Hans-Wilhelm Smolik

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Hans-Wilhelm Smolik (born November 1, 1906 in Leipzig ; † May 17, 1962 in Irsee ) was a German writer of natural and animal stories for children, young people and adults.

Live and act

Smolik wrote his first poems and fairy tales as a child. After finishing school, he completed an apprenticeship as an insurance salesman and then as a book printer. He taught himself to write autodidactically and acquired his basic botanical and zoological knowledge by observing nature and on long hikes through Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

His first two books, A, B, C der Skullkunde and Rätsel Mensch , were confiscated and banned by the Reichsschrifttumskammer in Berlin in 1934 because of “the decomposition of the racial doctrine of National Socialism” . To avoid persecution by the Secret State Police , Smolik, on the advice of his publisher Felix , chose Meiner Tiermärchen and other natural history stories as subjects for his books.

By his death in 1962 he published 60 radio plays and 55 books, including Näpfli - the red blood cell , of which 2.5 million copies have been given away or distributed to DAK members, schools and other educational institutions from 1965 to the present day . Smolik's identification book Walking with Open Eyes sold 300,000 times in 1957. In 1960 the animal lexicon The large illustrated animal book appeared . This 1500 page popular science work reached a circulation of 500,000 copies. In 1962 he wrote the foreword to the book The large picture lexicon of animals by the Czech zoologist Václav Jan Staněk (1907-1983). In 1962 his book Garden completely rediscovered was published , which was awarded the German Garden Book Prize in the same year.

His daughter Sabine Smolik-Pfeifer is now responsible for the publication of the new editions of his books.

Works (selection)

  • A, B, C of craniology , 1932
  • Riddle Man , 1934
  • The great spring awakening , 1939
  • Wuppdi , 1940
  • Kribbelfix , 1941
  • Shepherd Martin and the animals , 1941
  • Miraculous experiences of a shepherd boy , 1943
  • Dripping Star , 1945
  • Grimback the hamster , 1945
  • My friend Sägebein , 1945
  • The whole world under one old roof , 1945
  • Beard the Oak , 1947
  • The forest ranger , 1947
  • An Luftikus , 1947
  • Wacker the Wandering Stone , 1948
  • Between evening and morning , 1948
  • Rustfur the wood mouse , 1948
  • The big question of the little somersault , 1948.
  • Three Ways: Tales for Lovers , 1948
  • Insect riddle, Lux reading sheet No. 36 , 1948
  • The look inside! Poems , 1948
  • Knorzel the stump , 1949
  • Wart bite the meadow musician , 1949
  • Nick's bridal trip , 1949
  • The golden heart of the forest , 1949
  • The Outwitted Animal, Lux Reading Sheet No. 47 , 1949
  • The Transformed Animal, Lux Reading Sheet No. 53 , 1949
  • Animal tribes migrate, Lux Reading Sheet No. 57 , 1949
  • Gaukeljan and Schaukeline , 1949
  • The red goblin , 1949
  • Langbeen the Edible Frog , 1950
  • One girl alone , 1950
  • Body primer for children , 1950
  • Rauschebart and Knorzel , 1951 (cultural and natural history based on a thousand-year-old oak)
  • Sniff of the hedgehog , 1953
  • Animal lover in need , 1953
  • Plink travels the world , 1954
  • Strange Fellows , 1954
  • Swallowtail and Peacock Eye , 1955
  • Our native fauna , 1955
  • Experiencing and listening to animals, anthology , 1955
  • A thousand miracles on silent paths , 1956
  • Beautiful day butterflies , 1956
  • Moth in the moonlight , 1957
  • Walking with your eyes open , 1957
  • Nurseries in the woods and fields , 1957
  • The black carpenter , 1958
  • The great illustrated animal book , 1960
  • Animals and People , 1960
  • The Best of Walt Disney , 1961
  • Garden completely rediscovered , 1962
  • Näpfli's miraculous journey through the human body. Drawn by Wilhelm Hartung , with a foreword by Fritz Lejeune (= first DAK edition), Hamburg 1965

Web links
personal data
SURNAME Smolik, Hans-Wilhelm
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German author of nature and animal stories
DATE OF BIRTH November 1, 1906
PLACE OF BIRTH Leipzig
DATE OF DEATH 17th May 1962
Place of death Irsee