Walter Kempowski

Childhood (1929–39) Kempowski was born in Rostock. was the daughter of a Hamburg merchant. In 1935 Kempowski began attending St. Georg School; in 1939, he transferred to the local high school ("Realgymnasium"). During World War II (1939–45) As a teenager, Kempowski, who was unathletic and had acquired a taste for American jazz and swing music through his older brother, chafed under compulsory service in the Hitler Youth, and was transferred into a penalty unit (Strafeinheit) of the organization. In early 1945 he was drafted into the Flakhelfer, the youth auxiliary of the Luftwaffe, serving in a special unit that performed courier functions. Kempowski's father, who had volunteered for military service at the beginning of the war, only to be turned away because of his membership in the Freemasons, Convicted by a Soviet military tribunal and sentenced to 25 years, he served eight years in a prison in Bautzen, and was released in 1956. In West Germany he became a teacher in Breddorf (as of 1960), in (as of 1965) and in Zeven (between 1975 and 1979). Kempowski died of intestinal cancer, aged 78, in Rotenburg on 5 October 2007. ==Works==

Kempowski's first success as an author was the autobiographic novel Tadellöser & Wolff, in which he described his youth in Nazi Germany from the viewpoint of a well-off middle-class family. The documents are now deposited in the archive of the Academy of Arts, Berlin. ==List of works==

• Im Block. Ein Haftbericht. Reinbek bei Hamburg: Rowohlt, 1969. • Tadellöser & Wolff. Ein bürgerlicher Roman. Munich: Hanser, 1971. (=An Ordinary Youth, translated by Michael Lipkin, London: Granta Books, 2023. .) • Uns gehts ja noch gold. Roman einer Familie. Munich: Hanser, 1972. • Haben Sie Hitler gesehen? Deutsche Antworten. Munich: Hanser, 1973 (=Did you ever see Hitler?: German answers, translated by Michael Roloff, with a preface by Helen Wolff, postscript by Sebastian Haffner, New York: Avon Books, 1975. ). • Der Hahn im Nacken. Mini-Geschichten. Reinbek bei Hamburg: Rowohlt, 1973. • Immer so durchgemogelt. Erinnerungen an unsere Schulzeit. Munich: Hanser, 1974. • Ein Kapitel für sich. Munich: Hanser, 1975. • Alle unter einem Hut. Über 170 witzige und amüsante Alltagsminiminigeschichten. Bayreuth: Loewe, 1976. • Wer will unter die Soldaten?, Munich: Hanser, 1976. • Aus großer Zeit. Hamburg: Knaus, 1978 (=Days of greatness, translated by Leila Vennewitz, London: Secker & Warburg, 1982 ). • Haben Sie davon gewußt? Deutsche Antworten. Hamburg: Knaus, 1979. • Unser Böckelmann. Hamburg: Knaus, 1979 • Kempowskis einfache Fibel. Brunswick: Westermann, 1980. • Schöne Aussicht. Hamburg: Knaus. 1981. • Beethovens Fünfte. Moin Vaddr läbt. Radio plays. Hamburg: Knaus, 1982. • Herrn Böckelmanns schönste Tafelgeschichten nach dem ABC geordnet. Hamburg: Knaus, 1983. • Herzlich willkommen. Munich: Knaus, 1984. • Haumiblau. 208 Pfenniggeschichten für Kinder. Munich: Bertelsmann, 1986. • Hundstage. Munich: Knaus, 1988 (=Dog days, Norma S. Davis, Garold N. Davis, and Alan F. Keele (trls.), Columbia, SC: Camden House, c1991. .) • Sirius. Eine Art Tagebuch. Munich: Knaus, 1990 • Mark und Bein. Eine Episode (translated into English as Marrow and Bone, see below). Munich: Knaus, 1991. • Das Echolot. Ein kollektives Tagebuch Januar und Februar 1943. 4 vols. Munich: Knaus, 1993. • Der arme König von Opplawur. Ein Märchen. Munich: Knaus, 1994. • Der Krieg geht zu Ende. Chronik für Stimmen – Januar bis Mai 1945. Radio play. Stuttgart 1995. • Weltschmerz. Kinderszenen fast zu ernst. Munich: Knaus, 1995. • ''Bloomsday '97''. Munich: Knaus, 1997. • Heile Welt. Munich: Knaus, 1998. • Die deutsche Chronik. 9 vols. Munich: Knaus, 1999. • Das Echolot. Fuga furiosa. Ein kollektives Tagebuch Winter 1945. 4 vols. Munich: Knaus, 1999. • Walter Kempowski liest »Tadellöser & Wolff«. Audio book. Georgsmarienhütte: CPO, 2001. • Alkor. Tagebuch 1989. Munich: Knaus, 2001. • Der rote Hahn. Dresden 1945. Munich: Knaus, 2001. • ''Das Echolot. Barbarossa '41. Ein kollektives Tagebuch''. Munich: Knaus, 2002. • Walter Kempowski liest »Aus großer Zeit«. Audio book. Georgsmarienhütte: CPO, 2003. • Letzte Grüße. Munich: Knaus, 2003. • Das 1. Album. 1981–1986. Frankfurt a.M. 2004. • Walter Kempowski liest »Schöne Aussicht«. Audio book. Georgsmarienhütte: CPO, 2004. • Das Echolot. Abgesang 45. Ein kollektives Tagebuch (=Swansong, see below). Munich: Knaus, 2005 • Culpa. Notizen zum Echolot. Munich: Knaus, 2005. • Hamit. Tagebuch 1990. Munich: Knaus, 2006. • Alles umsonst (=All for Nothing, see below). Munich: Knaus, 2006. • Walter Kempowski/Uwe Johnson: Der Briefwechsel. Berlin: Transit, 2006. . • Swansong 1945: A Collective Diary of the Last Days of the Third Reich [Das Echolot. Abgesang 45. Ein kollektives Tagebuch]. Translated by Shaun Whiteside. New York: W.W. Norton, 2015. . • All for Nothing [Alles umsonst]. Translated by Anthea Bell. London: Granta Books, 2015. . • Marrow and Bone [Mark und Bein]. Translated by Charlotte Collins, originally translated under the title Homeland. London: Granta Books, 2018. . == Filmography ==

• Tadellöser & Wolff, directed by (1975, TV film, based on the novel Tadellöser & Wolff) • ', directed by (1979, TV miniseries, based on the novel ') • Herzlich willkommen, directed by Hark Bohm (1990, based on the novel Herzlich willkommen) ==References==