17/07/2026
We have the only Film Adaption of This Book😊
DER STRUWWELPETER (SLOVENLY PETER)
This now classic German children's picture book was created in 1844 by a German physician in Frankfurt who needed a Christmas present for his three-year-old son Karl. But failing to find a suitable children's book, Dr. Heinrich Hoffmann (1809–1894) decided to write and illustrate his own book titled "Lustige Geschichten und drollige Bilder für Kinder von 3 bis 6 Jahren" (Funny Stories and Comical Pictures for Children Aged 3 to 6).
Originally Hoffmann had no intention of publishing his book for a wider audience. It was strictly for his own family. But a publisher friend liked the book, and thought it would be a bestseller. He persuaded the doctor to let him publish it under the pen name of Reimerich Kinderlieb ("Reimerich Kind-to-Children"). The author's real name did not appear in print until the fifth edition, which was published in 1847 under the new title of "Struwwelpeter".
PHOTO: Konrad the Thumb-Sucker gets both thumbs amputated by the tailor in story number 6, "Die Geschichte vom Daumenlutscher" ("The Story of the Thumb-Sucker") in the 1858 edition of DER STRUWWELPETER by Heinrich Hoffmann. Credit: Public domain via Wikimedia Commons - Source: Der Struwwelpeter; Frankfurt am Main, Literarische Anstalt Rütten & Loening, 1917
Hoffmann's friend was right. The book sold well, and it soon became a children's classic. It was also translated into many languages, in some cases without obtaining the rights. None other than Mark Twain himself created his own witty English translation in 1891. Because of copyright issues Twain's "Slovenly Peter" was not published until 1935, 25 years after his death. Although Hoffmann published other books, he is best known today for Struwwelpeter.
Most German children have somehow grown up with STRUWWELPETER, with its cruel and unusual stories, without suffering psychological damage. (Ironically, Heinrich Hoffmann was a psychiatrist.) Hoffmann's Struwwelpeter stories and illustrations are in the long German tradition of harrowing fairy tales – that were often sanitized later for publication in other countries.
But the ten Struwwelpeter stories (in the final editions) were meant to be shocking, even if in a humorous way. Any attempt to "sanitize" them simply defeats the purpose. Long before Wilhelm Busch's popular "Max und Moritz" stories, Hoffmann was creating the first comic books – in color.
LEGACY
Hoffmann's "Struwwelpeter" stories have directly and indirectly inspired parodies and other works, including the first "Struwwelliese" female version by Julius Lütje in 1890. An English anti-N**i parody ("Struwwelhitler: A N**i Story Book" by Doktor Schrecklichkeit) was published in London in 1941 as part of the war effort. With "Fidgety Adolf" replacing Zappelphilipp, it is now displayed at the Struwwelpeter Museum in Frankfurt am Main. More recently, the title character in Tim Burton's 1990 film EDWARD SCISSORHANDS is thought to be inspired by the Schneider (tailor) in the tale of "Konrad the Thumb-Sucker" (see photo). Even many musical and theater works have drawn inspiration from Hoffmann's most famous book.
THE BOOKS
Below we list two books that are available from Amazon and other booksellers, plus other titles that can be found online as used books or ordered from Amazon DE in Germany.
1. SLOVENLY PETER - German First Print of 1845 and English Translation (Classics for Consciousness-Based Education) Paperback. July 15, 2020. Get it from Amazon and other booksellers.
2. DER STRUWWELPETER in English Translation (Dover Children's Classics) Paperback. April 7, 1995. Get it from Amazon and other booksellers.
3. DIE STRUWWELLIESE (1950 and 2013) by Cilly Schmitt-Teichmann with illustrations by Charly Greifoner can be found online (new or used) from various sellers. First published in 1950, it is much tamer than the original STRUWWELPETER, and to me less appealing, but it is interesting as a female version that reflects 1950s norms in Germany.
