Carl Zuckmayer:
(Nackenheim, December 27, 1896 – Visp, Switzerland, January 18, 1977) was a German writer.
Zuckmayer grew up in Mainz, attended gymnasium there, and participated in the First World War as a volunteer. After the war, he studied for another two years in Frankfurt and Heidelberg, but in 1920 he moved to Berlin and began writing. After wandering through Norway and Lapland, he settled in Munich in 1924 and became a dramaturg for Max Reinhardt, together with Bertolt Brecht. During this period, he also began writing film scripts, the most famous of which is that of “Der blaue Engel”. He was also responsible for the script of the Dutch film “Boefje” (1939).
Home is not where you come from, but where you want to die.
💡 Core of the thought:
– ‘Origin’ refers to your birth, past, and heritage.
– “Home / Heimat” refers to a place of ‘emotional, existential, and inner connection’.
– The phrasing “where you want to die” emphasizes that it concerns the place where you feel so at home that you would want to complete your life there.
🧠 In other words:
– your birthplace is not automatically your real home
– home can also be a place you find or choose later in life
– the quote is therefore about ‘connectedness’, not just about ‘origin’. Origin: The saying circulates in German as:
„Heimat ist nicht dort, wo man herkommt, sondern wo man sterben möchte.” 📌 Origin of the phrasing:
– The quote is widely distributed in this German form.
“Heimat” is richer than just “home”: it also encompasses ideas of ‘spiritual connection, origin, cultural rooting, and inner home-being’. 🔎 Source nuance:
– The quote is often found on citation websites and in secondary collections.
– For general use, the attribution is acceptable.
– For strictly scientific or philological use, it remains always better to cite a ‘primary source’ if one is available.
Author 👤 : Carl Zuckmayer (1896–1977), German playwright, writer, and essayist. ✍️ Why this quote suits him: The quote aligns well with themes that were important in his life and work, such as:
– Heimat
– identity
– displacement
– exile
– connection to place and culture.
