Haus am Blar

Here lived in 1880, the grandparents of the Raerense writer Josef Ponten (1883-1940). He was a well-travelled man, who in his time was the best landscape poet of the German world.
He knew German writers such as Erich Kästner, Gerhard Hauptmann, Thomas Mann and Hermann Hesse and corresponded with them constantly.
"Ponten was an unconventional thinker with a good memory, who focused on natural sciences and history. From 1920 the couple lived in Munich, where he was soon known as 'the omniscient'. There, the couple became friends with Thomas Mann and his wife. This resulted in regular meetings where they read to each other from their recent writings, as well as cycling tours around Munich.
Mann had already learned about Ponten's writings in 1918. In his diary he wrote with admiration about his third novel Der Babylonische Turm. In 1926 he introduced him to the poetry department of the Preußische Akademie der Künste. This was the period of the long letters between Mann and Ponten. When Hitler took power in 1933, the friendship between the two had already faded. Ponten also had a friendship with Hermann Hesse." source: wikipedia

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