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Lothar-Guenther Buchheim, author of the international bestseller Das Boot (The Boat) which became an Oscar-nominated film, has died at the age of 89.
Das Boot, published in 1973, became one of the most successful German novels of the postwar period, selling more than 4 million copies.
Director Wolfgang Petersen turned the gripping story of a World War II submarine crew into a film starring Juergen Prochnow in 1981.
Buchheim based the book on his own experiences as a war correspondent.
