German Literary
Movement between 1945 and 1950
Trümmerliteratur in
German means "rubble literature". The reason it's called that is that at the time, Germany was a pile of rubble. Its authors were, though young,
veterans returning from the
war or
captivity. They started a new "traditionless"
literature - due to the Nazis'
censorship (see "
Entartete Kunst" - "
degenerate art") they had neither had
access to works of
German authors of the
Weimar Republic nor to
international masterpieces. Also, like the rest of Germany, they wanted the "Stunde Null" (hour zero), a completetly new start (which of course was not quite possible - see
Denazification).
The Trümmerliteratur dealt with the harsh realities in post-war Germany:
ruins,
death,
guilt,
captivity,
homecoming (if only to pick up the pieces that had once been one's life) and general
hardship. It did so with a markedly simple and clear
language to break away from the earlier corrupted ideology-speak. No more
deceptions, no more
delusions. The results are impressing and depressing at the same time.
Important authors and some of their works:
-
Wolfgang Borchert - "Laterne, Nacht und Sterne", "Das Brot", "An diesem Dienstag", "Die Hundeblume", "Nachts schlafen die Ratten doch" and most famously "Draußen vor der Tür"
-
Heinrich Böll - "Der Zug war pünktlich", "Wanderer, kommst du nach Spa", "Wo warst du, Adam"
-
Wolfdietrich Schnurre - "Die Rohrdommel ruft jeden Tag"
-
Günter Eich - "Inventur"
Many authors later assembled in the "
Gruppe 47", which became
the literary circle in the 50s and early 60s.