Contemporary witness of German history: Prof. Benno Pubanz turns 90!

Contemporary witness of German history: Prof. Benno Pubanz turns 90!

Today we look at the eventful life of Prof. Benno Pubanz, a contemporary witness to German history who recently turned 90 years old. He is a formative figure in the world of children's and young adult literature, whose influences and achievements extend to the present day. Pubanz not only survived the Nazi dictatorship and the Second World War, but also experienced the political changes in Germany first hand. Like it's Northern Courier As he describes, he grew up in the Uckermark and had to flee the region with his family in 1945, only to come across rubble in Prenzlau years later.

After the war, Pubanz devoted himself to education. He studied pedagogy at the Institute for Teacher Training (IfL) Güstrow and finally began his career as a teacher in Bulgaria in 1963. His academic career culminated in a doctorate in 1971 and a habilitation in 1976. In the 1980s he was vice-rector of the Güstrow University of Education and played a central role in the development of children's and youth literature in the GDR. What is particularly noteworthy is that Pubanz organized numerous research conferences during this time that promoted scientific exchange within the GDR.

Services to children's and young people's literature

In his role as President of the Cultural Association in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania from 1990 to 2005, Pubanz had a major influence on the cultural landscape. He worked to ensure that the Cultural Association went from being ideologically restricted to being an active participant in the cultural life of the Federal Republic of Germany. In keeping with his passion, he also organized the environmental prize for children's and young people's literature, an initiative that was very popular then and now. This is also acknowledged in a collection of articles that deal with children's and young people's literature in the digital age from different perspectives. This addresses the question of which topics are relevant in the 21st century and how they are told. These reflections find their place in a volume that was published in honor of Pubanz and whose theme also extends to current developments in children's and young adult literature, such as Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht documented.

The importance of Pubanz for children's and youth literature is also manifested in the increasing relevance of GDR literature, as discussed in an article from the magazine “History of German Children's and Youth Literature”. The Remscheid seminar, which deals with the historical connections between authors and mediators before the fall of communism, received particular attention. Here it becomes clear that interest in GDR topics is gaining momentum again and that the figurations of storytelling in this context are of great cultural value, as shown by the academy proven.

In recent years, Pubanz has repeatedly expressed criticism about the grievances in democracy and especially in the education system. In a 2005 essay he criticized the “deformities” of democracy, which shows that even in his later years he never tires of shaking up the fundamental structures of society. A real veteran in German educational history, whose impulses will continue to be of great importance for literature, especially children's and young people's literature, in the future.