Das einfache Leben. Roman

"We bring our years to a close like a chatter." When Captain (ret.) Thomas von Orla internalizes this Psalm from the Bible, his decision is made: he withdraws from the hustle and bustle of the city, becomes a fisherman on the Masurian Lakes, and focuses entirely on what is essential: the nature that fills him with humility, overcoming a war trauma, and searching for his purpose in life. With "The Simple Life," a linguistically powerful novel is rediscovered, and Ernst Wiechert emerges as a once widely read, upright writer who was persecuted in the Third Reich and regarded as a moral authority by entire generations.

"The last thing one can gain in life is to want nothing." Ernst Wiechert, one of the most read German authors. His books reached millions in sales. "In the interrogation protocol of the so-called poet Wiechert. Such a piece of filth wants to rise against the state. 3 months in a concentration camp. Then I will personally buy him." Diary of Joseph Goebbels. "The novel cannot be recommended." Reich Office for the Promotion of German Literature under the Commissioner of the Führer for the entire intellectual and ideological education of the NSDAP.

"The Simple Life," published in 1939, became a genuine bestseller. By 1942, 260,000 copies had been sold. The novel could only be published due to misunderstandings, as the negative statements from the Nazi censorship authorities did not reach the publisher in time. "The poet, whose journey began in the Masurian lodge Kleinort, in the solitude of East Prussian forests, was celebrated as one of the 'most essential voices against the impending soullessness of mankind.' He was celebrated as a 'strong and profound poetic spirit,' an 'epic poet of eminent natural feeling' and 'experiential poetic representation,' as a 'God-seeker of seriousness and passion.'".