Otfried Preusler, whose biography is very interesting and informative, was born not in Germany, as many people think, but in the Czech Republic. The future great storyteller was born on October 20, 1923 in the city of Reichenberg, which is now called Liberec. The writer died on February 18, 2013 at the age of 89.
Childhood
From a young age, the future writer was interested in the history of his native land, the love for which his father instilled in him. Papa Otfried Preusler collected local traditions, legends and fairy tales, to later retell them to his son. The parents of the future writer were ordinary school teachers. Despite this, they owned fabulous wealth - a huge home library, in which little Otfried Preusler was very fond of spending time. Books became his passion, he excitedly read a variety of publications: from good children's tales to serious and impressive works. Otfried was very fond of traveling with his father, who told him many interesting stories. Basically, they were all on a mystical theme and with the participation of fabulous creatures: aquatic, elves, goblin ... Naturally, this was reflected in the future on the writer's work: in most of his works involved magical creatures.
War years
But all good things come to an end sooner or later. This happened with the matured Otfried Preusler. As soon as he managed to enter the University of Prague, the Second World War began. He was immediately called to the front, despite his youth and inexperience. The future writer served on the Eastern Front. He began his military career as an ordinary private, and at the end of the war he rose to the rank of lieutenant.
In 1944, Otfried Preusler was captured by Soviet soldiers. He is held captive until 1949, as much as 5 years. He was sent to Soviet camps, which were located on the territory of the Tatar Republic. There, the future writer had to try on a variety of professions: a quarryman, a builder, a worker ... In captivity, he learned to understand Russian speech well and spoke Russian in Russian. This time did not pass without a trace for Otfried Preussler: he keeps his sad memories of the conclusion for a long time, and then writes his memoirs, which describes in detail everything that happened to him during the captivity.
Life first
After being released from prison, the writer returns to his native country. As soon as he arrived in Germany, he had a very difficult time: he had no family, no home, no work. It was necessary to somehow solve the problems, and Otfried again enters the university, where he receives education and continues the teacher dynasty, which his parents started, - he becomes a school teacher. Otfried Preusler was very fond of children, dedicated his heart to them and the best years of his life. And he chose the profession of primary school teacher as the best in the world, as he later admitted to people.
Love for his work
His little students were everything to him: light, air, the meaning of life. Otfried played with them, drove them on tours of his native city and beyond. But most of all, Preussler liked to tell various funny stories to the naughty people: funny and not very, scary and funny, carefree and serious at the same time. Little Ghost has not yet been written, but Otfried has already told schoolchildren about him and his adventures. The children listened to their teacher, absorbing his stories like a sponge. The writer himself, coming home, wrote down what he told the children in the afternoon in a special notebook. Later, from these records, the so-beloved Little Baba Yaga, Little Watery, Krabat, or Legends of the Old Mill, were so beloved by us. He created other works that were no less widespread.
Family life of Otfried Preussler
In parallel with the problem of employment, the question arose of creating a family. Otfried had no relatives. The writer married, and then tracked down his family, though with great difficulty, who was subsequently generously rewarded.
The family needed to be fed somehow, the salary of the school teacher was barely enough for a piece of bread and a glass of water. It was necessary to think about additional earnings. And then the writer recalls the cherished notebook hidden in his house, in which children's stories were recorded. He decides to try his luck and take them to the publisher. And also begins to compose more and more new works.
The beginning of literary activity
The book “Little Watermark”, which was published in 1956, was very successful. Fortune inspired the writer, all the more so that in the same year he received a writer’s award for best debut. Inspired by luck, Otfried continues his work, and soon from his pen comes no less kind and magical work, which was called "Little Baba Yaga."
The history of this book is very entertaining. Once, a writer was putting his little daughters to bed. They did not want to go to bed, they were capricious and behaved badly. When the deranged father asked what the matter was, the little ones complained to him that they were very afraid of the evil and terrible Baba Yaga, who would come for them while they were sleeping and take them away with them. Dad listened carefully to the little girls, and then said that there was absolutely nothing to fear. And when the girls unanimously asked “Why ?!”, he told them an amazing story about Little Baba Yaga, which at first was harmful, and then became kind and good. So good that it deprived all witches of the opportunity to conjure, and remained the only Baba Yaga in the world who never commits evil deeds. The calmed little girls fell asleep, and the story of Otfried Preussler, told at night, grew into a serious children's work, which the whole world knows and loves.
The second successful work of the writer is “Krabat, or Legends of the Old Mill”. It was written based on the legends of the Western Slavs - Serbs living in eastern Germany, on the banks of the Spree River. It was this book that brought real fame to the author, his works began to appear in huge print runs and sold out everywhere in Germany and around the world.
Krabat was followed by Little Ghost, as well as Herbe Big Hat, Robber Hotzenplotz and others.
Features of the tales of Otfried
Otfried Preusler wrote non-standard works unusual for a German reader. German tales were usually replete with negative characters who fully justified their "villainous" title: they robbed houses, set fires, and executed people. Using the notorious Grimm brothers as an example, one can judge what German children's literature was like . And if for these writers the negative characters were the most inveterate villains, then for Preysler it was the other way around - the negative images subsequently turn out to be very positive.
It’s very touching to watch how one of the characters invented by Otfried Preusler, Little Baba Yaga, behaves. She knows that she is evil, and is not shy about it, but on the contrary: she even loves to play pranks. Sometimes the raven Abrahas even restrains her, for example, persuades her not to spit on the hat hunters. But the 127-year-old girl so wants to get to Walpurgis Night - a holiday of all witches and evil spirits, that she makes a firm decision to become a good witch, as the main witch bequeathed to her. And when Little Baba Yaga finds out that, it turns out, by “being a good witch” was meant to do as many evil deeds as possible, the good and bright in it finally outweighs the bad. And Little Baba Yaga, perhaps, performs the last negative act in her life - depriving all witches of the opportunity to conjure, remaining the only Baba Yaga in the world.
Based on this, it can be concluded that the tales of Otfried Preussler teach the little reader kindness and honesty, clearly demonstrate how bad it is to do bad deeds. This lays the foundation for the future comprehensively developed and successful person, a good person who is able to distinguish good from evil.
Universal recognition
The writer has a lot of awards - about a few dozen. In addition, films were made based on his works, theaters staged performances based on the works of Preusler. Otfried received good fees for his works. In total, the writer published 32 books, which were translated into 55 languages of the world, including Russian, and the circulation of all his works in the amount of about 55 million copies.
Conclusion
Otfried Preusler's books need to be read and re-read. You should start getting to know them in childhood, and continue your whole life, because in his works there is that very “rational, kind, eternal” that helps a child and an adult not to go astray.