Reich-Ranicki, pope of German letters, dies at 93

Marcel Reich-Ranicki was one of the best known and most provocative German literary critics. He established a reputation for his confrontations with authors, notably Martin Walser and Nobel laureate Günter Grass. On Wednesday (18.09.2013), the brilliant thinker and publicist died in Frankfurt.

Chancellor Angela Merkel commented on the sad news saying Reich-Ranicki seduced millions with his enthusiasm for reading and accomplished much for the world of literature. Publisher Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt also mourned the loss of its author, "The world of literature has lost the most important and influential critic and promoter of literature after 1945."

Marcel Reich-Ranicki was born on June 2, 1920 in Wloclawek, Poland. At the age of nine he came to Berlin, where he attended high school. But as a Jew, he was excluded from further university studies in literature. In 1938, he was deported back to Poland where he witnessed the tragedy of the Warsaw Ghetto.

After the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany in 1939, he met his future wife Teofila, known as Tosia. Both were forced to move into the Warsaw Ghetto, where they married. A last-minute escape helped them avoid deportation to the Treblinka death camp. In 1958, they returned to Germany.

In 2012, at a memorial service at the German parliament for victims of the Nazi regime, the then 91-year-old talked about his own experiences with the horrors of the Nazi era. His voice cracking, he described the deportation of Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto to the Treblinka extermination camp in 1942.

Between 1988 and 2001, Reich-Ranicki was a sensation on the live German talk show "The Literary Quartet." Up to 2 million viewers watched him give his scathing criticism or high praise on the latest new releases, alongside people like the Austrian writer Sigrid Löffler and journalist Hellmuth Karasek.

Reich-Ranicki's autobiography, "Mein Leben" ("The Author of Himself "), has sold more than 1.2 million copies. It was translated into a number of languages, including Hebrew. Ten years after its publication, the book was turned into a film starring Matthias Schweighöfer (pictured in the background). The film focuses on the first 38 years of his life and tells the story of the Warsaw Ghetto.

Though Reich-Ranicki was barred from continuing his studies in 1938, several German universities would end up giving him honorary doctorates. And in 2006, the literary critic was awarded an honorary doctorate from Tel Aviv University for his "exceptional performance" as a literary critic and his commitment to the institution.

"It actually looks like my home," Reich-Ranicki said at the sight of this representation of his living room, which was shown during an exhibition at the Jewish Museum in Frankfurt. Since the 1960s, the critic had collected portraits of well-known writers and other critics. He and his wife lived in Frankfurt's Dichterviertel.