Kulturtage in Simmerath: Chorkonzert

Concert with the Lammersdorf church choir

Reinhold Beckmann tells and reads from his deeply moving book. His "Spiegel" bestseller about the life of his mother Aenne is a monument against forgetting, especially now that war has returned to Europe – and it is also a work full of love and hope.

The life of Reinhold Beckmann's mother Aenne was marked by loss early on. By the age of five, she was an orphan. She had four brothers, all of whom fell in the war. And yet it was a fulfilled life. Unlike many of her generation, she never remained silent about her grief and fears. Aenne's brothers and parents always remained present, in conversations, photos, memorial days, and memories.
In his book, Reinhold Beckmann tells the story of his mother and her brothers Franz, Hans, Alfons, and Willi amidst the harsh everyday life in the village, Catholic tradition, and the rise of dictatorship. And about what war does to people when no one returns.

Throughout her life, the fate of her brothers never let Aenne go – and it also shaped the life of Reinhold Beckmann: showing resistance to war and violence was self-evident for both.

Reinhold Beckmann, born in 1956, is best known as a sports reporter. As a moderator and journalist, he has worked for WDR, Premiere, SAT.1, and ARD, among others. Beckmann has written several books and released three solo albums as a musician.