Celan, Paul eigentlich P. Antschel

Celan, Paul (real name: P. Antschel), b. Chernovtsy, Ukraine (then Czernowitz), Nov. 23, 1920, d. Paris (France) (suicide), April 20, 1970, German-speaking poet and translator of Jewish origin. During the war interned in a Rumanian labour camp, then 1945-1947 translator and publisher's reader in Bucharest, where he published poems under the name of C. for the first time. From Dec. 1947 until July 1948 in Vienna, where he wrote his first volume of poems "Sand aus den Urnen". Moved to Paris, where he worked as a teacher and translator. C.'s work was strongly influenced by his traumatic experiences during the Holocaust (his parents were killed in 1942) which he tried to fight against using a new type of encoded language. His literature always revolved around topics such as the rejection of National Socialism, the memory of countries which were devastated, injured people and the rejection of corrupt language. Awarded the Georg Büchner Prize in 1960.

Further works: Mohn und Gedächtnis, 1952; Von Schwelle zu Schwelle, 1955; Sprachgitter, 1959; Die Niemandsrose, 1963; Atemwende, 1967; Fadensonnen, 1968; Lichtzwang, 1970; Schneepart, 1971. - Editions: Gesammelte Werke, 5 vols., ed. by B. Allemann and S. Reichert, 1983; Werke, historisch-kritische Ausgabe, ed. by B. Allemann, 1990ff.

Literature: P. Szondi, C.-Studien, 1972; M. Blanchot, Der als letzter spricht. Über P. C., 1993; J. Felstiner, P. C., eine Biographie, 1997; W. Emmerich, P. C., 1999.