Thrissur: The German town of Unkel is a household name in Thrissur’s Patturaykkal area. Jose Punnamparambil has named his house after his adopted land just as he spread the light of Malayalam literature across the German-speaking world through his translations.
The 82-year-old expatriate has been translating Malayalam works into German for 52 years. He has been honoured by the Kerala Sahitya Academy for his comprehensive contributions to Malayalam literature.
Punnamparambil was born at Edukkalam near Irinjalakkuda in 1936. He went to Germany in 1966 with a scholarship in media studies. At Unkel, a town on the Rhine near Bonn, he rediscovered Malayalam literature and decided to take it to the German speakers.
His initial attempts to bring together the expatriate Indians in Germany resulted in a Malayalam periodical named ‘Nadan Kath’. Anoher publication, ‘Ente Lokam’, followed in 1973. The publication was primarily targeted at the Indian nurses working in Germany. The magazine is still being published in Germany as ‘Nammude Lokam’.
He published ‘Meine Welt’ in 1984. The magazine was essentially ‘Ente Lokam’ translated into German. Punnamparambil’s oeuvre contains about 20 books and documentaries in German and Malayalam. His documentary on the nurses who migrated to Germany in the 1960s was well received.
He focused on literary works related to migration and various Indian communities in Germany. He played a key role in establishing a Malayalam literature chair named after Herman Gundert in the Tübingen University.
He has conducted studies in Malayalam literature for the Nobel Prize committee. He formed the ‘Literature Forum India’ in Germany.
He has been serving as an adviser for the Indo-German Society for 15 years. He was honoured by Meine Welt in 1988 and the Indo-German Cultural Relations last year.
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He is currently occupied with a documentary on the missionary nuns who worked in German convents in the 1960s.
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