Gerhard Mensching

Gerhard Mensching, Ph.D. was born 1932 in Riga, Latvia as a member of the Baltic-German minority. His father Gustav Mensching (1901-1978) was a well-known German professor of religious studies who teached in Riga and Bonn (Germany). Gerhard Mensching received a doctors degree in German studies and taught Literature for over 20 years as a senior lecturer at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum (University of Bochum). His seminars in creative writing became very famous. At the same time he was an internationally recognized puppeteer and wrote numerous children's books, stage plays, radio plays and novels. In 1989 he was the first award-winner of the "Literaturpreis der Bonner LESE". He also performed as an actor and director on stage. The TV Series Lemmi und die Schmöker (1973) was the result of his tireless efforts to make children and young people familiar with literature. It made his voice popular to most of the German children who grew up in the 70s. In 1992 he died unexpectedly.