In the historic building adjacent to the city hall (called the Bosniak Guardhouse), you can visit the exhibition devoted to the work of Ernst Wiechert – a great man, a writer and humanist.
Ernst Wiechert was born on 18.05.1887 in the Pieresławek forester, located several kilometres from Mrągowo. He spent his childhood and youth in Masuria, which is reflected in his work. After graduating from secondary school in Königsberg, he studied natural science, philosophy, English and Germanic Philology at the local University. In 1933, he settled in Ambach and devoted himself entirely to literature. In 1938, for his criticism of Hitlerism he was jailed in Munich, and then transported to the concentration camp in Buchenwald. After his release, he wrote about his experiences in the camp. After the war, he left Germany and settled in Switzerland, where he died in 1950. He claimed that Germanic, Slavic and Romanesque blood flowed in his veins. He was the author of 13 novels, approx. 50 novellas and short stories, 4 theatrical plays, 3 volumes of memoirs, 40 fairy tales and many poems and speeches. In his works he promoted a simple, modest life in a close relationship with nature. In the Bosniak Guardhouse you can experience a moment of reverie listening to a cassette with recordings of Ernst Wiechert poems in the interpretation of the actor Tadeusz Madeja (both in German and in a Polish translation).
Ernst Wiechert was born on 18.05.1887 in the Pieresławek forester, located several kilometres from Mrągowo. He spent his childhood and youth in Masuria, which is reflected in his work. After graduating from secondary school in Königsberg, he studied natural science, philosophy, English and Germanic Philology at the local University. In 1933, he settled in Ambach and devoted himself entirely to literature. In 1938, for his criticism of Hitlerism he was jailed in Munich, and then transported to the concentration camp in Buchenwald. After his release, he wrote about his experiences in the camp. After the war, he left Germany and settled in Switzerland, where he died in 1950. He claimed that Germanic, Slavic and Romanesque blood flowed in his veins. He was the author of 13 novels, approx. 50 novellas and short stories, 4 theatrical plays, 3 volumes of memoirs, 40 fairy tales and many poems and speeches. In his works he promoted a simple, modest life in a close relationship with nature. In the Bosniak Guardhouse you can experience a moment of reverie listening to a cassette with recordings of Ernst Wiechert poems in the interpretation of the actor Tadeusz Madeja (both in German and in a Polish translation).
