Otfried Preußler facts for kids
Otfried Preußler (born Otfried Syrowatka; 20 October 1923 – 18 February 2013) was a famous German author who wrote books for children. His stories have been loved by many, with over 50 million copies sold around the world. They have also been translated into 55 different languages. Some of his most well-known books are The Robber Hotzenplotz and The Satanic Mill (also known as Krabat).
His Life and Work
Otfried Preußler was born in a town called Liberec in Czechoslovakia. Both his mother, Erna, and his father, Josef, were teachers. In 1941, during a time when Germany occupied the country, his family changed their last name from Syrowatka to Preußler.
After finishing school in 1942, during World War II, Otfried had to join the German Army. He fought in the war and was taken as a prisoner of war (POW) in 1944 when he was 21 years old. He spent five years in different POW camps in a place called the Tatar Republic.
In June 1949, he was finally released. He found his family and his fiancée, Annelies Kind, in a town called Rosenheim in Bavaria, Germany. They got married that same year.
From 1953 to 1970, Otfried Preußler worked as a primary school teacher. Later, he became a school principal in Rosenheim. He was very good at telling stories and drawing pictures. Often, the stories he told to his students in class would later become books that were published.
In 1972, he won an important award called the Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis for his book Krabat. Otfried Preußler lived in a town called Haidholzen, which is close to Rosenheim.
More than 15.2 million copies of his books have been sold in German. His works have also been translated into over 55 other languages.
His Legacy
Two schools in Germany are named after Otfried Preußler. One is a grammar school called the "Otfried Preußler Gymnasium Pullach" in Pullach, Bavaria. The other is a primary school in Bad Soden.
On October 20, 2017, Google celebrated his 94th birthday with a special drawing on their homepage called a Google Doodle.
Books Translated into English
Here are some of Otfried Preußler's books that have been translated into English:
- The Robber Hotzenplotz
- The Satanic Mill or The Curse of the Darkling Mill (originally: Krabat)
- The Little Witch
- The Little Water Sprite
- The Little Ghost
- The Wise Men of Schilda
- Herbie's Magical Hat
- The Adventures of Strong Vanya
- Further Adventures of the Robber Hotzenplotz
- Thomas Scarecrow
- Final Adventures of the Robber Hotzenplotz
- The Green Bronze Bell
- Silly Augustine
- The Tale of the Unicorn
Movies Based on His Books
Many of Otfried Preußler's books have been made into movies:
- Der Räuber Hotzenplotz (1974)
- Krabat – The Sorcerer's Apprentice (1978)
- Neues vom Räuber Hotzenplotz (1979)
- Malá čarodějnice (1984)
- Das kleine Gespenst (1992)
- Der Räuber Hotzenplotz (2006)
- Krabat (2008)
- Das Kleine Gespenst (2013)
- The Little Witch (2018)
