Heinrich Böll shaped decisively the image of his homeland - the morally burdened country after the Second World War - which the new generation formed within and outside Germany. He was a popular writer, who with his simple and concise language gained access to people, and was read and heard within and outside his homeland. This communication with people was the most important thing for him.

However, what he had to say was not popular. His sharp irony and his moral integrity set him apart from the many. He was classified in the so-called "literature of the zero hour", although he did not correspond to what he believed. He spoke and wrote exactly how there was no zero hour. The liberation from the Nazi dictatorship, in his eyes, did not mean a new beginning for German society. On the contrary. Böll saw many continuities in old mentalities. By reminding of the crime and guilt, he opposed oblivion, under the shadow of which authoritarianism, inhumanity, and conservatism of the young democracy continued to exist. From his experience of war and the crimes of the Nazis, he arrived at the conclusion "Never again, never again". Thus, the writer Heinrich Böll was always a political activist. Here lies his rare moral integrity as an artist, as a protester, as a public intellectual.