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Merkur columnist Matthias Kiefersauer: "For writing I need the Munich wind around my nose"

2021-10-11T13:57:16.505Z


It has become an indispensable part of our newspaper: the director and screenwriter Matthias Kiefersauer, 48, has been writing “Münchner Freiheit” every Saturday for 13 years.


It has become an indispensable part of our newspaper: the director and screenwriter Matthias Kiefersauer, 48, has been writing “Münchner Freiheit” every Saturday for 13 years.

Over 650 columns have appeared over the years.

They are about his vacation plans, the Oktoberfest, the Munich subway, meat loaf with fruit or the glasses of the lion trainer.

Kiefersauer is one of the great Munich observers of our time, many readers have long grown dear to his humorous nature.

Some of his best “freedoms” are now out in books.

In an interview, he explains what he loves about Munich * and where he gets the best ideas.

Do you remember what your very first column was?

That was in August 2008. The text was about election posters that were disfigured.

Back then in Munich it was totally in, to stick a red cardboard nose on the top candidate of the SPD, Franz Maget.

On other posters they stuck joints painted on the faces of the politicians.

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Writing where what's going on: Matthias Kiefersauer comes up with the best ideas in the café.

© Marcus sleep

Did you advocate beautification of politicians back then?

No, of course not.

I just found the posters hilarious.

I cycle through Munich a lot and with open eyes * and very early on I studied documentary film.

I am, so to speak, a trained topic seeker.

These are of course the best prerequisites for a Munich columnist.

Often it is situations from my everyday life that I use to make a column.

If I'm angry about a driver who almost knocked me over, then it's good for me to write about it.

Then it's gone.

People laugh about my being upset - and my family doesn't have to listen to my ranting.

If you want to please everyone, then such a column will not work.

But I'm not a big beater.

That's not my sense of humor.

Matthias Kiefersauer

What reactions do you get to your columns?

Do you have fans?

I once received a bar of chocolate from a reader in Garmisch.

I really enjoyed that.

A landlady from Munich once invited me to dinner because she wanted to talk to me about my freedom in Munich.

Then I was with her, it was a very funny evening.

Is there also criticism?

I once made a joke about the Upper Palatinate, and there were bad reactions.

I said about someone “that he probably lives behind the moon and / or in the Upper Palatinate”.

Very nice people from the Upper Palatinate, whom I also know personally, resented me.

I still find the sentence funny today because of this “and / or” formulation.

The Upper Palatinate could be replaced by any other rural region.

Of course, humor is always leaning out of the window.

If you want to please everyone, then such a column will not work.

But I'm not a big beater.

That's not my sense of humor.

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The river of his life: Our columnist on the Isar, where he also likes to jog.

© Marcus sleep

Are there times when you know straight away that this is going to be a column?

Yes, it can happen.

I once wrote a story that was called "In the parents' taxi".

It came about like this: I had four children in the car and they forgot that I was there.

So the kids who were five or six years old chatted about things.

One boy said: “I'm playing the piano now.” His friend then said: “Really?

At which club? ”At that moment I knew immediately that I could write a nice column out of it.

You were born in Wolfratshausen, but have lived in Munich for a long time.

Which places do you particularly like?

I live in the Dreimühlenviertel and travel a lot on the Isar.

I like the Glockenbachviertel and the Schlachthofviertel.

Sometimes I am in Schwabing too.

If you want to avoid me, you have to go to Berg am Laim.

Actually, I'm never there.

Where do you get the best ideas for scripts or columns?

Corona has made everything a little more difficult.

There is a café on Klenzestrasse, I loved writing there because there was a window seat with a wide board.

I always sat down with my laptop and watched the goings-on outside.

It was like looking into the aquarium.

The whole Glockenbachviertel walked past you, but you couldn't hear what the people of Munich were saying outside.

That was always very inspiring for me.

The board that I loved to write on has recently been used as a display.

There is no more room for me.

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The permanent cyclist: our columnist in Munich.

© Marcus sleep

Do we see it correctly: In order to write, do you need close contact with the city?

For writing I need a Munich wind around my nose.

Sometimes I'm not in Munich for weeks because I'm shooting somewhere in Germany or sometimes abroad.

Then it is much more difficult to come up with topics for “Munich Freedom”.

In Munich, topics sometimes fall into my lap.

I once stood on the Viktualienmarkt next to a man who said into his cell phone: "I'm so sorry for you, I'm just leaving Garmisch." When I experience something like that, I immediately think of the rest in my head the story.

That's how I get ideas.

I like the general mood that prevails in the city.

Munich has something radiant about it. 

Matthias Kiefersauer

What is Munich like for you?

Why do you like to live here?

It's the versatility that I love so much about Munich.

I could - at least in theory - climb a mountain in the morning, visit a museum in the afternoon and go out for an Ethiopian dinner in the evening.

In one day!

That’s really great.

And I like the general mood that prevails in the city.

Munich has something radiant about it.

Thomas Mann was right when he wrote: "Munich shines".

Although he actually wrote: "Munich shone."

The columns in your new book are organized by the seasons.

What does autumn do with the Munich resident?

November is always very difficult - also for me as a columnist.

Because the city suddenly turns gray and foggy.

The people of Munich are in a worse mood and not so much outside.

The beer gardens are missing from the people.

But that's the good thing about my new book.

If you don't feel like the Munich autumn dreariness, you can quickly turn to the spring chapters.

Interview: Stefan Sessler and Wolfgang Hauskrecht * tz.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA

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"Munich, you me too!

The year through Munich in columns ”by Matthias Kiefersauer.

Hirschkäfer Verlag.

248 p., 12.90 euros.

© fkn

Kiefersauer ... by cycling

The worst thing about traffic in Munich is known to be the other road users.

The pedestrians do not stay on the paths intended for them.

The cyclists are not considerate and drive far too fast.

The e-scooter drivers are all drunk.

And the alpine athletes between Warnberg and Hasenbergl, that is: the SUV drivers in Munich's city traffic, they don't care about anything anyway, because they are so nicely elevated, armored and stinking in traffic jams.

Interesting: the more traffic there is in the city, the more prejudices you hear.

... over the Isar

At first it was a good 500 meters.

That's how far my parents' house is from the Isar.

When I lived in a shared apartment in Lehel, it was still 300 meters.

Now, in the Glockenbachviertel, there are only 150 left. Indeed: The green Isar is the red thread of my life.

And it attracts me more and more.

If this continues, one day, hopefully still quite distant, my ashes will be scattered directly into the Isar.

Actually not a bad idea: Then the others cool their beer with me.

And besides, as ashes, I can no longer step on broken glass.

... about writing

I admit: sometimes I have an enviable job.

I sit in the café for hours and fool around with a cabaret artist friend.

When the bill comes, I write “script review” on it and submit it to the tax office.

That's not even a lie.

Because a considerable part of my texts were actually written in the café.

So there are hardly any differences between Joanne K. Rowling and me.

Only the success is not exactly the same.

But if Ms. Rowling tries hard, she might get the Bad Feilnbacher Film Apple for her Harry Potter.

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2021-10-11

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