The Ackermann and Death

The text was written more than 600 years ago by the Bohemian author John of Saaz. In it, an argument between death and a farmer, whose wife died in childbirth, is reflected. Both argue about the right to happiness and the inevitable fate of every human being. Finally, the opponents appear before God; he is supposed to dispense justice. Johannes von Saaz was the greatest German-language poet of his time; his text is the first significant work of New High German literature. The writer and translator Hubert Witt (1935 - 2016) has newly translated it into High German. In the detailed booklet he also explains the origin and meaning of the text.