Heinrich Böll and His City in Texts and Images – A Classic

Few writers are as closely associated with a city in the minds of their readers as Heinrich Böll is with Cologne. He was born here in 1917, spent his childhood and youth here, and returned after his time as a soldier and prisoner of war to begin his literary career, which earned him not only the Nobel Prize but also the Literature Prize and honorary citizenship of the city of Cologne. There are affectionate and detailed descriptions of the southern part of Cologne before the war, astute observations on the transformation of the city and its inhabitants under the Nazis, and intense depictions of the chaotic conditions after the war ended. Yet, the relationship remained ambivalent, as many of his critical remarks were met with rejection from city institutions and the public.