Heinrich Hoffmann

Born in Frankfurt am Main in 1809, Heinrich Hoffmann trained as a physician and became a psychiatrist as well as a writer and illustrator. He is most closely associated with Struwwelpeter, first published in 1845, a book of illustrated cautionary tales that made him internationally famous.

What makes Hoffmann stand out is that he did not just write for children—he also drew his own unforgettable images. The stories in Struwwelpeter are funny, exaggerated, and often grim, and they helped shape the long tradition of moral tales that both entertain and unsettle.

Hoffmann died in Frankfurt in 1894, but his best-known book remains a landmark of children's literature. Readers still return to it for its vivid pictures, odd energy, and the way it captures a very different idea of childhood and discipline.