Famous authors – Johannes Mario Simmel

Photo credit © Oliver Mark

Today’s blog post is again about a famous author who wasn’t German but wrote in German.

Johannes Mario Simmel was born on the 7th April 1924 in Vienna, Austria and died on the 1st January 2009 in Lucerne, Switzerland.

As a student I read some of his novels, which, sadly, I do not remember anymore. But what I do remember and what still fascinates me, are the titles of his novels, often taken from quotes or poems.

As his books have been translated (and many also turned into films), here is a list of 21 wonderful original German titles and their equally wonderful English titles – except, I mixed them up.

So, for today, your task, if you wish to accept it, is to match them up correctly. Get a pen and paper, match them up and when ready check the answers which are below the video.

1	Begegnung im Nebel	a	The Pretender. Every Time He Ate Cake…
2	Mich wundert, daß ich so fröhlich bin	b	Love Is Just a Word
3	Der Mörder trinkt keine Milch	c	The Traitor Blitz
4	Man lebt nur zweimal	d	The Secret Protocol
5	Ich gestehe alles	e	Let the Flowers Live
6	Der Hochstapler. Immer, wenn er Kuchen aß…	f	Encounters in the Fog
7	Affäre Nina B.	g	The Wind and the Rain
8	Bis zur bitteren Neige	h	The Man who painted the Almond Trees
9	Liebe ist nur ein Wort	i	With the Clowns Came Tears
10	Alle Menschen werden Brüder	j	Why Am I So Happy?
11	Und Jimmy ging zum Regenbogen	k	Love is the Last Bridge
12	Der Stoff aus dem die Träume sind	l	Dream the Impossible Dream
13	Die Antwort kennt nur der Wind	m	You only live twice
14	Niemand ist eine Insel	n	The Sibyl Cipher
15	Bitte, laßt die Blumen leben	o	Murderers don’t drink milk
16	Die im Dunkeln sieht man nicht	p	To the Bitter End
17	Doch mit den Clowns kamen die Tränen	q	No Man Is an Island
18	Träum den unmöglichen Traum	r	The Affair of Nina B.
19	Der Mann, der die Mandelbäumchen malte	s	The Caesar Code
20	Liebe ist die letzte Brücke	t	The Cain Conspiracy
21	Gott schützt die Liebenden	u	I Confess

This video is a documentary about Simmel from 2024, the 100 year anniversary.

Answers:

1. f
2. j
3. o
4. m
5. u
6. a
7. r
8. p
9. b
10. t
11. s
12. c
13. g
14. q
15. e
16. d
17. i
18. l
19. h
20. k
21. n

How many did you get right?