Heinrich Böll: Die verlorene Ehre der Katharina Blum
Heinrich Boll's Die verlorene Ehre der Katharina Blum is the story of a 27-year old woman
who falls into the clutches of West Germany's sensationalist press, and is driven to commit a
desperate act of violence in an attempt to restore her lost honour. The heroine possesses two
virtues : loyalty and pride. These two character traits cause the destruction of the young woman's
honour at the public as well as the private level. On the eve of "Weiberfastnacht," Katharina
leaves her apartment, "um an einem privaten Tanzvergnilgen teilzunehmen." At the party she
meets Ludwig Gotten, with whom she dances the evening away, "ausschlie Blich und innig").
For Katharina it is "love at first sight." She allows Gotten to take her home, and ends up sleeping
with him that very night. The next morning, Police Commissioner Beizmenne and eight heavily-
armed policemen force their way into Katharina's apartment. They are bitterly disappointed to
find out that Gotten, a wanted "Bundeswehr" deserter, has escaped. Katharina, who is
contentedly leaning on the kitchen counter drinking her coffee which arouses suspicion. The
police conclude that she is part of an underground conspiracy. Although the law states
unequivocally that a person is to be considered innocent until proved guilty, Katharina is treated
like a criminal from the outset. The ZEITUNG's first headline on the case labels her
"Rauberliebchen." The verdict has already been handed down by the editors, and they will not
reduce the sentence. This denial of her constitutional rights coincides with the beginning of her
downfall.
Questions for discussion:
The work represents a chain of decisions leading to Katharina’s downfall. It could be argued that
she could have taken a different choice at various points, or that various external events out of
her control were dominant in her fate.
Discuss:
• Working for the Blornas – Katharina’s choice to do so, and the
consequences that happened as a result.
• Meeting Ludwig – the external occurrence of his presence
, and the choices Katharina made in response.
• Katharina’s response to the reports in the ZEITUNG – certainly
significant, perhaps many consequences can be linked back
to here.
• Katharina killing the journalist – an event that could have
been prevented? Or was it inevitable because of preceding
events and choices, and therefore less important than
apparently more minor events earlier?
LITERATURE
EXTRACT FROM AN EXAMINERS REPORT:
In this paper candidates are expected both to demonstrate knowledge of the texts and an
understanding of how the texts work. To achieve a very good result it is necessary for candidates
to show that they can see the texts in the context of the time they were written and display some
understanding of the authors’ intentions and effect on the audience. Candidates who did well on
this paper were able to show in-depth knowledge of the text, chose good examples to illustrate
their arguments and structured their answers well. Most candidates’ command of German was
good to very good. However, there were some candidates whose command of German was very
poor. This had an influence on how well they were able to make their points (lack of vocabulary,
poor grammar knowledge, spelling errors). In general, candidates labelled their work correctly.
Most structured their essays clearly. Suitable paragraphing, organisation and linking of
arguments and a structured approach in writing always resulted in a better analysis and essay.
This approach should be encouraged. Good planning makes for a better essay. A very small
number of candidates did not answer the required three questions, probably running out of time.
Some candidates did not answer questions from both parts or answered two questions on one
text. Candidates should be reminded to read the instructions very carefully to avoid this. Also,
candidates must pay careful attention to the wording of the questions. Before tackling to answer
Heinrich Boll's Die verlorene Ehre der Katharina Blum is the story of a 27-year old woman
who falls into the clutches of West Germany's sensationalist press, and is driven to commit a
desperate act of violence in an attempt to restore her lost honour. The heroine possesses two
virtues : loyalty and pride. These two character traits cause the destruction of the young woman's
honour at the public as well as the private level. On the eve of "Weiberfastnacht," Katharina
leaves her apartment, "um an einem privaten Tanzvergnilgen teilzunehmen." At the party she
meets Ludwig Gotten, with whom she dances the evening away, "ausschlie Blich und innig").
For Katharina it is "love at first sight." She allows Gotten to take her home, and ends up sleeping
with him that very night. The next morning, Police Commissioner Beizmenne and eight heavily-
armed policemen force their way into Katharina's apartment. They are bitterly disappointed to
find out that Gotten, a wanted "Bundeswehr" deserter, has escaped. Katharina, who is
contentedly leaning on the kitchen counter drinking her coffee which arouses suspicion. The
police conclude that she is part of an underground conspiracy. Although the law states
unequivocally that a person is to be considered innocent until proved guilty, Katharina is treated
like a criminal from the outset. The ZEITUNG's first headline on the case labels her
"Rauberliebchen." The verdict has already been handed down by the editors, and they will not
reduce the sentence. This denial of her constitutional rights coincides with the beginning of her
downfall.
Questions for discussion:
The work represents a chain of decisions leading to Katharina’s downfall. It could be argued that
she could have taken a different choice at various points, or that various external events out of
her control were dominant in her fate.
Discuss:
• Working for the Blornas – Katharina’s choice to do so, and the
consequences that happened as a result.
• Meeting Ludwig – the external occurrence of his presence
, and the choices Katharina made in response.
• Katharina’s response to the reports in the ZEITUNG – certainly
significant, perhaps many consequences can be linked back
to here.
• Katharina killing the journalist – an event that could have
been prevented? Or was it inevitable because of preceding
events and choices, and therefore less important than
apparently more minor events earlier?
LITERATURE
EXTRACT FROM AN EXAMINERS REPORT:
In this paper candidates are expected both to demonstrate knowledge of the texts and an
understanding of how the texts work. To achieve a very good result it is necessary for candidates
to show that they can see the texts in the context of the time they were written and display some
understanding of the authors’ intentions and effect on the audience. Candidates who did well on
this paper were able to show in-depth knowledge of the text, chose good examples to illustrate
their arguments and structured their answers well. Most candidates’ command of German was
good to very good. However, there were some candidates whose command of German was very
poor. This had an influence on how well they were able to make their points (lack of vocabulary,
poor grammar knowledge, spelling errors). In general, candidates labelled their work correctly.
Most structured their essays clearly. Suitable paragraphing, organisation and linking of
arguments and a structured approach in writing always resulted in a better analysis and essay.
This approach should be encouraged. Good planning makes for a better essay. A very small
number of candidates did not answer the required three questions, probably running out of time.
Some candidates did not answer questions from both parts or answered two questions on one
text. Candidates should be reminded to read the instructions very carefully to avoid this. Also,
candidates must pay careful attention to the wording of the questions. Before tackling to answer
