On the 50th anniversary of Erich Kästner's death: Always remained a human being – Culture

He was standing very close by. Aghast and “very pale,” as a police sergeant later reported. Back then, in May 1933, the Nazi student body threw the works of many authors labeled “un-German” into the burning pyre in front of the Berlin State Opera, to the triumphant howls of the fascist mob. Alongside books by Marx, Brecht, Seghers and Luxemburg, there were also his novel “Fabian” and his volumes of poetry. This man stood unadorned in the raging crowd and only disappeared when a woman saw him and – more astonished than denouncing – exclaimed loudly: “There's Erich Kästner!”