Editing Johannes Bobrowski (section)

==Life==
Bobrowski was born on 9 April 1917<ref name=ShadowLands>Bobrowski, Johannes (1984). ''Shadow Lands: Selected Poems''. London: Anvil Press Poetry.</ref> in [[Tilsit]] in [[Province of East Prussia|East Prussia]]. In 1925, he moved first to [[Rastenburg]], then in 1928 on to [[Königsberg]], where he attended the ''[[Gymnasium (school)|Gymnasium]]''. One of his teachers was [[Ernst Wiechert]]. In 1937, he started a degree in art history at the [[Humboldt University]] in [[Berlin]]. As a member of the [[Confessing Church]], Bobrowski had contact with the [[German resistance to Nazism|German resistance]] against [[Nazism|National Socialism]]. He was a lance corporal for the entire [[Second World War]] in [[Poland]], [[France]] and the [[Soviet Union]]. In 1943 he married [[Johanna Buddrus]].

From 1945 to 1949 Bobrowski was imprisoned by the [[Soviet Union]], where he spent time working in a coal mine. On his release, he returned home to his family in the  suburban Berlin district of [[Friedrichshagen]],<ref name=Scrase>Scrase, David (1995). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=XOyi3gvEcyMC&pg=PR13 Understanding Johannes Bobrowski]''. Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press. Chronology, p. xiii-xvi, and p. 2 (on the family's move to Friedrichshagen in 1937).</ref> in the [[East Berlin|Soviet occupation sector of Berlin]]. He worked as an editor, first for the ''Altberliner Verlag'', a children's publisher run by [[Lucie Grosner]], and then, from 1959 on, for the ''[[Union Verlag]]'' publishing house.

Bobrowski's work was influenced by his knowledge of Eastern European landscapes and of the German, [[Baltic languages|Baltic]], and [[Slavic languages|Slavic]] cultures and languages, combined with ancient myths. His first poems were published during the war, in 1944, in the Munich-based journal ''Das innere Reich''.<ref name=Scrase/>

In 1960 he read his poems at a meeting in [[Aschaffenburg]], Bavaria, of the influential  [[West Germany|West German]] literary association [[Group 47]] (Gruppe 47).<ref name=Wieczorek>Wieczorek, John (1999). "[https://books.google.com/books?id=_Ukv9wT0blkC&pg=PA213 Johannes Bobrowski und die Gruppe 47]." In: Keith Stuart Parkes and John J. White (eds.), ''The Gruppe 47: Fifty Years on: A Re-Appraisal of its Literary and Political Significance''. Amsterdam: Rodopi. p. 213-227.</ref> The following year his first book of collected poems, ''Sarmatische Zeit'' ([[Sarmatian]] Times), was published in both West and East Germany.<ref name=Scrase/><ref name=Wieczorek/> After having missed the fall 1961 meeting of the Group 47, since it took place just after the building of the [[Berlin Wall]],<ref name=Wieczorek/> he was able to attend the subsequent meeting, held in October 1962 at the [[Wannsee]], in [[West Berlin]]. On that occasion he read seven poems from those that would later appear in his collection ''Wetterzeichen'' (Weather signs), and was awarded the group's prestigious literary prize.<ref name=Scrase/><ref name=Wieczorek/>

In 1964, Bobrowski became a member of the PEN Club.

Bobrowski died as a result of a perforated appendix in [[East Berlin]] on 2 September 1965,<ref name=ShadowLands/> and was buried in the [[Friedrichshagen]] cemetery.<ref name=Scrase/> Since 1992, the Foundation for Prussian Maritime Trade (Stiftung Preußische Seehandlung) has donated funds towards the [[Johannes Brobrowski Medal]].