Erlesenes Ostpreußen: "Der letzte Pfarrer von Königsberg" und "Nur der Himmel blieb derselbe"

In 1945, the German history of East Prussia came to an end. The memory of the land and its people lives on in its remarkably diverse literary heritage. East Prussia produced important authors, still known to a wide audience today, such as Johann Gottfried Herder, E.T.A. Hoffmann, Siegfried Lenz, Marion Dönhoff, Johannes Bobrowski, and Arno Surminski. Even after 1945, numerous books exploring East Prussia and its legacy were published in Germany, Poland, Russia, and Lithuania. In our series "Selected East Prussia," we would like to present you with particularly worthwhile novels, memoirs, poems, and non-fiction works that will help you get to know East Prussia and its past and present inhabitants better. Well-known classics alternate with lesser-known authors. † ... Today's post features two books: "The Last Pastor of Königsberg: Hugo Linck Between East Prussia and Hamburg" by Henriette Piper and "Only the Sky Remained the Same: East Prussia's Starving Children Tell of Survival" by Dr. Christopher Spatz. The authors discuss their books, their experiences with the eyewitnesses, and explore similarities and differences. Based on hundreds of letters from her grandparents' estate, Henriette Piper reconstructs her grandfather's life story in her book "The Last Pastor of Königsberg: Hugo Linck Between East Prussia and Hamburg." Despite the imminent conquest of East Prussia by the Red Army, he decided against fleeing in January 1945 and remained with his congregation until he, along with his wife and the last survivors of the "Kaliningrad Hell," was deported in the spring of 1948. As a pastor in Hamburg and spiritual advisor to his scattered East Prussian congregation, he began a second life in northwestern Germany. In his book "Only the Sky Remained the Same," Christopher Spatz recounts one of the greatest humanitarian catastrophes after the end of World War II: From 1945 to 1948, over 100,000 people died of disease and malnutrition in northern East Prussia, Königsberg, and the surrounding area. Those who survived were often children. Without parents, without family, without a home, they were completely on their own. Some ended up in Soviet orphanages, others fled to Lithuania on their own to save their lives. Christopher Spatz reconstructs the lives of these children who were forced to beg and gives them a voice. Henriette Piper, born in Kiel in 1951, studied German Studies, History, and Scandinavian Studies in Germany and Sweden. After various professional positions, she began writing and translating books. Since 1992, she has worked full-time as a screenwriter for film and television. Henriette Piper is a member of the German Film Academy. Christopher Spatz was born in Bremen in 1982. After studying history and German studies, he received his doctorate in 2015 from Humboldt University in Berlin for his dissertation on the identity of the East Prussian "wolf children." He has worked for the Federal Foundation Flight, Expulsion, Reconciliation and provided academic support for the Society for Threatened Peoples' successful campaign for compensation for the wolf children from the Federal Republic of Germany. A series of the Cultural Department of the East Prussian State Museum with its Baltic German Section. Follow us on our social media channels: Our website: https://www.ostpreussisches-landesmus... Our blog: http://blog.ol-lg.de/ Our newsletter: https://www.ostpreussisches-landesmus... Facebook:   / ostpreussischeslandesmuseum   Instagram:   / ostpreussischeslandesmuseum   #ostpreussischeslandesmuseum #thelastpriestofkönigsberg #onlytheskyremainedthesame #hugolinck #henriettepiper #christopherspatz #königsberg #wolfchildren #hungerchildren #litau #löbenicht #hamburg #selectedeastpreußen #bookpresentation #lüneburg #eastpreußen