Walter Matthias Diggelmann

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Walter Matthias Diggelmann (born July 5, 1927 in Mönchaltorf ; † November 29, 1979 in Zurich ) was a Swiss writer .

Live and act

Walter Matthias Diggelmann was born in 1927 as the illegitimate son of Maria Diggelmann, an orphaned farmer's maid. He had a difficult youth as a foster child, experienced conflicts with the guardianship and received a poor education. After dropping out of high school and dropping out of a watchmaking apprenticeship, he fled to Italy in 1944 because of a petty theft . There he was arrested and then deported to Dresden as a forced laborer by German security forces . Then, after trying to escape again and being arrested by the Gestapo , he remained interned in southern Germany until the end of the war. Back in Switzerland in 1945, he was placed under official guardianship and, after serving a prison sentence, was admitted to the Rheinau sanatorium for six months . After that he lived from casual work and made his first attempts at writing.

From 1949 Diggelmann worked as an assistant director at the Schauspielhaus Zurich . 1950/1951 he spent a year in Bern as a lecturer at the short-lived Alpha-Verlag. From 1956 he worked as a dramaturge for the radio in Zurich . From 1956 to 1962 he also worked as an advertising copywriter in Rudolf Farner 's agency . From 1962 he secured his livelihood as a freelance writer for the press, radio and television.

His stories and novels such as The Interrogation of Harry Wind , The Legacy and The Pleasure Ride were created out of personal concern. You critically deal with contemporary history and social issues, such as Swiss refugee policy in World War II or blind anti-communism in the Cold War . With his texts and books he polarized audiences in Switzerland, Austria and the FRG. Through psychologically differentiated works that also reflect suicidal moods, such as Aber den Kirschbaum, den there is , however, he achieved remarkable popularity in the GDR, which was by no means dictated "from above", where numerous works by him were published by the East Berlin publisher Volk und Welt Verlag and Reclam Leipzig .

Diggelmann, a Reformed denomination, was married three times: first to Nelly Gysin, then to Eliane Schopfer and finally to the journalist Klara Obermüller , with whom he had lived since 1973 and whom he married in 1977. Diggelmann lived in Ticino for three years , a period that he recorded in his book Ich und das Dorf in 1972 . For several years he represented the POC in the council of the city of Zurich .

In 1979 Diggelmann died of cancer at the age of 52. He is buried in the Manegg cemetery in Zurich.

His literary estate is in the Swiss Literary Archives .

Works

Original editions

  • ... Overdue with F51 . Novel. Artemis, Zurich 1955
  • The boys from Grande Dixence . Benziger, Einsiedeln 1959
    • Reissued as: Incident at the construction site . Benziger, Zurich 1978, ISBN 3-545-32166-5
  • Stories about Abel . Benziger, Einsiedeln 1960
  • The interrogation of Harry Wind . Benziger, Einsiedeln 1962; Goldmann, Munich 1979, ISBN 3-442-07028-7
  • The bill . Benziger, Einsiedeln 1963
  • The legacy . Novel. Piper, Munich 1965; Limmat , Zurich 1982, ISBN 3-85791-054-2
  • Isidor Ruge's acquittal . Piper, Munich 1967; Fischer-Bücherei, Frankfurt am Main 1971 (licensed edition), ISBN 3-436-01330-7 .
  • Witch trial. The exorcist from Ringwil . Benteli, Bern 1969
  • The pleasure ride . Novel. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 1969; Goldmann, Munich 1978, ISBN 3-442-07012-0
  • Me and the village. A diary in stories . Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 1972, ISBN 3-10-014102-4
  • My name Tomy . Novel. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 1973; Rotpunktverlag, Zurich 1981, ISBN 3-85869-003-1
  • Journey through Transdanubia . Stories. Benziger, Zurich 1974, ISBN 3-545-36211-6
  • Making people happy or the game of rich and poor. A trivial crime comedy . Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 1974
  • But the cherry tree does exist . Novel. Benziger, Zurich 1975; DTV, Munich 1982, ISBN 3-423-06332-7
  • The girl in the thistle wind . Benziger, Zurich 1976, ISBN 3-545-33064-8
  • Ballads by addicted children . Pfaffenweiler Presse, Pfaffenweiler 1976, ISBN 3-921365-07-4
  • GDR. Diary of an exploration trip (with Klara Obermüller). Benziger, Zurich 1977, ISBN 3-545-34015-5
  • The rich man dies . Novel. Benziger, Zurich 1977; Heyne, Munich 1979, ISBN 3-453-43050-6
  • Filippini's garden . Novel. Benziger, Zurich 1978; Ullstein, Frankfurt am Main 1980, ISBN 3-548-26014-4
  • Findings. A reader. Texts 1963 to 1970 . Rotpunktverlag, Zurich 1978, ISBN 3-85869-009-0
  • Shadow. Diary of an illness . Benziger, Zurich 1979; Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 1981, ISBN 3-596-25147-8
  • Walks on Margaret Island . Stories. Benziger, Zurich 1980; DTV, Munich 1983, ISBN 3-423-10146-5
  • Days of sweet warmth . Stories. Edited by Renate Nagel. Benziger, Zurich 1982, ISBN 3-545-36362-7
  • The day tells its own story. A reader . Edited by Klara Obermüller. Benziger, Zurich 1992, ISBN 3-545-36510-7

