1982 - 1985: The aesthetics of resistence

1981
Böll's first major autobiographical work is published "What's to Become of the Boy?" On 10 October, Böll addresses up to 300,000 people at a peace rally in Bonn.

1982
Böll campaigns against the conditions in Poland after the military coup. The Böll family moves to Merten, near Cologne; Böll's son Raimund dies.  Böll is awarded honorary citizenship of Cologne.

1983
In an open letter to the Soviet authorities, Böll demands the release of Andrej Sacharov.  Together with other writers he campaigns against the US government's attempts to overthrow the Sandinista government of Nicaragua.  Despite poor health, Böll takes part in the blockade of US barracks in Germany in protest against NATO's plans to station new nuclear missiles.  In the run-up to the West German elections, Böll comes out in support of the Green Party.

1984
The French minister for culture, Jack Lang, makes Heinrich Böll a "Commandeur" in the "Ordre des Arts et des Lettres." Böll is awarded the Danish Jens Bjørneboe Price and donates the price money to a German committee of emergeny physicians.

1985
On the 40th anniversary of the capitulation of the Wehrmacht, Böll's "Letter to my Sons - or Four Bicycles" is published. Publication of his last novel Women in a River Landscape. In early July Böll has to undergo surgery. He is released from hospital on the 15th of July, yet knows that he will have to have another operation. On the morning of July 16 Böll dies in his house in Langenbroich (Eifel). He is buried on the 19th of July in Bornheim-Merten near Cologne.