). In October 2011, he was made an honorary citizen of his home town Ełk, which had become Polish as a result of the border changes promulgated at the 1945 Potsdam Conference
.

In 2003, Lenz joined the Verein für deutsche Rechtschreibung und Sprachpflege (Society for German Spelling and Language Cultivation) to protest against the German orthography reform of 1996.[4]

His wife, Liselotte, died in 2006 after 57 years of marriage. Four years later he married his 74-year-old neighbour, Ulla, who had helped him after the death of his wife.[5] Siegfried Lenz died at the age of 88 on 7 October 2014 in Hamburg.[6][7]

After his death, a previously unpublished novel, Der Überläufer ("The Turncoat"), which Lenz had written in 1951, was published. Found among his effects, it is a novel about a German soldier who defects to Soviet forces.[8]

Honours

In 1988 Lenz was awarded the

honorary citizen of Schleswig Holstein and in October 2011 an honorary citizen of his hometown Ełk (Lyck).[12] In 2010 he won the Italian International Nonino Prize
.

Siegfried Lenz Prize

The Siegfried Lenz Prize is a literary prize awarded every two years in Hamburg by the Siegfried Lenz Foundation. The prize is awarded to "international writers who have gained recognition with their narrative work and whose creative work is close to the spirit of Siegfried Lenz." A five-member jury appointed by the Foundation selects winners. The prize includes an award of 50,000 euros, ranking among the highest-endowed literature awards in Germany. The prize was initiated by Siegfried Lenz in 2014 before his death in October of that year.

Selected bibliography

Novels

Novellas and short story collections

Plays

Other

Essays, children's books, speeches

Filmography

References

  1. ^ "Dieter Hildebrandt soll in NSDAP gewesen sein". Die Welt (in German). 2007-06-30. Retrieved 2009-10-04.
  2. ^ Erich Maletzke: Siegfried Lenz: Eine biographische Annäherung
  3. ^ Kurzvita bei Radio Bremen vom 8. Oktober 2014. (Archiv)
  4. ^ Claudia Ludwig, "Siegfried Lenz unterzeichnet die Resolution für die Wiederherstellung der Rechtschreibeinheit" Deutsche Sprachwelt. Accessed 7 October 2014.
  5. ^ "Mit 84 Jahren: Siegfried Lenz heiratet langjährige Nachbarin". Der Spiegel. 13 June 2010.
  6. ^ "Revered German novelist Siegfried Lenz dead at 88". www.expatica.com/. 7 October 2014. Archived from the original on 11 October 2014. Retrieved 7 October 2014.
  7. ^ Siegfried Lenz: Novelist and playwright who played a key part in the generation of writers who studied the rise of Nazism
  8. ^ Möller, Barbara (3 March 2016). "Wie Siegfried Lenz in den Kalten Krieg geriet". Die Welt. Retrieved 5 March 2016.
  9. ^ "All prize winners and speakers". Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels. Archived from the original on 2010-10-17. Retrieved 2009-10-06.
  10. ^ "Germans celebrate Goethe festival". BBC News. 28 August 1999. Retrieved 7 October 2014.
  11. ^ "Hamburgische Ehrenbürger" (in German). Chancellery of the Senate. Archived from the original on 2011-09-25. Retrieved 2009-10-06. Hat mit seinem literarischen Werk zur Erneuerung und Anerkennung Deutschlands im Geiste des Humanismus beigetragen (Has contributed with his literary work to the renewal and recognition of Germany in the spirit of humanism)
  12. ^ "Siegfried Lenz zum Ehrenbürger seiner Geburtsstadt ernannt" (in German). Hamburger Abendblatt. 18 October 2011. Retrieved 2011-11-18.
  13. ^ "Die Nacht im Hotel -- Son (Internationaler Englischer Titel) Kurzspielfilm 2015-2016". crew-united.com. Retrieved 2019-08-29.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Siegfried Lenz.
  • Website published by Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag. Retrieved 2009-10-04 (in German)
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