Vienna (OTS) – July 29th marks the 50th anniversary of Erich Kästner’s death. Ö1 remembers the children’s book author, poet and novelist with “Thoughts for the Day” (July 22nd – 27th) and a “Radiokolleg” (July 29th – August 1st).
Michael Hammerschmid, author of poems for children and adults, prose, radio plays and essays on literature, takes a very personal look at the life and work of Erich Kästner in his “Thoughts for the Day”: “Don’t let childhood be driven out of you!” can be heard on Ö1 from Monday 22 to Saturday 27 July at 6:57 a.m.
“Erich Kästner – classic with a twist” is the title of the four-part “Radiokolleg” from Monday, July 29th to Thursday, August 1st, each day from 9:05 a.m. on Ö1. On July 29th, the focus will be on “Child of Little People – The Biography of Erich Kästner”. He is world famous above all for his children’s books. But Erich Kästner was also a politically aware novelist for adults and a lively and original poet. The popularity of his work, translated into 59 languages, remains unbroken to this day. “Left, where the heart beats – Kästner politically” is the topic on July 30th. Kästner, an anti-fascist and anti-militarist, saw himself as a democratic socialist throughout his life. During the years of the Weimar Republic, he says he voted for the Social Democrats. In 1932, together with Heinrich Mann and Albert Einstein, he advocated a merger between the SPD and the KPD to prevent the Nazis from seizing power – in vain. In the 1950s and 60s, the author campaigned against German rearmament and the Vietnam War. “The Children’s Book Classic” is the focus on July 31st. Along with Astrid Lindgren, Otfried Preußler and Michael Ende, Erich Kästner is one of the children’s book classics of the 20th century, and that on an international scale. The hairdresser’s son from Dresden achieved sensational success with “Emil and the Detectives” in 1929. Other bestsellers and long-sellers followed, such as “Pünktchen and Anton”, “The Flying Classroom” and “The Double Lottie”, which still find enthusiastic audiences today, and not just among young people. “Kästner as a poet and novelist” is the focus on August 1st. Novels such as “Fabian” and especially “Three Men in the Snow” were and are considered by many German scholars to be too catchy to be taken seriously. This has recently changed. “Fabian” in particular – first published in its unabridged original version in 2013 under the title “Der Gang vor die Hunde” – is now considered one of the “greatest urban novels of the Weimar Republic” (FAZ). The public has never shared the reservations of literary scholars about Kästner’s narrative art. This is also evidenced by the large number of Kästner film adaptations. However, Erich Kästner has long been considered a classic of Weimar Modernism in the field of poetry. Poems such as “The Handstand on the Loreley” or “Sachliche Romanze” are considered part of the canon of German poetry. The Ö1 program in detail can be found at
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