48 Facts About Michael Ende

Michael Andreas Helmuth Ende was a German writer of fantasy and children's fiction.

Michael Ende is known for his epic fantasy The Neverending Story ; other well-known works include Momo and Jim Button and Luke the Engine Driver.

Michael Ende's works have been translated into more than 40 languages and sold more than 35 million copies.

In 1935, when Michael was six, the Ende family moved to the "artists' quarter of Schwabing" in Munich.

In 1936, his father's work was declared "degenerate art" and banned by the Nazi Party, so Edgar Michael Ende was forced to draw and paint in secret.

Michael Ende was twelve years old when he witnessed the first Allied bombing raid on Munich:.

Michael Ende was horrified by the 1943 Hamburg bombing, which he experienced while visiting his paternal uncle.

Michael Ende returned to Garmisch-Partenkirchen, where he was billeted in a boarding-house, Haus Kramerhof and later in Haus Roseneck.

In 1945, Edgar Michael Ende was taken as a prisoner of war by American GIs, but was released soon after the end of the war.

Three of Michael Ende's classmates were killed on their first day of combat.

Michael Ende was drafted, but tore up his call-up papers and joined a secret German resistance group founded to sabotage the SS's declared intention to defend Munich until the "bitter end".

Michael Ende served the group as a courier for the remainder of the war.

Michael Ende aspired to be a "dramatist," but wrote mostly short stories and poetry.

Michael Ende studied Theodor Daubler, Yvan Goll, Else Lasker-Schuler and Alfred Mombert, but his real love was the poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke, Stefan George and Georg Trakl.

Michael Ende made his first attempts at acting, performing with friends in Stuttgart's America House.

Michael Ende was involved in productions of Chekhov's one-act comedy "The Bear", in which he played the principal role, and in the German premiere of Jean Cocteau's Orpheus.

Michael Ende decided that he wanted to be a playwright, but financial considerations ruled out a university degree, so in 1948 he auditioned for the Otto Falckenberg School of the Performing Arts in Munich and was granted a two-year scholarship.

Thanks to the numerous contacts of his girlfriend Ingeborg Hoffmann, Michael Ende was introduced to a variety of cabaret groups.

In 1955, Therese Angeloff, head of Die kleinen Fische, commissioned Michael Ende to write a piece in commemoration of the 150th anniversary of Friedrich Schiller's death.

Michael Ende produced a sketch in which a statue of Schiller was interviewed about newsworthy issues, and replied with quotes from Schiller's work.

Michael Ende worked as a film critic during the 1950s.

Michael Ende always said that ideas only came to him when the logic of the story required them.

Michael Ende was at a loss to think of a way out of the adventure, but cutting the episode struck him as disingenuous.

Michael Ende eventually tried it at a small family publishing-house, K Thienemann Verlag in Stuttgart.

Michael Ende's manuscript was accepted by company director Lotte Weitbrecht who liked the story.

About a year later, on the morning of the announcement that his novel, Jim Button and Luke the Engine Driver, had won the German Prize for Children's Fiction, Michael Ende was being sued by his landlady for seven months' rent back payment.

Michael Ende often expressed frustration over being perceived as a children's writer exclusively, considering that his purpose was to speak of cultural problems and spiritual wisdom to people of all ages.

Especially in Germany, Michael Ende was accused by some critics of escapism.

Michael Ende's writing could be described as a surreal mixture of reality and fantasy.

Michael Ende's writings were influenced by Rudolf Steiner and his anthroposophy.

Michael Ende was known as a proponent of economic reform, and claimed to have had the concept of aging money, or demurrage, in mind when writing Momo.

Michael Ende had been fascinated by Japan since his childhood.

Michael Ende loved Lafcadio Hearn's Japanese legends and ghost stories, and in 1959 he wrote a play inspired by Hearn's material.

Michael Ende was primarily interested in Japan because of its radical otherness.

Michael Ende was particularly intrigued by the way in which everyday circumstances were shaped into intricate rituals, such as the tea ceremony.

Michael Ende won a devoted following in Japan, and by 1993 over two million copies of Momo and The Neverending Story had been sold in Japan.

In 1986 Michael Ende was invited to attend the annual congress of the JBBY in Tokyo.

At the invitation of Shimbun, a Japanese newspaper, Michael Ende attended the opening and spent two months touring Japan.

Michael Ende donated letters and other personal items to the collection.

On 23 October 1992 Michael Ende made his final trip to Japan.

On New Year's Eve 1952, Michael Ende met the actress Ingeborg Hoffmann during a party with friends.

Michael Ende in turn was intrigued by his literary cultivation and artistic inclinations.

Michael Ende encouraged Ende to join the Humanist Union, an organization committed to furthering humanist values.

Thanks to Ingeborg Hoffmann's numerous contacts, Michael Ende was introduced to a variety of cabaret groups.

In 1955, Therese Angeloff, head of Die kleinen Fische, commissioned Michael Ende to write a piece in commemoration of the 150th anniversary of Friedrich Schiller's death.

Michael Ende produced a sketch in which a statue of Schiller is being interviewed about current events, and replies with quotes from Schiller's writings.

Michael Ende married a second time in 1989, to Japanese woman Mariko Sato, and they remained married until his death.

Michael Ende ultimately succumbed to the disease in Filderstadt, Germany, on 28 August 1995.