Otfried Preußler

Otfried Preußler (sometimes spelled as Otfried Preussler) (born October 20, 1923) is a German children's books author. His best-known works are The Robber Hotzenplotz and The Satanic Mill (Krabat).

He was born in Liberec (German: Reichenberg), Czechoslovakia. His forefathers had lived in this area since the 15th century, working in the glass industry. His parents were teachers. After he graduated school in 1942, in the midst of World War II, he was drafted into the Wehrmacht Heer. Although he survived the military action on the Eastern Front, he was taken prisoner as a 21-year-old lieutenant in 1944. He spent the next five years in various POW camps in the Tatar Republic.

After his release in June 1949, he was lucky to find his displaced relatives and his fiancée, Annelies Kind in the Bavarian town of Rosenheim. They celebrated their wedding that same year.

Between 1953 and 1970 he was initially a primary school teacher, then a school principal in Rosenheim. There his talents as a storyteller and illustrator were put to good use, and often the stories he told the children would later be written down and published.

He won the Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis in 1972 for Krabat.

Preußler currently resides in Haidholzen, near Rosenheim.

Known works translated into English

• The Robber Hotzenplotz, ISBN 0200712721.
• The Satanic Mill/The Curse of the Darkling Mill (originally: Krabat), ISBN 0844661961.
• The Little Witch, ISBN 0340167041.
• The Little Water Sprite, ISBN 0340286431.
• The Little Ghost, ISBN 0340167033.
• The Wise Men of Schilda.
• Herbie's Magical Hat.

External links

• Author's Official Website
• Otfried Preußler in the German National Library catalogue (German)

Awards and achievements
Preceded by Wolfgang Schäuble	Konrad Adenauer Prize (with Ernst Nolte) 2000	Succeeded by Peter Maffay

Persondata
Name	Preußler, Otfried
Alternative names	Preussler, Otfried
Short description	German children's books author
Date of birth	October 20, 1923
Place of birth	Liberec
Date of death
Place of death