Hans Jakob Christoph von Grimmelshausen(1622-1676)

Grimmelshausen was born about 1622 in Gelnhausen (South of Germany), the exact date is unsure. His father ran an inn, which caused that Grimmelshausen were forced to join the Hessen-army in 1635 (it was the time of the 30-year-war in Germany). After being "freed" by the Swedes 1636 he was forced to their army until 1638. Serving in various regiments until 1648, when the Westfalian Peace ended the war. 1649 he married Katharina Henninger, and did the turn to private business when he succeeded in getting a job as a "man for everything" on several castles. 1665 he finally opened his own inn, which he ran until his death on the 17th of August 1676. Grimmelshausen is only known to us because of his book "Der abenteuerliche Simplicissimus", in which he described several events seen by a boy during the war. The very drastic scenes described the terror so explicite that you can still feel the pain of the people who had the misery of encoutering such things. Furthermore, the book is one of the earliest novels written in the German language.