August Kühn (writer)

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August Kühn , actually Helmut Münch (born September 25, 1936 in Munich ; † February 9, 1996 in Hinterwössen ), was a German writer who also published under the pseudonym Rainer Zwing .

Life

August Kühn was the son of a Munich employee . As the family feared persecution during the National Socialist dictatorship due to the father's Jewish descent , the son and his mother lived in exile in Switzerland from 1939 to 1945 . After the Second World War he attended secondary school in Munich and completed an apprenticeship as an optical grinder . After practicing this profession for a number of years, he switched to a traineeship at a Munich tabloid , for which he mainly wrote local reports. In the meantime he emigrated to Israel and was drafted into the military there . After a short time he broke off his military service and returned to Munich. In 1964/65 he tried his hand at cabaret and copywriter for the cabaret "Inverted World". In 1965 a serious accident resulted in partial disability . He then worked for an ice cream company, which fired him for joining a works council . He later worked for an insurance company and for the statistical office of the city of Munich . Eventually he became unemployed .

He was married to Riyan Münch-Kühn and had six children.

Writing activity

While he was unemployed, he began to write his first book ( Westend-Geschichte ) , initially for himself . In 1973 he published a play under the pseudonym "Rainer Zwing" and has since lived as a freelance writer in Munich and Hinterwössen. He chose the alias name August Kühn based on an ancestor of the same name on his mother's side. Other novels followed, "Zeit zum Aufstehn" was filmed in 1978 for television. In 1984 he became known nationwide: he wandered for months on foot from bookstore to bookstore through the country to advertise his books with readings. His narrative work is part of the proletarian “ literature of the world of work ” and processes Munich's local history to a large extent. Kühn was a member of the PEN Center in Switzerland.

Political commitment

Kühn was a member of the DKP . In the 1980 federal election campaign, he published "The Affaires of Mr. Franz". This meant the CDU / CSU's candidate for chancellor , Bavaria's Prime Minister Franz Josef Strauss . In 1994 he ran for the PDS in the elections to the German Bundestag.

Military history activities

In addition to his work as a novelist, Kühn's military-historical work is hardly known. His main focus was on the early 18th century. Kühn analyzed war history primarily from an economic point of view, but due to his extensive knowledge of details and his craftsmanship, he also emerged as a designer of artistically expressive and historically accurate pewter figures under his real name . He was a member of the “KLIO eV German Society of Friends and Collectors of Cultural and Historical Tin Figures”. He did not find a suitable publisher in Germany for his main military work "The Beginnings of Armament and the Beginning of the Standing Armies in Europe". With the exception of a few hand copies, it therefore remained unpublished, only the uniform color plates were posthumously published in the USA.

Honors

Memorial plaque to August Kühn on the outer facade of a residential complex in Gollierstrasse in Munich-Schwanthalerhöhe

Kühn's literary work was awarded a grant from the German Literature Fund and the Poetry Prize of the Burghausen Literary Month (1983). When he was awarded the Ernst Hoferichter Prize of the City of Munich in 1982 , there was a scandal : The 2nd Munich Mayor Winfried Zehetmeier ( CSU ) refused to protest against Kühn's opposing political party membership, which was given to three Munich cultural workers - Jörg Hube , Kurt Seeberger and August Kühn - personally to hand over the award and canceled his participation in the award ceremony.

In 2006, the state capital of Munich named a street in the new development area on the old exhibition grounds near Bavariapark after Kühn, i.e. in the Westend , his old quarter. In 2009, the "August Kühn Association for the Promotion of Munich Workers 'Culture and District Culture in Westend eV" was founded in Munich, which aims to make Kühn's work accessible to a wider readership again and also to promote Munich's workers' culture in its diverse ways.

Works

  • Westend story. Biographical information from a working-class district of Munich . Piper, Munich 1972 (Piper 38 series) ISBN 3-492-00338-9
  • Rainer Zwing: The Bavarian uprising. Folk play in four acts. Written down according to historical sources and considerations as it is today . Paranoia-Verlag, Munich 1973 (Prometheus: Theaterschriften Nr. 1)
  • Ice on the stick. Company novel . Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 1974 ISBN 3-10-041501-9 (complete new edition. Weltkreis, Dortmund 1985 ISBN 3-88142-340-0 )
  • Time to get up. a family chronicle . S. Fischer Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1975 ISBN 3-10-041502-7 (New edition: Munich 2010) (Russian: Pora podnimatʹsja. Progress, Moscow 1980)
  • Two in one garment or The Impossible Change of Man and Entrepreneur Hubmann . Frankfurt am Main 1976.
  • Volume 22 or The oddities in the life of Fritz Wachsmuth. Picaresque novel . Bertelsmann, Munich 1977 (authors' edition) ISBN 3-570-02871-2 (Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg: 1979 (Rororo 4447) ISBN 3-499-14447-6 )
  • Rainer Zwing: Maßbierien : Praise of a people who enjoy drinking and singing . Goverts, Frankfurt am Main 1977 ISBN 3-7740-0468-4
  • Munich stories . Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1977 ISBN 3-436-02480-5
  • Time to get up. A family chronicle with 137 photos and documents . People and World, Berlin 1977
  • Two in one garment or the impossible change of the person and entrepreneur Hubmann. Piece . S. Fischer Verlag, Frankfurt 1977
  • Fritz Wachsmuth's Wonder Years - Novel. Publishing house authors edition, Königstein / Taunus 1978.
  • The affairs of Mr. Franz . Weltkreis Verlag, Dortmund 1979 ISBN 3-88142-221-8
  • The oddities in the life of Fritz Wachsmuth. Novel . People and World, Berlin 1980
  • The suburb. Novel. Schneekluth, Munich 1981 ISBN 3-7951-0578-1 (Volk und Welt, Berlin 1983) (Deutscher Taschenbuch-Verlag, Munich 1987 (dtv 10700) ISBN 3-423-10700-6 )
  • Fritz Zimmermann: The carpenter Krause and the Nazis. Records. With a foreword by August Kühn . Verl. Marxistische Blätter, Frankfurt am Main 1983 (Marxistische Paperbacks 109) ISBN 3-88012-682-8
  • Germany - a mild summer. A travel journal. Schneekluth, Munich 1984 ISBN 3-7951-0927-2
  • We are slowly returning to nature. Fragment . Schneekluth, Munich 1984 ISBN 3-7951-0790-3 (People and World 1985)
  • Where you are at home . In: Heinrich Böll ; Jürgen Starbatty; Peter O. Chotjewitz Ed .: No man's land . Lamuv, Bornheim-Merten 1985, s. 122 ff.
  • My mother 1907. Novel . Münchner Edition - Schneekluth, Munich 1986 ISBN 3-7951-0901-9
  • The billing. Novel . Ludwig, Munich 1990 ISBN 3-7787-3357-5
  • The Bavarian uprising in 1705. Sendlinger Murder Christmas . Meister & Schlott. Munich 1995 ISBN 3-9803606-3-6
  • The beginnings of upgrading and the beginning of the standing armies in Europe . 2 volumes. Hinterwössen 1993-1994

literature

Web links
personal data
SURNAME Bold, August
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Zwing, Rainer (pseudonym); Münch, Helmut (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German writer
DATE OF BIRTH September 25, 1936
PLACE OF BIRTH Munich
DATE OF DEATH February 9, 1996
Place of death Hinterwössen