Trümmerliteratur
Encyclopedia
Trümmerliteratur also called Kahlschlagliteratur ("clear-cutting literature"), is a literary movement that began shortly after World War II
in Germany and lasted until about 1950.
It is primarily concerned with the fate of former soldiers and POWs who could return to Germany, who must stand both before the rubble of their homeland and their possessions as well as before the rubble of their ideals and deal with it. American short stories served as a model for the authors of this epoch. The stylistic means employed were simple, direct language, which laconically described but did not evaluate the destroyed world, and a restriction, usual for short stories, of the space, narrated time, and characters. It is because of this simplification that this epoch is also named Kahlschlagliteratur ("clear-cutting literature").
Effects of World War II
The effects of World War II had far-reaching implications for most of the world. Many millions of lives had been lost as a result of the war...
in Germany and lasted until about 1950.
It is primarily concerned with the fate of former soldiers and POWs who could return to Germany, who must stand both before the rubble of their homeland and their possessions as well as before the rubble of their ideals and deal with it. American short stories served as a model for the authors of this epoch. The stylistic means employed were simple, direct language, which laconically described but did not evaluate the destroyed world, and a restriction, usual for short stories, of the space, narrated time, and characters. It is because of this simplification that this epoch is also named Kahlschlagliteratur ("clear-cutting literature").
Well-known representatives
- Wolfgang BorchertWolfgang BorchertWolfgang Borchert was a German author and playwright whose work was affected by his experience of dictatorship and his service in the Wehrmacht during the Second World War. His work is among the best examples of the Trümmerliteratur movement in post-World War II Germany...
(Draußen vor der TürDraußen vor der TürThe Man Outside is a play by Wolfgang Borchert, written in a few days in the late autumn of 1946. It made its debut on German radio on 13 February 1947....
, Das Brot, An diesem Dienstag) - Günter EichGünter EichGünter Eich was a German lyricist, dramatist, and author. He was born in Lebus, on the Oder River, and educated in Leipzig, Berlin, and Paris....
- Heinrich BöllHeinrich BöllHeinrich Theodor Böll was one of Germany's foremost post-World War II writers. Böll was awarded the Georg Büchner Prize in 1967 and the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1972.- Biography :...
(Haus ohne Hüter, Wo warst du, Adam?, Der Mann mit den Messern, Wanderer, kommst du nach Spa...) - Wolfdietrich SchnurreWolfdietrich SchnurreWolfdietrich Schnurre was a German writer.Schnurre was an important literary figure of post-war West Germany...
(Ein Unglücksfall, Das Begräbnis), (Auf der Flucht) - Erich KästnerErich KästnerEmil Erich Kästner was a German author, poet, screenwriter and satirist, known for his humorous, socially astute poetry and children's literature.-Dresden 1899–1919:...
- Arno SchmidtArno SchmidtArno Schmidt was a German author and translator.-Biography:Born in Hamburg, son of a police constable, Schmidt moved with his widowed mother to Lauban and attended the secondary school in Görlitz. He then worked as a clerk in a textile company in Greiffenberg...
(Brand's Haide, Schwarze Spiegel)
See also
The "Trümmerfilme" ("rubble films") that came out in the late 1940s:- Die Mörder sind unter unsMurderers Among UsDie Mörder sind unter uns German title was one of the first post-World War II German film and the first Trümmerfilm. It was produced in 1945 and 1946 in the Althoff-Atelier in Babelsberg and in Jofa-Ateliers in Johannisthal...
- In jenen Tagen
- Film ohne Titel
- Liebe 47
- Und finden dereinst wir uns wieder
- Razzia, among others