Poser and Groß Naedlitz, Michael von

Literary scholar, politician

Born: 21.03.1941 in Wiesbaden

Died: 03.03.2015 in Munich

After studying comparative literature, German, English and Latin and completing his doctorate, Poser and Groß Naedlitz taught German literature and German as a foreign language at universities in London and Edinburgh, on the German campus of Stanford University near Stuttgart and at the University of Mainz.

After returning to Wiesbaden, he also worked as a freelance writer, writing novels, short stories and essays and translating from English, Latin, Italian and Chinese. From 1979-89, he published the "Wiesbadener Literaturzeitung - ein deutsches Papierfenster". In his 1981 book "Die Verschönerung von Wiesbaden" and other publications, he criticized the urban planning sins of his home town and the "delusion of endless progress".

His involvement in city politics was only logical: in the early 1970s, Poser and Groß Naedlitz were among the co-founders of the City-Ost citizens' initiative alongside Achim Exner and Jörg Jordan, which brought down the plans of architect Ernst May to demolish entire districts with historic buildings. The award of the Culture Prize in 1986 did not prevent him from thwarting another building project: in 1994, Poser and Groß Naedlitz and several fellow campaigners brought about the failure of the so-called Schweger Building, a design by Hamburg architect Prof. Peter Schweger for the development on the Dern site, which had already been approved by a majority in the city parliament, by means of a referendum. A few years later, he became chairman of a citizens' advisory council that he had initiated. After unsatisfactory experiences with its work, he decided to become actively involved in politics in 2006 and stood for election as the head of the "Citizens' List", which has been represented in the city council ever since.