Erikh Kestner

Kaestner grew up in Dresden on Königsbrücker Straße. Not far from it, on the first floor of his uncle Franz Augustin’s villa, the Erich Kästner Museum is now located. Kästner’s father was a saddler, and his mother, Ida, worked as a maid, housekeeper, and hairdresser. Erich was very closely attached to his mother. While in Berlin and Leipzig, he wrote moving letters and postcards to her every day. His attitude toward his mother was also reflected in Kästner’s works. Later, rumors arose that Erich’s father had been the Kästners’ family doctor, the Jewish Emil Zimmermann (1864–1953). However, these rumors were never confirmed.

In 1913, Erich enrolled in the Dresden teachers’ training courses, but three years later, shortly before graduating, he discontinued his education. He described these years in his book Flying Classroom. He set out his childhood memories in the autobiographical work When I Was a Little Boy, published in 1957. Kästner’s childhood ended with the outbreak of the First World War. In 1917, Kästner was called up for military service and underwent a year of training in a heavy artillery company. The hardships of military life, the harsh trials, and the cruelty he encountered at that time played a role in shaping the young soldier’s antimilitarist views. The sergeant Vaurich, who bullied him and was responsible for Kästner’s heart condition, was portrayed by the poet in his satirical poem of the same name. After the First World War, Kästner passed all his exams with top marks and received a “golden scholarship” from the municipality of Dresden.

In the autumn of 1919, Kästner entered Leipzig University, where he studied history, philosophy, German studies, and theater studies. The difficult economic situation and his precarious financial circumstances forced Kästner to take on odd jobs: he sold perfume and worked for a stockbroker. In 1925, Kästner defended his dissertation on “Frederick the Great and German Literature.” Soon afterward, he earned money for his studies through journalism and theater criticism in the literary column of the Neue Leipziger Zeitung. In 1927, the increasingly critical Kästner was dismissed after being accused of frivolity for the erotic poem “