Heinz G. Konsalik

Heinz G. Konsalik was a German novelist best known for his war-themed books, especially Der Arzt von Stalingrad (1956). Writing under his mother's maiden name, Konsalik became one of Germany's most popular post-war authors, selling 83 million copies of his 155 novels.

Born in Cologne, Konsalik began writing as a teenager. By age 16, he had been contributing articles to Cologne newspapers. He published his first poem in 1938 and completed his first play, Der Geuse (1939), shortly before joining the Hitler Youth. After graduating from the Humboldt Gymnasium in Cologne, he initially studied medicine but switched to literature and drama. The ideological pressures of the Nazi era deeply influenced his education.

During the Second World War, Konsalik served as a war correspondent and soldier. Stationed on the Eastern Front, he suffered a serious arm injury near Smolensk. Later, he described this experience as a "monstrous school."

Konsalik's breakthrough came with The Doctor of Stalingrad, a story about German prisoners in Soviet camps and survival challenges. It was made into a film in 1958. His 1962 novel The Gift of a Face explored the emotional struggles of a disfigured soldier returning home and demonstrated his focus on personal and human conflict rather than political judgment.

Konsalik's prolific output included many war novels and stories of love, survival, and the psychological toll of extreme circumstances. His books were widely read at home and abroad, often translated and sold through book clubs. Despite the heavy themes of his writing, he avoided making moral or political judgements about Germany's role in the war.

Heinz G. Konsalik died in 1999 and was buried in Cologne.