Heinrich Böll

Heinrich Böll is our namesake. He lived from 1917 to 1985. He was a best-selling author, read in schools, and his works have been translated into many languages; some novels have been adapted into films. Böll used his public presence to advocate for democracy and human rights, convinced that "language, love, and connection make us human." Böll was a public intellectual, a moralist, a Cologne native, a Catholic, a smoker, a humanitarian, and a family man. 

Fifty years ago, an article by Heinrich Böll entitled "A Plea for Meddling" appeared in the New York Times. In it, Böll pleaded to intervene in all countries of the world when it comes to helping political prisoners and obtaining their release.

How does my writing work? Mely Kiyak addresses this big question against the backdrop of Heinrich Böll's Nobel Prize lecture, in which he dealt with the unfathomable prerequisite for his own writing.

In the book "Collected Silence," Sharon Dodua Otoo has opened up new perspectives on the life and work of Heinrich Böll. In an interview, the writer now explores the now famous Nobel Prize lecture that Heinrich Böll wrote fifty years ago. A conversation about the possibility of language, poetry and other realities - beyond prevailing reason.

When Heinrich Böll was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1972, the general tenor was that it was an explicitly political award. That image is wrong, and it was wrong even then.