The Unexpected: In the Footsteps of Wolfgang Hildesheimer through Poschiavo

“The Unexpected! In Puschlav you encounter it, not only in nature, but also in the villages, especially in Poschiavo, the central place, whose peculiarities mock any preparation. You get used to the Leaning Tower of Pisa immediately, it is a monument, you are prepared for it. But the experience of the unexpected, the strange, the unique, indeed the eccentric, especially when it is alive with people and animated by life, never becomes routine. Every new sight is a reenactment of the first experience.”

With these words Wolfgang Hildesheimer expresses himself in his text “Experience of the Unexpected” (Merian 14/8 1961). In autumn 1956, Hildesheimer, who suffered from the "terrible Bavarian climate," discovered Poschiavo for himself: "Poschiavo! It has the right altitude, the right climate, the right people." After initial difficulties, as the Swiss foreign police rejected the residency application, following an intervention by the writer Friedrich Dürrenmatt, Wolfgang Hildesheimer and his wife Silvia were able to settle in Poschiavo in 1957 as figures of the "intellectual life":

“Here it is wonderful, marvelous weather, wonderful air, apartment furnished up to the hallway and guest room, ... Veltliner wine flows in abundance, melons, Bel Paese, and of course I have not yet gotten down to work because of all the furnishing. This is our condition in keywords.”

Thus Hildesheimer in a letter to Toni and Hans Werner Richter in August 1957.

In 1982, Wolfgang Hildesheimer and his wife were awarded honorary citizenship of the municipality of Poschiavo. He died on August 21, 1991, in Poschiavo; his wife Silvia, a painter, in November 2014.

Wolfgang Hildesheimer lived in Poschiavo for over 30 years:

“We have lived here a long time and are at home here. We have never lived anywhere as long as in Poschiavo.”

Quote from Manfred Durzak, Conversations about the Novel. Definition and Analysis, Frankfurt am Main 1976, p. 295.

On a walk, one visits places significant for his life and work. The route is available at the tourist office or via the app “Outdooractive” (search term “Hildesheimer”).

In the Augustinian convent at Kirchplatz behind the Church of San Vittore Mauro, 22 collages by Wolfgang Hildesheimer are permanently exhibited.

The exhibition can be visited from Monday to Friday, 10:00-12:00 or 15:00-17:00. Admission is free, but you must register in advance by phone at +41 79 741 05 70.