Luise Rinser facts for kids

Luise Rinser (1987)

Luise Rinser (born April 30, 1911 – died March 17, 2002) was a German writer. She was famous for her novels and short stories.

Early Life and Education

Luise Rinser was born on April 30, 1911. Her hometown was Pitzling, which is part of Landsberg am Lech in Bavaria, Germany. The house where she was born is still there today.

She went to a school called a Volksschule in Munich. Luise did very well in her exams. After school, she worked as an assistant in different schools. Here, she learned new teaching methods from Franz Seitz. These methods helped her teaching and her writing.

During these years, she wrote her first short stories. They appeared in a journal called Herdfeuer. Luise did not join the Nazi Party. However, after 1936, she was part of the NS-Frauenschaft. Until 1939, she was also in the Teachers' Association. In 1939, she stopped teaching and got married.

Later Life and Experiences

Time in Prison

In 1944, a Nazi 'friend' reported her to the authorities. Luise was then put in the women's prison in Traunstein. Rinser later said she was accused of a serious crime against the government. She believed that Germany's defeat in the war saved her from a harsh punishment.

However, old documents show she was accused of "undermining the military." This charge could also lead to a severe penalty. The accusation was made in March 1945. This was three months after Rinser was let out for a Christmas break. She never went back to prison after that. Rinser later claimed she stayed in prison until April 1945.

After the war, Rinser became well-known. This happened when her Prison Journal (Gefängnistagebuch) was published in 1946. The people in the prison were not just political prisoners. Being among such different people was a new experience for Rinser. She came from a middle-class background. The prisoners faced dirt, bad smells, and sickness. Many people were also starving.

Rinser survived by taking what she could from a breadcrumb factory. She worked there while in prison. This experience showed her how poor and struggling people lived. She also learned a lot about herself. Her book became a bestseller. People in English-speaking countries learned about her through the English version, Prison Journal. In 1947, Rinser felt differently about her book. She compared her time in Traunstein to the much worse Nazi concentration camps. But the book was reissued twenty years later.

Marriages and Moves

Luise's first husband was Horst Günther Schnell. He was a composer and choir director. They had two sons. Horst died fighting in World War II on the Russian Front. After his death, she married Klaus Herrmann. He was a communist writer. This marriage ended around 1952. From 1945 to 1953, she worked as a writer for the newspaper Neue Zeitung München. She lived in Munich during this time.

In 1954, she married the composer Carl Orff. They divorced in 1959. She became good friends with the Korean composer Isang Yun. She also befriended a monastery abbot and a theologian named Karl Rahner. In 1959, she moved to Rome. From 1965 onwards, she lived in Rocca di Papa, near Rome. She was honored as a special resident there in 1986. Later, she lived in her apartment in Munich. She passed away there on March 17, 2002.

Political Involvement

Rinser was very active in political talks in Germany. She supported Willy Brandt in his election campaign in 1971-72. She also joined writers like Heinrich Böll and Günter Grass in protests. They protested against placing Pershing II missiles in Germany.

She became a strong critic of the Catholic Church. But she never left the church. She was even a journalist at the Second Vatican Council. She also wrote open letters. In these letters, she criticized the legal actions against some people. She wrote to one father, saying, "Gudrun has a friend in me for life."

In 1984, the Green Party suggested her as a candidate. They wanted her to run for the office of President of Germany.

Travels and Views

In 1972, Luise Rinser traveled to many countries. These included the Soviet Union, the United States, Spain, India, Indonesia, South Korea, North Korea, and Iran. She saw the Iranian leader Ruhollah Khomeini as a "shining model" for developing countries. She also visited Japan, Colombia, and many others.

She strongly supported changing a law about certain medical procedures. She was also a leading voice for the Catholic left in Germany.

Between 1980 and 1992, she visited North Korea 11 times. She met with North Korean leader Kim Il Sung 45 times. She wrote about her trips in her book Nordkoreanisches Reisetagebuch [de]. In it, she described North Korea as a "farm-loving country." She called it a model of "socialism with a human face." She wrote that crime, poverty, and prison camps were unknown there. She also praised its low environmental impact. She believed Kim was "a great man."

Later Discoveries

Luise Rinser died in 2002. For a long time, people believed what she and others said about her. But in 2011, a book called Luise Rinser – Ein Leben in Widersprüchen was published. It was written by Spanish author Sánchez de Murillo. This book showed that Rinser was an ambitious Nazi supporter early on. As a teacher, she had reported her Jewish headmaster. This was to help her own career. Murillo said, "She lied to all of us." Her son, Christoph Rinser, helped Murillo research this book.

