Heinrich Boll

Heinrich Böll was a German writer who was one of the most prominent voices of post-war German literature. He was born in Cologne in 1917 to a Catholic and pacifist family. He refused to join the Hitler Youth and was conscripted into the army in 1939. He served in various fronts during World War II and was wounded four times. He married Annemarie Cech in 1942 and they had four children. After the war, he returned to Cologne and studied German literature and classical philology at the university. He also worked as a bookseller and a translator. He began writing novels and short stories that reflected his experiences of the war and its aftermath. He was critical of the Nazi regime, the Catholic Church, and the West German society. He also supported the peace movement, the student protests, and the environmental causes. He won several literary awards, including the Georg Büchner Prize in 1967 and the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1972. He died of heart failure in 1985 at his home in Bornheim-Merten. His works have been translated into many languages and have influenced many writers around the world. Some of his most famous works include The Clown, Billiards at Half-Past Nine, Group Portrait with Lady, The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum, and The Safety Net. He is regarded as one of the most important German writers of the 20th century.