Böll was born in Cologne. His father was a cabinetmaker and sculptor, whose ancestors had fled from England to escape the persecution of Roman Catholics. Böll started to write poetry and short stories in his youth and he was one of the few boys he did not join the Hitler Youth movement. After graduating from high school in 1937 he was drafted into the compulsory work program and, served six years as a private and corporal in German army on both the Soviet and Western fronts. At the end of the war he was interned in a prisoner-of-war camp in France.

After returning to Cologne Böll studied at the university and worked then for a short time in the family workshop and later at the city's Bureau of Vital Statistics. Böll's first stories were published in 1947 and his first novel, The Train was on Time, appeared in 1949. From 1951 he became as a full-time writer.

In his early novels Böll depicted the despair of soldiers' lives and widened then his scope on the reality of modern German society. Billiards at Half Past Nine (1959) took place in a single day and depicted a prominent family of Cologne architects. The Clown (1963) was written in series of telephone calls and tells in first person about a young man who plays rather fool than than takes his place in the post-war society. In 1971 appeared Group Portrait With a Lady, which was again formally innovative: it was composed from interviews and documents about Leni Pfeiffer, through whom the lives of some sixty other characters are depicted.

In 1968 Böll worked as a teacher at the University of Frankfurt and later at other universities (in Prag 1969 and in Israel 1970). Böll was also politically active and in 1972 he participated in SPD's election campaign.

Among his later works are The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum (1974), which attacked sensational journalism and Safety Net (1979), inspired by the press coverage of the Baader-Meinhof terrorist group. Right-wing critic, particularly in the popular press, accused Böll of symphathizing with social dissidents and even condoning the aims of terrorist.

In his essays Böll saw his role as a writer to act as the social conscience of his age. He warned about the dangers of escalating nuclear armament and the creeping powers of the state security system. Linked to his Catholic faith, Böll took a critical attitude towards social institutions, including the church itself.

Böll's earliest story, A Soldier's Legacy, which was written in 1947 but not previously published, appeared nerly forty years later in 1985. Böll died in July 16, 1985 in Bonn.

NOTE: After Alexander Solzhenitsyn was exiled from the Soviet Union in February 1974, his first hosts in the West was Heinrich Böll. Böll's works were popular in the Soviet Union, but he was also active in PEN, through witch he supported the rights of authors under Communist repression.

SEE ALSO: Brendan Behan's Stücke fürs Theater. Böll translated works from several other authors, among them Shaw, Salingen, Synge, Malamud

For further reading: Heinrich Böll by R.C. Conrad (1981); The Imagery in Heinrich Böll's Novel's by I. Prodaniuk (1979); Heinrich Böll in America by R.L. White (1978); Heinrich Böll: Withdrawal and Re-Emergence by J.H. Reid (1973); Heinrich Böll: A Student's Guide by E. Macpherson (1972); Heinrich Böll, Teller of Tales by W. Schwartz (1968)

Selected works:

• DER ZUG WAR PÜNKTLICH, 1947 - THE TRAIN WAS ON TIME
• WANDERER KOMMST DU NACH SPA, 1950 - TRAVELLER, IF YOU COME TO SPA
• WO WARST DU, ADAM?, 1951 - ADAM, WHERE ART THOU?
• DIE SCHWARZEN SCHAFE, 1951
• NICHT NUT ZUR WEINACHTSZEIT, 952
• UND SAGTE KEIN EINZIGES WORT, 1953 - AND NEVER SAID A WORD
• HAUS OHNE HÜTER, 1954
• DAS BROT DER FRÜHEN JAHRE, 1955 - THE BREAD OF OUR EARLY YEARS
• SO WARD ABEND UND MORGEN, 1955
• UNBERECHENBARE GÄSTE, 1956
• IM TAL DER DONNERNDEN HUFE, 1957
• IRISCHES TAGEBUCH, 1957 - IRISH JOURNAL
• DIE SPURLOSEN, 1957
• ERZÄHLUNGEN, 1958
• DOCTOR MURKES GESAMMELTES SCHWEIGEN UND ANDERE SATIREN, 1958 - DR. MURKE'S COLLECTION OF SILENCES
• BILLIARD UM HALB ZEHN, 1959 - BILLIARDS AT HALF-PAST NINE film 1965 (Nicht Versöhnt), dir. by Jean-Marie Straub
• BRIEF AN EINEN JUNGEN KATHOLIKEN, 1961
• EIN SCHLUCK ERDE, 1962
• ALS DER KRIEG AUSBRACH. ALD DER KRIEG ZU ENDE WAR, 1962
• HIERZULANDE, 1963
• 1947 BIS 1951, 1963
• ANSICHTEN EINES CLOWNES, 1963 - THE CLOWN - film 1976, dir. by Vojtech Jasny
• ENTFERNUNG VON DER TRUPPE, 1964
• ENDE EINE DIENSTFAHRT, 1966 - END OF A MISSION
• FRANKFURTER VORLESUNGEN, 1966
• DIE FREIHEIT DER KUNST, 1966
• AUFSÄTZE, KRITIK, REDEN, 1967
• WO WARST DU, ADAM? UND ERZÄHLUNGEN, 1967
• BÜCHNERS GEGENWÄRTIGKEIT, 1967
• HAUSFRIEDENSBRUCH, 1969
• GESCHICHTEN AUS ZWÖLF JAHREN, 1969
• LEBEN IM ZUSTAND DES FREVELS, 1969
• GRUPPENBILD MIT DAME, 1971 - GROUP PORTRAIT WITH LADY film 1977, dir. by Aleksandar Petrovic
• ERZÄHLUNGEB 1950-1970, 1972
• GEDICHTE, 1972
• NEUE POLITISCHE UND LITERARISCHE SCHRIFTEN, 1973
• POLITISCHE MEDITATIONEN ZU GLÜCK UND VERGEBLICHKEIT, 1973
• DIE VERLORENE EHRE DER KATHARINA BLUM - THE LOST HONOUR OF KATHARINA BLUM, 1974 film 1975, dir. by Volker Schlöndorff and Margarethe von Trotta
• BERICHTE ZUR GESINNUNGSLAGE DER NATION, 1975
• GEDICHTE, 1975
• DREI TAGE IM MÄRZ, 1975
• EINMISCHUNG ERWÜNSCHT, 1977
• Missing Persons and Other Essays, 1977
• FÜRSORGLICHE BELAGERUNG, 1979 - SAFETY NET
• EINER DEUTSCHE ERINNERUNG, 1979
• DU FÄHRST ZU OFT NACH HEIDELBERG, 1970
• FÜRSORGLICHE BELAGERUNG, 1979
• WAS SOLL AUS BEM JUNGEN BLOSS WERDEN?, 1981 - WHAT'S TO BECOME OF THE BOY?
• WARUM HABEN WIR AUFEINANDER GESCHOSSEN?, 1981
• VERMINTES GELÄNDE, 1982
• DAS VERMÄCHTNIS, 1982
• DIE VERWUNDUNG, 1983
• EIN- UND ZUSPRÜCHE, 1984
• FRAUEN VOR FLUSSLANDSCHAFT, 1985
• DAS VERMÄCHTNIS, 1985 - A SOLDIER'S LEGACY
• The Stories of Heinrich Böll, 1986
• WIR KOMMEN WEIT HER, 1987
• ROM AUF DEN ERSTEN BLICK, 1987