As of: February 4, 2024, 5:00 p.m
By: Andrea Kästle
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“For me, The 'Little Witch' belongs in the canon of world literature, alongside Pippi Longstocking”: Tilman Spreckelsen, author of the Otfried Preußler biography in the Pullacher Bürgerhaus.
© Andrea Kästle
The inventor of “Robber Hotzenplotz” would have turned 100 this year.
That's why there was a Preußler evening in Pullach.
But the school family continues to struggle with this namesake.
Pullach
– An information evening about the namesake of the school was recently held at the Otfried-Preußler-Gymnasium in Pullach.
Students, teachers and parents are in favor of parting with the names because of Preußler's attitude during the Nazi era.
Now, because the inventor of “The Robber Hotzenplotz” would have turned 100 this year, the local library also organized an evening in his honor, but it was a little different.
Tilman Spreckelsen reads from the biography he wrote for the anniversary
First, the film that Thomas von Steinaecker made about “Krabat,” Preußler’s young adult novel, was shown, then Tilman Spreckelsen read from the biography that he wrote for the anniversary on behalf of the Thienemann publishing house.
With the moderator Christine Knödler, the two then raved about Preußler's precise, beautiful language and the timelessness of his works.
The high school director Benno Fischbach sat in the audience, as did some teachers and even more students.
They only came to speak very late, after almost three hours of the program - at a time when half of the young people had already left.
The need to talk about the renaming of the school, which is very likely, was almost palpable.
Spreckelsen was given access to the family archive for his research
On the other hand, what Spreckelsen and von Steinaecker said was certainly not uninteresting.
Both said they were socialized with Preussler.
Spreckelsen was given access to the family archive for his research; he traveled three times to Reichenberg, then Sudetenland, now Liberec in what is now the Czech Republic, where Preußler was born.
He walked into the grove where the later successful writer played Indians, although, as Spreckelsen learned, he was always the head Indian.
“I researched for a long time and wrote quickly.” What he read from the biography was somewhat oppressive and was about how Preußler, whose father was an assistant teacher and voluntarily looked after the local history museum, beat him up with an umbrella from the museum in front of visitors to the museum just because, little boy that he was, he showed the visitors the contents of a cupboard and told stories about them.
Preußler's first book was a Hitler Youth novel
It is well known that Preussler admired his father, and like his father, he also became a member of the NSDAP at an early age. He then became extremely involved in the Hitler Youth, and the first book that was published by him, which he always kept secret, is a Hitler Youth novel.
At the age of 18, Spreckelsen said, Preußler was already a “little local celebrity”; he carried poems around in his jacket pocket and read them to anyone who wanted to.
Then the Sudetenland went to the “German Empire”, a celebration for the father, who raved about “indescribable happiness” in his diary, and a celebration for his son too.
A friend of his had to flee with his family; they were Jews; Preußler later got in touch with him again.
But he never apologized for what happened.
Spreckelsen: “The friend didn’t blame me either.”
At 60, Preußler increasingly dealt with the past
At 60, Preußler became increasingly concerned with the past;
He packaged what he thought about the Nazi era in messages in his books.
The “Little Witch,” said Spreckelsen, is anything but conformist, but rather rebellious, and “Krabat” is about overcoming totalitarian circumstances anyway.
Young people want advice: rename the high school or not?
When it was finally their turn, the young people asked the two guests on the podium what advice they would give them regarding the school name.
Spreckelsen said he would consider which was more important, the “Little Witch” or the “HJ novel”.
Thomas von Steinaecker said: It would be good if you could work on a namesake.
“Saints are boring.”
The school doesn't want a saint as a godfather - but is Otfried Preußler suitable as a role model?
But the school doesn't want a saint as a godparent.
She just thinks that Preußler, who never critically reflected on his own behavior and only thought out loud about why he of all people was allowed to survive, is not suitable as a role model.
The decision lies with the association and will probably be made in March.