Heinz Czechowski (7 February 1935 – 21 October 2009) was a German poet and dramatist.
At the age of ten, Czechowski survived the highly destructive bombing of his birthplace of
Dresden
Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label= Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...
. After training in surveying and graphic design, he studied at the
Johannes R. Becher Institute of Literature in
Leipzig
Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...
, where he was strongly influenced by
Georg Maurer
Georg Maurer (11 March 1907 – 4 August 1971) was a German poet, essayist, and translator. He wrote under the pseudonyms ''Juventus, murus,'' and ''Johann Weilau''.
The son of a teacher, he was born in Szászrégen, Austria-Hungary (now in Roma ...
and the Saxon school. His first published poems appeared in 1957 in an issue of ''Neue Deutsche Literatur''. From 1961 to 1965, he worked at the
Mitteldeutscher Verlag publishing house in
Halle, Saxony-Anhalt
Halle (Saale), or simply Halle (; from the 15th to the 17th century: ''Hall in Sachsen''; until the beginning of the 20th century: ''Halle an der Saale'' ; from 1965 to 1995: ''Halle/Saale'') is the largest city of the German state of Saxony-An ...
. Between 1971 and 1973, he wrote plays for the city of
Magdeburg
Magdeburg (; nds, label=Low Saxon, Meideborg ) is the capital and second-largest city of the German state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is situated at the Elbe river.
Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archdiocese of Magdebu ...
, after which he became a freelance writer.
Czechowski produced free translations of the work of foreign poets (e.g.
Anna Akhmatova
Anna Andreyevna Gorenko rus, А́нна Андре́евна Горе́нко, p=ˈanːə ɐnˈdrʲe(j)ɪvnə ɡɐˈrʲɛnkə, a=Anna Andreyevna Gorenko.ru.oga, links=yes; uk, А́нна Андрі́ївна Горе́нко, Ánna Andríyivn ...
,
Mikhail Lermontov
Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov (; russian: Михаи́л Ю́рьевич Ле́рмонтов, p=mʲɪxɐˈil ˈjurʲjɪvʲɪtɕ ˈlʲɛrməntəf; – ) was a Russian Romantic writer, poet and painter, sometimes called "the poet of the Caucas ...
,
Marina Tsvetaeva
Marina Ivanovna Tsvetaeva (russian: Марина Ивановна Цветаева, p=mɐˈrʲinə ɪˈvanəvnə tsvʲɪˈtaɪvə; 31 August 1941) was a Russian poet. Her work is considered among some of the greatest in twentieth century Russia ...
, and
Yiannis Ritsos
Yiannis Ritsos ( el, Γιάννης Ρίτσος; 1 May 1909 – 11 November 1990) was a Greek poet and communist and an active member of the Greek Resistance during World War II. While he disliked being regarded as a political poet, he has b ...
). He was a founding member of the
Leipzig Free Academy of the Arts.
Works
*''Nachmittag eines Liebespaares''. Poems, 1962
*''Sieben Rosen hat der Strauch''. Mitteldeutscher Verlag, 1964 (anthology)
*''Zwischen Wäldern und Flüssen''. Mitteldeutscher Verlag, 1965 (anthology)
*''Unser der Tag, unser das Wort''. Mitteldeutscher Verlag, 1966 (anthology)
*''Wasserfahrt''. Poems, 1967
*''Spruch und Widerspruch''. Prose, 1974
*''Schafe und Sterne''. Poems, 1975
*''Was mich betrifft''. Poems, 1981,
*''Von Paris nach Montmartre''. 1981,
*''Ich, beispielsweise''. Poems, 1982
*''An Freund und Feind''. Poems, 1983,
*''Herr Neithardt geht durch die Stadt''. 1983,
*''Kein näheres Zeichen''. Mitteldeutscher Verlag, 1987,
*''Sanft gehen wie Tiere die Berge neben dem Fluß''. 1989
*''Die überstandene Wende''. 1989
*''Mein Venedig''. Poems and prose, 1989,
*''Auf eine im Feuer versunkene Stadt''. 1990,
*''Nachtspur''. Poems and prose, 1993,
*''Gedichte und Poeme''. 1996
*''Mein westfälischer Frieden. Ein Zyklus''. Nyland-Stiftung, 1998,
*''Sauerländische Elegie''. 1998
*''Ich und die Folgen''. Rowohlt, 1998,
*''Das offene Geheimnis''. 1999,
*''Die Zeit steht still''. Poems, Grupello Verlag, 2000,
*''Wüste Mark Kolmen''. Poems, Ammann Verlag, 2000,
*''Seumes Brille. Gedichte aus der Schöppinger Chronik (1999/2000).'' UN ART IG Verlag, 2000,
*''Einmischungen''. Grupello Verlag, 2000,
*''Seumes Brille''. Grupello Verlag, 2002,
*''Der Garten meines Vaters''. Grupello Verlag, 2003,
*''Die Elbe bei Pieschen und andere Ortsbeschreibungen''.
*''Unstrutwärts''.
*''Von allen Wundern geheilt. Gedichte''. onomato Verlag, 2006,
*''Die Pole der Erinnerung. Autobiographie''. Grupello Verlag, 2006,
Prizes
* 1961: Kunstpreis der Stadt Halle
* 1970:
Goethepreis der Stadt Berlin (collective prize)
* 1976:
Heinrich-Heine-Preis des Ministeriums für Kultur der DDR
The Heinrich Heine Prize of the Ministry of Culture of the GDR was founded on February 17, 1956 and awarded once a year on December 13, Heine's birthday, for lyrical works and works of literary journalism . The price since 1979 was 10,000 and late ...
* 1984:
Heinrich Mann Prize der
Akademie der Künste der DDR
The Akademie der Künste der DDR was the central art academy of the German Democratic Republic (DDR). It existed under different names from 1950 to 1993. Then it merged with the "Akademie der Künste Berlin (West)" to become the Academy of Arts, ...
* 1990/1991:
Stadtschreiber von Bergen
* 1996:
Hans-Erich-Nossack-Preis
Hans-Erich-Nossack-Preis is a former literary prize of Germany, later Literaturpreis des Kulturkreises der deutschen Wirtschaft.
Winners
* 1989 Friederike Mayröcker
* 1991 Helga M. Novak
* 1992 Günter Herburger
* 1993 Rolf Haufs
* 1994 ...
des Kulturkreises der deutschen Wirtschaft
* 1998:
Dresdner Stadtschreiber
* 1999: Dr. Manfred Jahrmarkt-Ehrengabe der
Deutsche Schillerstiftung
* 2001:
Brüder-Grimm-Preis der Stadt Hanau
Bibliography
*Renatus Deckert: ''Ruine und Gedicht. Das zerstörte Dresden im Werk von Volker Braun, Heinz Czechowski und Durs Grünbein'', Thelem Verlag, Dresden 2010.
External links
Wolfgang Ertl zu Czechowskis Werk seit der Wende
{{DEFAULTSORT:Czechowski, Heinz
1935 births
2009 deaths
German male poets
German male dramatists and playwrights
20th-century German poets
20th-century German dramatists and playwrights
German-language poets
20th-century German male writers