Der lange Weg der Heimkehr

Georg Rüthnick’s portrayal of his years in war captivity (1945-1949) is poignantly intensified through poems that he wrote as a prisoner and was able to smuggle from the compound during his release.

Georg Rüthnick: Der lange Weg der Heimkehr.
ISBN: 978-3-937772-12-7; price 12,90 Euro

Augsburg 1939–1946. Erlebnisse eines Schülers in Krieg und Nachkriegszeit.

Whether the young Hermann is rummaging amongst rubble of the old toy store looking for the long-desired Märklin tracks or whether he is enjoying “Fuggerei” romanticism at his grandparents’ until his grandmother is killed during the bombing of the housing settlement, or he pulls a pillow over his head in a cellar corner or is upset viewing the destruction of the familiar town silhouette from his room’s window – his vivid account allows us to trace what war meant in general and especially in Augsburg.

“The city of Augsburg is the secret leading lady of this book.”

Dr. Hermann Winter:  Augsburg 1939–1946. Erlebnisse eines Schülers in Krieg und Nachkriegszeit
ISBN: 978-3-937772-14-1, paperback 92 pages, 9,90 Euro

(M)Ein ganz normales Leben. Erinnerungen an einen Aufbruch.

Franz Kowsky wonders: How is it possible that a young boy born in 1937, who was left fatherless, unsettled and impoverished by the war, is a confident teacher twenty years later? In a precision piece of work unfolding his history private memories become a survey of the (intellectual) history of the Federal State of Germany. It becomes increasingly clear that the history of the young republic is also the answer to the book’s underlying question.

Kowsky, Franz: (M)Ein ganz normales Leben. Erinnerungen an einen Aufbruch.
ISBN: 978-3-937772-17-2, hardcover, 460 pages, 19,90 Euro

Zweifelsfahrten. Bilder aus der Vergangenheit.

“When most I wink, then do mine eyes best see.” Helmut Rücker follows Shakespeare’s instructions and describes images that emerge from the past, relives them, vividly explores them for the reader, who may relish in them equally: inklings of childhood happiness, a rich family life that allows the six-year-old from Sudetenland to view the double displacement, first from his parents’ farm, then from home completely, as an adventure and not just a threat. Then there is a new start in Westphalia, school, especially the school of life during carnival and the “Paohlbürger”, joining the new Federal Armed Forces, and the universities of the sixties. 

Contrasted with the melancholic reminiscing of his father and the mischievous confessions of his brother Gerhard a compass of German history evolves like only the past century could have written it.

Rücker, Helmut: Zweifelsfahrten. Bilder aus der Vergangenheit.
ISBN 978-3-937772-19-6, paperback, 172 pages, 17,90 Euro

Französische Straße. Eine deutsche Tetralogie.

The autobiographical novel of Hans-Jürgen Sailer, born in Bonn in 1957 and raised in Westphalia, is not only an atmospherically sound portrayal of life and the attitude towards it during years of Brandt, Kohl and the Republic of Bonn. Aside from moments of recognition and aha effect, the book understands that the Bonn Republic was in many ways too suffocating for the author and his fellow peers. Going against the mainstream Sailor tries to escape the confinement heading East. He travels through the Soviet Union by train and further to Japan. Later he is captivated by the “East close to home” and travels to East Berlin on multiple occasions as visitor tracing the unreal double existence of Germany and it comes as it must: Sailer falls in love with a young East German doctor. Can he outsmart border control with his insider knowledge from his student job as sleeping car conductor?

Sailer, Hans-Jürgen: Französische Straße. Eine deutsche Tetralogie.
ISBN: 978-3-937772-20-2, paperback, 172 pages, 14,90 Euro