Memorial Page for Otfried Preußler (née Otfried Syrowatka)

Otfried Preußler (born 20 October 1923 in Reichenberg, Bohemia; died 18 February 2013 in Prien am Chiemsee) was a German writer and teacher. With books such as Der kleine Wassermann, Die kleine Hexe, Der Räuber Hotzenplotz, Das kleine Gespenst and Krabat, he shaped generations of children and young readers.

Childhood in Bohemia

Preußler grew up in Reichenberg in a family of teachers. His father was interested in local history and legends, and the storytelling traditions of the Jizera Mountains also played a large role in the family. This world of fairy tales, folk stories, landscapes and oral narration later became an important source for his literature. Preußler did not write from fantasy alone, but from a culture of memory that he transformed into new stories.

War, captivity and new beginning

The Second World War interrupted his youth. Preußler became a soldier and was taken into Soviet captivity. After several years he came to Bavaria, found his family again and began a new life in Rosenheim. He became a teacher, worked with children, told them stories and noticed the power that characters, voices and suspense could unfold in the classroom. The schoolteacher gradually became the storyteller.

Children's books

Der kleine Wassermann appeared in 1956, followed soon after by Die kleine Hexe. Preußler wrote in a way children could understand, but never condescendingly. His characters experience fear, courage, mistakes, defiance and friendship. Der Räuber Hotzenplotz brought Kasperl, Seppel, Wachtmeister Dimpfelmoser and the coffee-stealing robber into a playful world strongly shaped by oral theatre and delight in language. Many of his books became classics because they trust children with seriousness while allowing joy in adventure and comedy.

Krabat

With Krabat, Preußler wrote a darker novel for young readers based on Sorbian legends. The story of the apprentice in the Black Mill combines magic, temptation, power and liberation. It shows another side of his work: less cheerful, more existential and still narratively clear. Krabat became one of his most important books and reached readers well beyond childhood.

Impact

Preußler published more than thirty books, translated into many languages and read millions of times. His stories reached stages, radio plays, films and schools. His own understanding of himself remained simple: he saw himself as a teacher and storyteller. Behind the lightness of his best-known figures stood a precise sense of what stories can do: they bring children close to fear and courage, rule and freedom, danger and comfort in a form they can enter for themselves.

Farewell

Otfried Preußler died in Prien am Chiemsee on 18 February 2013. He was 89 years old. His work remains connected with an unusually close understanding of children: it addresses their imagination seriously without overwhelming them, and connects Bohemian storytelling tradition with clear, warm German language.