fiction.wikisort.org - Writer

Jolanthe von Brandenstein[1] (15 August 1925 – 4 February 2019), known by her pen name Leonie Ossowski, was a German writer. She also wrote under the name Jo Tiedemann.[2] She wrote novels, including the novel for young adults Die große Flatter which was filmed as an award-winning TV play, screenplays such as for Zwei Mütter, stories and non-fiction books. Notable awards include the Hermann Kesten Medal of the Pen Centre and the Adolf-Grimme-Preis.

Leonie Ossowski
Ossowski in 2007
Born	Jolanthe von Brandenstein (1925-08-15)15 August 1925 Röhrsdorf, Posen-West Prussia, Weimar Germany
Died	4 February 2019(2019-02-04) (aged 93) Berlin, Germany
Nationality	German
Genre	short story, novel, children's literature, screenplay
Notable awards	Hermann Kesten Medal Andreas Gryphius Prize Adolf-Grimme-Preis

Career

Ossowski was born Jolanthe von Brandenstein in Röhrsdorf (now Osowa Sień) in Posen-West Prussia, the daughter of Lothar von Brandenstein [de] (1893–1953), an estate owner, and writer Ruth von Ostau (1899–1966). Her elder sister was Yvonne [de] who became an actress. At the end of World War II, she fled to Bad Salzungen in Thuringia, then moved to Hesse. She finally settled in Upper Swabia.[3]

Ossowski worked at various jobs, including sales clerk, factory worker and photo lab assistant. Beginning in the 1950s, she also wrote short stories under her pen name. On a visit to the GDR in 1953, she received a commission from the state-owned film studio DEFA for a screenplay. She wrote the script for Zwei Mütter,[4] which was directed by Frank Beyer and premiered on 28 June 1957. A year later, she published the novel Stern ohne Himmel [de] (Star Without a Sky),[2][5] which was later made into a film.

Ossowski moved with her family to Mannheim in 1958. In 1968, she published a novel in West Germany for the first time. She also published stories (Erzählungen), non-fiction books, screen plays and stage plays.[6] She was a member of the PEN Centre Germany. In the 1970s, she was a social worker, caring for young people in prison and installing communal housing (Wohngemeinschaft [de]) for young people released from prison.[3]

She visited her birthplace in 1974, and wrote a trilogy of novels about the war and post-war periods there, showing empathy for the Polish view.[6] Her 1977 Die große Flatter (The Big Flutter), a novel for young adults, deals with two young homeless people in Mannhein. It was filmed as an award-winning three-part television play The Great Runaway [de] with Richy Müller, presented in 1979.[5][6]

Ossowski lived in Berlin from 1980 until her death on 4 February 2019.[7] Among her seven children is the theologian Louis-Ferdinand von Zobeltitz [de].[3]

Awards

Ossowski was awarded the Hermann Kesten Medal of the PEN Centre in 2006.[6][8] In 2014, she received the Andreas Gryphius Prize.[9] She was awarded the Adolf-Grimme-Preis and the Schiller Prize of the City of Mannheim.[7]

Work

Ossowski's work often deals with people on the edge of society, and is entertaining but also educational. Her novel Stern ohne Himmel [de] is part of the school canon.[6]

Ossowki's works are held by the German National Library, including:[10]

Novels and stories

• Stern ohne Himmel [de], 1958, novel, film 1980 [de]
• Wer fürchtet sich vorm schwarzen Mann?, novel, 1968
• Mannheimer Erzählungen, 1974, story collection
• Weichselkirschen, novel, 1976, part 1 of the Schlesien-Trilogie (Silesia trilogy)
• Die große Flatter, novel, 1977, film 1979 [de]
• Blumen für Magritte, stories, 1978
• Liebe ist kein Argument, novel, 1981, film 1984 [de]
• Wilhelm Meisters Abschied [de], novel, 1982
• Littel fasst einen Entschluss und andere Erzählungen, stories, 1983
• Neben der Zärtlichkeit, novel, 1984
• Wolfsbeeren, Roman, 1987, part 2 of the Schlesien-Trilogie
• Das Zinnparadies, 1988
• Weckels Angst, 1991
• Holunderzeit, novel, Hoffmann und Campe, Hamburg 1991, part 3 of the Schlesien-Trilogie
• Von Gewalt keine Rede. two stories, 1992
• Die Maklerin, novel, 1994
• Herrn Rudolfs Vermächtnis, novel, Hoffmann & Campe, Hamburg 1997, as Heyne Taschenbuch, Munich 1998, ISBN 3-453-13756-6.
• Das Dienerzimmer, novel, 1999
• Die schöne Gegenwart [de], novel, 2001
• Espenlaub, novel, 2003
• Der einarmige Engel, novel, 2004

Screen plays

• Zwei Mütter (1957)
• Tatort: Auf offener Straße [de] (1971, TV)
• Weichselkirschen (1979, TV film)
• The Great Runaway [de] (1979, TV miniseries)
• Stern ohne Himmel [de] (1980)
• Voll auf der Rolle (1985, TV film)
• Von Gewalt keine Rede (1991, TV film)

Non-fiction

• Zur Bewährung ausgesetzt. Bericht über Versuche kollektiver Bewährungshilfe. Piper, Munich 1972
• Der Löwe im Zinnparadies. Eine Wiederbegegnung. Piper, Munich 2003

References

External links

• Literature by and about Leonie Ossowski in the German National Library catalogue
• Leonie Ossowski at IMDb

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