German Literature In the Post
WWII World
By Brian Briggs
Heinrich Böll
• 1917-1985
• Never Joined the Hitler Youth
• Received the prize in 1972 for
helping to revitalize German
Literature
• Works include
– The Train was on Time(1949)
– Traveler if you come to the
Spa(1950)
– And Never Said a Word(1953)
– Portrait of a Lady(1971)
– The Lost Honor of Katharina
Blum(1974)
Guenter Grass
•
•
1927-still alive
Nobel Prize in Literature for Tin
Drum
– Was published in 1959, but was
awarded the prize in 1999
– The “Tin Drum” is the first In set of
three books called the Danzig
Trilogy. The other two works are
“Cat and Mouse” and “The Dog
Years”.
•
Argued against the Reunification
– Cited that a united Germany has
caused some of the most brutal
periods of history
– “Our unified state filled the history
books of the world with suffering,
ruin, defeat, millions of refugees,
millions of dead and a burden of
crimes which we will never be
able to throw off."
Literature In the FDR
• Immediately after the war, was mostly short stories and poetry.
– Heinrich Boll was a major writer of short stories during this early period.
– Major poets were Wolfgang Weyrauch, Karl Krolow, and Gunter Eich
• The Literary group “Groupe 47” was founded as a sort of Cultural
Association. Was not allowed to meet for a couple of years till the
FDR was founded.
Literature in the GDR
• East German Literature was of a lower quality than its Western
counterpart.
– The GDR claimed to support realist authors, but often harassed
them. Favored Soviet Realism over actual Realist views.
• The Government used Literature contests as a way to squelch
opposition writers in the fledgling days.
• The novels of the GDR often pitted a good socialist farmer struggling
against one or two westerners or a member of the bourgeois such
as a scientist.
• East German Books
– Menschen an unserver Seite by Eduard Claudius
– Die Spur der Steine by Erik Neutsch
– Beschreibung eines Sommers by Karl-Heinz Jakobs
Bibliography
• Fisher, Marc. Guenter Grass Wins Nobel Prize in Literature. The
Washington Post. September 30,1999.
• Kirjasto. Heinrich Boll. www.kirjasto.sci.fi/hboll. 2000
• Moos, Detlev, ed. Cultural Life in the Federal Republic of Germany.
Inter Nationes Bonn.1993.