Bernd Hambüchen

Bernd Hambüchen (* 1940 in Odenthal near Cologne) is the former director of the Volkshochschule Cologne , writer and publicist . Today he lives in Overath near Cologne.

Life

He studied ancient languages, history, philosophy, theater studies and social sciences in Cologne and Munich. He completed his studies in 1967 with the state examination at the University of Cologne . He obtained his doctorate in 1966 with a doctoral thesis on Seneca's script "De brevitate vitae".

After completing his studies, he worked as a high school teacher from 1967 to 1974, primarily in Cologne. From 1974 he worked in adult education, initially as head of the department for philosophy, theology and pedagogy at the Volkshochschule Köln, one of the largest institutions for adult and further education in Germany. There he became head of department for the "humanities subjects" in 1979, deputy director in 1983 and director in 1998. In addition to his work at the adult education center , he was a long-time lecturer for adult education at the University of Cologne and for social education at the Cologne University of Applied Sciences and worked on various committees of the German Adult Education Association and the State Association of Adult Education Centers in North Rhine-Westphalia (including long-term chairman of the committee for further education).

1998–2005 he was director of the Cologne Adult Education Center. During his tenure, he was particularly responsible for the restructuring and financial consolidation of the facility as well as for its educational reorientation and certification. In 2005 he retired.

Writing activity

Since then he has devoted himself to activities that were neglected during his professional life: playing the piano, painting and writing. He writes short stories and poems in High German and Kölsch , the Cologne dialect.

His stories tell of pleasant hours and quiet glee, the puzzles and pitfalls of everyday life, missed opportunities, fateful encounters and the long shadows of the past. With a sense of humor, they lead you into impassable terrain and the deceptive idyll of the province. Thoughtfully serious, they uncover the depths of the soul, reveal life plans and the burden of personal responsibility. The poems reflect the stories and give them a new depth of feeling.

Literary

• Summer rainy days - stories and poems. Frankfurt am Main 2008, ISBN 978-3-89950-322-7 .
• Monologue of a pair of underpants and other stories. Frankfurt am Main 2009, ISBN 978-3-89950-492-7 .
• Collection of German Narrators - An anthology of new German-speaking authors. Frankfurt am Main 2010, ISBN 978-3-8301-1297-6 .

Web links

• Literature by and about Bernd Hambüchen in the catalog of the German National Library