Awards and Honors

• 1952 René Schickele-Preis-Ehrung
• 1975 Christophorus-Buchpreis der Christophorus-Stiftung des HUK-Verbandes
• 1977 Großes Verdienstkreuz des Verdienstorden der Bundesrepublik Deutschland
• 1979 Roswitha-Gedenkmedaille (Roswitha-Preis) der Stadt Bad Gandersheim
• 1979 Premio letterario internazionale mediterraneo, Palermo, Italien
• 1980 Premio Europa, Fiuggi, Italien
• 1985 "Accademico ordinario" der Accademia tiberina, Rome, Italy
• 1985 Johannes Bobrowski-Medaille der CDU der DDR
• 1986 Ehrendoktorwürde der Universität Pjöngjang (North Korea)
• 1987 Heinrich Heine Prize des Ministeriums für Kultur der DDR
• 1987 Heinrich Mann Prize of the Akademie der Künste der DDR
• 1987 "Donna in Arte", Provinz Rom, Italy
• 1987 "Autore dell'anno 1987", Città di Palestrina (Latium), Italy
• 1988 Elisabeth-Langgässer-Literaturpreis der Stadt Alzey
• 1988 Premio Giustina Rocca, Trani, Italy
• 1991 Internationaler Literaturpreis Ignazio Silone
• 1991 Kunst-und Kultur-Preis der Stadt Landsberg am Lech

Novels by Luise Rinser

• Hochebene, 1948
• Die Stärkeren, 1948
• Mitte des Lebens, 1950; English title: Nina, 1956
• Daniela, 1953
• Der Sündenbock, 1955
• Abenteuer der Tugend, 1957
• Die vollkommene Freude, 1962
• Ich bin Tobias, 1966
• Der schwarze Esel, 1974
• Mirjam, 1983
• Silberschuld, 1987
• Abaelards Liebe, 1991; English title: Abelard's Love, 1998
• Aeterna (with H. C. Meiser), 2000

Short Stories by Luise Rinser

• Die gläsernen Ringe, 1940; English title: Rings of Glass, 1958
• Erste Liebe, 1946
• Jan Lobel aus Warschau, 1948
• Ein Bündel weißer Narzissen, 1956
• Geh fort, wenn du kannst, 1959; English title: Leave If You Can, 2010
• Weihnachts-Triptychon, 1963
• Septembertag, 1964
• Die rote Katze, 1981 (Five stories)
• Geschichten aus der Löwengrube, 1986 (Eight stories)

Autobiographical Writings

• Gefängnistagebuch, 1946; English title: A Woman's Prison Journal, 1988
• Baustelle. Eine Art Tagebuch 1967–1970, 1970
• Grenzübergänge. Tagebuch-Notizen 1970–1972, 1972
• Kriegsspielzeug. Tagebuch 1972–1978, 1978
• Nordkoreanisches Reisetagebuch, 1981
• Den Wolf umarmen (Autobiography, Part 1), 1981
• Winterfrühling. Tagebuchaufzeichnungen 1979–1982, 1982
• Im Dunkeln singen. Tagebuchaufzeichnungen 1982–1985, 1985
• Wachsender Mond. Tagebuchaufzeichnungen 1985–1988, 1988
• Ort meiner Kindheit: Wessobrunn, 1991
• Wir Heimatlosen. Tagebuchaufzeichnungen 1989–1992, 1992
• Saturn auf der Sonne (Autobiography, Part 2), 1994
• Kunst des Schattenspiels. Tagebuchaufzeichnungen 1994–1997, 1997

Books for Children and Teens

• Das Ohlstadter Kinder-Weihnachtsspiel, 1946
• Martins Reise, 1949
• Sie zogen mit dem Stern. Eine Bubenweihnacht, 1950
• Jugend unserer Zeit. Fotografien gedeutet von Luise Rinser, 1967
• Bruder Feuer, 1975
• Das Geheimnis des Brunnens, 1979
• Kursbuch für Mädchen, 1979
• Mit wem reden, 1980
• Drei Kinder und ein Stern, 1994 (New edition)
• Das Squirrel. Eine Geschichte von sichtbaren und unsichtbaren Wesen, 2004 (New edition)

See also

In Spanish: Luise Rinser para niños