The old Bansin fire station was converted in 2000 into a small literary center with a library and exhibition spaces. With this building, the community honors its most famous son, the writer Hans Werner Richter. He was born on November 12, 1908, in Neu-Sallenthin—now a district of Bansin—and grew up on the Richter family’s farmstead at Seestraße 68 in Bansin.
Many of his novels (“Spuren im Sand,” “Bansiner Geschichten,” “Die Stunde der falschen Triumphe”) depict the lives of ordinary people on the island of Usedom during the first half of the last century. Toni Richter, the widow of Hans Werner Richter, donated significant portions of his private estate to the municipality of Bansin following his death in 1993. As a result, Hans Werner Richter’s study and library in the house are open to the public for viewing and use. Special exhibits honour him as the founder and leader of “Group 47,” the literary association that played a defining role in the history of the young Federal Republic of Germany. Visitors can also use the small public library and access the Internet.
Regular readings are held in the “Günter Grass Room,” where a collection of remarkable original prints by Günter Grass are on display. Since the death in 2006 of Carola Stern, a writer and journalist born in Ahlbeck, a small exhibition at the Hans Werner Richter House has served as a tribute to this important woman who chronicled the events of the last century.