One of the most influential writers in postwar West Germany, Heinrich Böll (1917–1985) wrote about the rise of National Socialism and the impact of World War II on individuals. Additionally, he was active in the peace and environmental movements. Raised in Cologne in a Catholic family that opposed National Socialism, he refused to join the Hitler Youth and was conscripted into the German army in World War II. Based on his traumatic war experiences, he became an outspoken pacifist. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1972.
Source: Heinrich Böll, German writer and Nobel Prize winner for
literature (1972). Date: c. 1960. Photo: Wilhelm
Pabst.
bpk-Bildagentur, image number 10010870. For rights
inquiries, please contact Art Resource at requests@artres.com (North
America) or bpk-Bildagentur at kontakt@bpk-bildagentur.de (for all other
countries).
© bpk / Wilhelm Pabst