Heinrich Böll on Disappointment and Responsibility

Heinrich Theodor Böll (1917–1985) was a German writer from Cologne. As a narrator of postwar German literature, he depicted urban destruction, the hunger and hardship of survivors, and the homecoming and disillusionment of returning soldiers. His well-known short stories include “Wanderer, kommst du nach Spa…,” “The Bread of Our Early Years,” and “Dr. Murke’s Collected Silences.”