Siegfried Lenz
| Siegfried Lenz | |
|---|---|
Lenz in 1969
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| Born |
17 March 1926 Lyck (Ełk), East Prussia |
| Died | 7 October 2014 (aged 88) Hamburg, Germany |
| Occupation | Novelist |
| Nationality | German |
| Alma mater | University of Hamburg |
| Period | 1956–2014 |
| Notable works | The German Lesson |
| Notable awards |
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| Website | |
| www |
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Siegfried Lenz (German: [ˈziːkfʁiːt ˈlɛnts]; 17 March 1926 – 7 October 2014) was a German writer of novels, short stories and essays, as well as dramas for radio and the theatre. In 2000 he received the Goethe Prize on the 250th Anniversary of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's birth.
Siegfried Lenz was born in Lyck, East Prussia (now Ełk, Poland), the son of a customs officer. After graduating in 1943, he was drafted into the Kriegsmarine.
According to documents released in June 2007, he may have joined the Nazi Party at the age of 18 on 20 April 1944 along with several other German authors and personalities, such as Dieter Hildebrandt and Martin Walser. However, Lenz subsequently said he had been included in a collective "joining" of the Party without his knowledge. Shortly before the end of World War II, he fled to Denmark, but was held briefly as a prisoner of war in Schleswig-Holstein. He then worked as a translator for the British army.
At the University of Hamburg he studied philosophy, English, and literary history. His studies were cut off early when he became an intern for the daily newspaper Die Welt, where he served as an editor from 1950 to 1951. It was there he met his future wife, Liselotte whom he married in 1949.
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