My childhood and youth

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My childhood and youth is an autobiographical work by the writer Ludwig Renn , which was published in 1957. In it, the author describes his life in Dresden until the end of school.

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In his autobiography, Ludwig Renn describes his life and his mental and psychological development from the offspring of an aristocratic family to a “worker friend” and supporter of communism .

Ludwig Renn was the son of a math teacher, but had great difficulties reading and arithmetic in the first grades. He had a sad childhood, his dominant father ruling the family. He experienced the marriage of his parents as unhappy, the mother was depressed and sick with homesickness for Russia. She suggested to her sons that as late born of an old noble family they lacked vitality. This lack is the cause of their sickness. Therefore it is better for them not to marry, in order not to have completely viable children. School scared him and as a teenager life seemed pointless to him. Only on two vacation trips to Switzerland and Italy did he get the impression that he was really alive. There was an increase in school performance when he failed to achieve the class goal, had to leave school on the orders of his father and was taught by a private tutor. Within a quarter of a year he caught up on school material and from that point on was among the best in his class.

His older brother Victor prevailed against his father's wishes and became a farmer. Ludwig was artistically and musically gifted, and his father feared that his son wanted to become an artist. Ludwig Renn, however, decided to become an officer.

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  • My childhood and youth . Berlin, construction publ. 1957.