Willi Heinrich

Willi Heinrich (1920–2005) was a German author and soldier. During the Second World War he fought in the

After the war, Heinrich became a writer; his first novel In einem Schloss zu wohnen, written 1950–1952, went unpublished until 1976, when he was an established novelist. His first commercial novel, Das geduldige Fleisch was published in 1955. The novel is set on the Eastern Front and centres around the conflicts within Heinrich's former unit. An immediate success, the novel was translated to English and published as The Willing Flesh (1956), by Weidenfeld & Nicolson in the United Kingdom, and as Cross of Iron (1957) by Bobbs-Merrill in the United States. In 1977, Sam Peckinpah adapted it as the film Cross of Iron, featuring James Coburn as the protagonist anti-hero Rolf Steiner.^[1]

Though he began as a war

Willi Heinrich died in Dobel, near Karlsruhe, in 2005, aged 84.

Bibliography

• Das geduldige Fleisch (1955 – English editions: The Willing Flesh UK, 1956, and Cross Of Iron US, 1956)
• Der Goldene Tisch (1956 – English editions: The Savage Mountain UK, 1957, and Crack of Doom US, 1958)
• Die Gezeichneten (1958 – English edition: The Mark Of Shame, 1958)^[2]
• Alte Häuser sterben nicht (1960 – English edition: The Crumbling Fortress, 1963)
• Gottes zweite Garnitur (1962 – English edition: The Lonely Conqueror)
• Ferien im Jenseits (1964 – English edition: The Devil's Bed)
• Maiglöckchen oder ähnlich (1965)
• Mittlere Reife (1966)
• Geometrie einer Ehe (1967)
• Schmetterlinge weinen nicht (1967)
• In Stolzer Trauer (1970)
• Jahre wie Tau (1971)
• So long, Archie (1972)
• Liebe und was sonst noch zählt (1974 – English edition: Rape Of Honour, 1974)
• Ein Handvoll Himmel (1976)
• In einem Schloß zu wohnen (1976)
• Ein Mann ist immer unterwegs (1978)
• Herzbube & Mädchen (1980)
• Allein gegen Palermo (1981)
• Vermögen vorhanden (1982)
• Traumvogel (1983)
• Männer zum Wegwerfen (1985)
• Erzählungen (1985, anthology of three novellas: "Fata Morgana", "Die Freundinnen", "Harte Bandagen")
• Die Verführung (1986)
• Zeit der Nymphen (1987)
• Der Väter Ruhm (1988)
• Der Reisende der Nacht (1989)
• Eine spanische Affäre (1990)
• Ein Herz für Frauen (1992)
• Puppenspiele (1993)
• Der Gesang der Sirenen (1994)

Film adaptations

• Gottes zweite Garnitur, directed by Paul Verhoeven (1967, TV film)
• Schmetterlinge weinen nicht [de], directed by Klaus Überall [de] (1970)
• Cross of Iron, directed by Sam Peckinpah (1977)

References

Sources

• Small, Caroline M. (January 2007), "Willi Heinrich", Guide to Literary Masters & Their Works, Salem Press

External links

• "The Willi Heinrich Collection (Heinrich's manuscripts)". Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center, Boston University.