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Werner Lindemann

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Werner Lindemann
Born(1926-10-07)7 October 1926
Wolfen, Germany
Died9 February 1993(1993-02-09) (aged 66)
Occupation(s)Poet, writer
Years active1957–1993
SpouseGitta Lindemann
ChildrenTill Lindemann
AwardsAlex-Wedding-Preis (1985)

Werner Lindemann (7 October 1926 – 9 February 1993) was a German writer and poet. He was the father of Till Lindemann, the lead vocalist of German industrial metal band Rammstein.[1]

Life

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Werner Lindemann was born into a family of farm workers.[2] He grew up in Alt-Jeßnitz Gutsdorf near Wolfen in Saxony-Anhalt. In 1941, aged 15, he was apprenticed to a farmer. Between 1943 and 1945, he served in the German Army. After the end of World War II, he studied natural sciences at Halle. In 1949, he began to teach agriculture-related subjects at a vocational school. Between 1955 and 1957, he studied at the Johannes R. Becher Institute of Literature at Leipzig. There, he worked as editor of the student magazine Forum, became director of the city House of Culture, and from 1959, worked as a freelance writer. He co-founded the Künstlerkolonie Drispeth ("Drispeth Artist's Colony"), where he lived for over 20 years, along with Joachim Seyppel, Joochen Laabs, and Gerhard and Christa Wolf.

Lindemann wrote his first poems shortly after the war. They were published in a 1959 book Stationen, which also included autobiographical material. The writer became known for his children's books in the 1970s, in which he showed a poetic vision of the everyday. In addition to his children's poetry, from the 1980s, he published several books of prose, such as Aus dem Drispether Bauernhaus ("From the farmhouse at Drispeth") and The Roggenmuhme. These and other books were based on observations and memories of his youth. He describes nature, family life in the countryside, and day-to-day life under the socialist regime. For example, in the book Mike Oldfield im Schaukelstuhl: Notizen eines Vaters ("Mike Oldfield in the Rocking Chair: Notes of a Father"), Lindemann contrasted the memories of the narrator, a parent, the views and ambitions of his son; the book remarked on the differences of character among educated people in different social systems, but also showed their similarities.

On many occasions, he gave talks in schools to bring poetry to children. He was a frequent visitor to the Grundschule Elisabethwiese elementary school in Rostock. After his death, the school changed its name to Werner-Lindemann-Grundschule on 7 October 1994. The ceremony was attended by his widow, journalist Gitta Lindemann.

In 1985, the Academy of Arts in Berlin awarded him the Alex-Wedding-Preis, for his merits in the field of socialist children's literature.[3]

References

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  1. ^ "Irgendein Mike Oldfield neuerdings | SWR2 Audio | ARD Mediathek". web.archive.org. 12 March 2017. Retrieved 20 November 2024. Anfang der 1980er Jahre wohnt der bekannte DDR-Schriftsteller und Kinderbuchautor Werner Lindemann in einem Dorf in Mecklenburg ... Als Werner Lindemann 1992 stirbt, ahnt er nicht, dass sein Sohn Till wenig später als Sänger der Band Rammstein weltberühmt werden wird. [At the beginning of the 1980s, the well-known GDR writer and children's book author Werner Lindemann lived in a village in Mecklenburg... When Werner Lindemann died in 1992, he had no idea that his son Till would soon become world famous as the singer of the band Rammstein.]
  2. ^ New Times. Newspaper "Trud, ". 1956. p. 22. In Leipzig I made the acquaintance of Werner Lindemann, the son of a farm labourer.
  3. ^ Börsenblatt für den deutschen Buchhandel [Börsenblatt for the German book trade] (in German). Verlag des Börsenvereins der Deutschen Buchhändler. 1986. p. 772. Akademie der Künste der DDR 1985 Werner Lindemann, Schriftsteller,...
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