- Walter Jens
Walter Jens (born
May 8 ,1923 ) is a Germanphilologist , literature historian,critic , university professor, andwriter .In the early 1940s, Jens joined the
NSDAP . He denies having applied for membership actively and claims having been forced to join the party. He claims having become a member automatically, because he was a member of theHitler Youth and never having received a membership card. DuringWorld War II , he earned adoctorate inFreiburg with a work aboutSophocles 'tragedy and habilitated at age 26 with the work "Tacitus und die Freiheit" ("Tacitus and Freedom") at theEberhard Karls University of Tübingen . Jens was a member of theTurnerschaft Akademischer Turnbund .From 1950, Jens was a member of the
Group 47 . In this year he had his breakthrough with the novel "Nein. Die Welt der Angeklagten". One distinguishing characteristic of his literary work is that he interprets current events by looking back at the past.From 1965 to 1988, Jens held the chair for General
Rhetoric at theEberhard Karls University of Tübingen , which was created just in order to keep him at the university. Under thepseudonym "Momos" he wrote television reviews for "Die Zeit ". From 1976 to 1982, he was president of theInternational PEN center inGermany . From 1989 to 1997, he was president of theAkademie der Künste , now he is the honorary president. From 1990 to 1995, he was chairman of theMartin-Niemöller-Foundation .References
*German|Walter Jens|June 24, 2006
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