Work edition

reception

During his lifetime, Diggelmann was one of the most committed and controversial Swiss writers, some of whom could only publish in other German countries. After his death, his works were published again in Switzerland.

In 1973 the Swiss filmmaker Walter Marti realized a "film play" by and with Diggelmann entitled The Self-Destruction of Walter Matthias Diggelmann , recorded live on December 16, 1972 at the Théâtre du Jorat in Mézières .

In 2009, based on Diggelmann's novel Das Verhör des Harry Wind, the film Manipulation was made , directed by Pascal Verdosci . The main roles are played by Klaus Maria Brandauer and Sebastian Koch .

In 2014, Bänz dedicated a column to Friedli Diggelmann in Migros magazine , praising his authentic writing style, especially in the story incident on the construction site .

literature

  • Hadrien Buclin: Entre culture du consensus et critique sociale. Les intellectuels de gauche dans la Suisse de l'après-guerre (1945–1968). Lausanne 2015 (dissertation, University of Lausanne, 2015).
  • Thomas Färber: Protest with the typewriter. Walter Matthias Diggelmann in the public debates of the 1960s and 1970s . Chronos, Zurich 2020, ISBN 978-3-0340-1564-6 .
  • Brigitte Marschall: Walter Matthias Diggelmann . In: Andreas Kotte (Ed.): Theater Lexikon der Schweiz . Volume 1, Chronos, Zurich 2005, ISBN 3-0340-0715-9 , p. 470 f.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Walter M. Diggelmann: My year in Bern . In: Urs Dickerhof, Bernhard Giger (Ed.): Tatort Bern . Zytglogge, Bern 1976, pp. 37-38.
  2. ^ Charles Linsmayer : Short text on Diggelmann's legacy. Retrieved January 21, 2011.
  3. ↑ Information on the self-destruction of Walter Matthias Diggelmann
  4. ^ Official website about the film adaptation of Diggelmann's Das Verhör des Harry Wind. Retrieved January 20, 2011.
  5. ↑ Column by Bänz Friedli in Migros Magazine No. 20 from May 12, 2014: Ordinary boys, very strong ( Memento of the original from May 14, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.migrosmagazin.ch
  6. ^ Hadrien Buclin UNIL , Thèse de doctorat, Université de Lausanne, publié le 21 October 2015
personal data
SURNAME Diggelmann, Walter Matthias
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss writer
DATE OF BIRTH July 5, 1927
PLACE OF BIRTH Zurich
DATE OF DEATH November 29, 1979
Place of death Zurich