Bouchbennersch Otto / vom Umgang mit Andersartigkeit

Bouchbennersch Otto was born as Otto Mueller in Emmerichenhain, Germany in 1907. He witnessed two World Wars, was trained as a bookbinder and later became a police-servant for the community. He announced news in Emmerichenhain and the surrounding villages with a bell. Otto was known all over town. And he was different. Unlike all the others. Villagers in the Westerwald remember one of their own, Bouchbennersch Otto. He was born Otto Müller in 1907, survived two world wars, learned to be a bookbinder and later became the beadle. Otto was known all over the village and in the surrounding villages. And he did stick out somewhat: unlike everyone else, someone who was different, had aberrant thoughts and feelings and spoke differently, also a man of extreme emotional intelligence, a gifted pub entertainer and most certainly a desperate man in the line of Woyzeck and Kaspar Hauser. Under Hitler Otto was sterilised by force; he died an alcoholic in a home in the early 1990s. Janina Jung has composed a beautifully modern “heimatfilm” with “Bouchbennersch Otto”, whose best moments offer us a flashing glimpse of how memories always shed a light on those who remember, too. – Ralph Eue (DOK Leipzig)