German writer Peter Härtling (1933 – 2017 ) spent his childhood in Hartmannsdorf near Chemnitz, where his father practiced law. In 1942, the family moved to Olomouc in an attempt to avoid direct Nazi danger. He also dedicated a book to Olomouc, Delayed Love, which is the most widely published book internationally relating to the city of Olomouc.
At the end of the war the family came to Austria, and in June 1945 Härtling’s father died in the Russian prison camp Döllersheim. Peter Härtling worked as a journalist, lived in Stuttgart, Cologne, etc., and has been a freelance writer since 1974.
Peter Härtling is the recipient of numerous awards and honours for literature. Among his works are Hölderlin: Ein Roman (Hölderlin: A Novel); Oma: die Geschichte von Kalle (Babi and Kalle Farm); Ben liebt Anna (Ben Loves Anna). Härtling portrayed his memories of his years in Olomouc in Nachgetragene Liebe (1980), published in Czech in 1987 under the title Delayed Love. The book is now in its eighth edition in Germany and is the most widely published book relating to Olomouc internationally.
