Heinrich Böll House

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Entrance to the Heinrich Böll House

The Heinrich Böll House in Langenbroich ( Kreuzau municipality ) in the Düren district ( Northern Eifel ) is the former summer home of the writer and Nobel Prize winner Heinrich Böll and his family. Since its inauguration on June 9, 1991, it has served as a refuge and scholarship house for authors and artists from all over the world.

history

The Heinrich-Böll-Haus is a listed courtyard complex from the 17th century, which Heinrich Böll acquired as a holiday home in the 1960s. Here the poet found the necessary peace to work on his novels and - mostly together with his wife Annemarie Böll - translations.

Since the authorities suspected, after corresponding indications from the Springer press , that wanted RAF members could find shelter with Heinrich Böll, a police search of the house was carried out on June 1, 1972. The house also became famous in February 1974 when the Russian poet Alexander Solzhenitsyn was able to retire here, largely undisturbed by the media, after his expatriation from the USSR .

Heinrich Böll died here after a long illness in 1985, Annemarie Böll in 2004. In the novel Fürsorgliche Siege (1979), the author set a literary monument to Langenbroich; likewise in his essays You enter Germany (1966), Die Juden von Drove (1982) and Lauter Harassungen (1985).

Scholarship House

In 1989, the Böll family founded with some fellow authors, the Heinrich Boell Foundation, the city of Düren and the community Kreuzau the association Heinrich Böll House Langenbroich eV goal was a free space for writers, composers, artists and those from other disciplines who are often or were exposed to political persecution in their homeland and who are allowed to work undisturbed here for a limited period of time. Annemarie Böll, Dieter Kühn and Josef Vosen formed the founding board of directors ; Viktor Böll , Karin Clark, Eckhard Creutz , Godula Faupel, Sybille Haußmann and Herbert Schmidt later belonged to the board. The current chairman is Paul Larue (as of 2017)

With funding from the NRW Foundation and according to plans by Vincent Böll , the house was rebuilt. "The new building was divided, the western half was reserved for Annemarie Böll - in this area also Böll's study as he had left it, the cord jacket still hanging over the back of the chair," remembers Dieter Kühn. Four guest apartments were created: a studio apartment, an apartment and two family-friendly apartments.

The Kurdish writer Abdul Kadir Konuk was the first guest before the official opening in June 1990. In June 1991, on the occasion of the opening, a German-Russian writers' meeting was held under the title Literatures in the Soviet Union . Around 140 scholars from Africa, Asia, Latin America, Eastern and Southeastern Europe have now been guests in Langenbroich. Preference is given to authors from countries in which working conditions are politically and economically difficult, in which publication opportunities are hindered or even prevented. The apartments are made available to the scholarship holders free of rent for a period of four to six months; a scholarship provides the necessary maintenance during this time. The state of North Rhine-Westphalia supports artist aid through the Heinrich Böll Fund of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia . The association appeals to the population to take on sponsorships.

The artistic work of the scholarship holders is documented in publications by the Heinrich Böll Foundation . The association also endeavors to arrange readings, discussions, seminars and exhibitions that provide information about the cultural and political situation in the guests' home countries. Twice a year the management of the house decides on the award of the scholarship. She works with the Writers in Prison Committee of the international PEN and the Writers in Exile Committee of the PEN Center Germany .

Scholarship holders in Heinrich-Böll-Haus since 1990

literature

  • Inauguration of the Heinrich Böll House in Langenbroich on Saturday, June 8, 1991. Photos: Maria Klassen, Editor: Berthold Langerbein. Heinrich-Böll-Haus Langenbroich eV, Düren 1991
  • Literatures in the Soviet Union. German “Soviet” writers' meeting. Heinrich Böll Foundation, Cologne 1991, ISBN 3-927760-12-9
  • Literature and art in the Heinrich-Böll-Haus. A reader with portraits, pictures and texts of the guests 1990-1994. Editor: Berthold Langerbein. Rheinland-Verlag, Pulheim 1995, ISBN 3-7927-1508-2
  • To save some time. Literature and art in the Heinrich-Böll-Haus Langenbroich. Heinrich Böll Foundation, Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-927760-45-5
  • Seasons, daybreak. Literature and art in the Heinrich-Böll-Haus Langenbroich. Heinrich Böll Foundation, Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-3-927760-57-8

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Dieter Kühn: On the way to Annemarie Böll. A biographical sketch. Heinrich Böll Foundation, Berlin 2000, p. 193 f.
  2. ↑ See appeal and donation account ( memento of the original dated December 7, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on the official website of the city of Düren. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.dueren.de

Coordinates: 50 ° 44 ′ 31.5 "  N , 6 ° 27 ′ 22.8"  E