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Information About

Group 47





EARLY HISTORY

The beginnings reach back to
1946 when Alfred Andersch and Walter Kolbenhoff founded the literary
magazine ''Der Ruf'' (The Call) in Munich . Their goal was to inform and teach the German public about Democracy after the Hitler era. The US American occupational forces revoked their printing license in April 1947 on the grounds of extensive Nihilism .


FOUNDING

The former authors of ''Der Ruf'' met in September 1947 in order to start a new magazine, ''Der Skorpion''. This was not successful because they lacked a sound financial basis. Inspired by the Spanish ''Group 98'' they founded the ''Gruppe 47''.


ORGANIZATION

The group met regularly twice a year. During the meetings young writers would read from unpublished manuscripts, which were then criticized. The best writers would be given an award.


GOALS

At first, the expressed goal of the ''Gruppe 47'' was to encourage young
authors, the so-called ''Nachkriegsliteratur'' (post-war literature). In addition, the group openly criticized the idealized, poetic dewey-eyedness of some modern prosa, as well as the tendency to write about distant time instead of the here-and-now.


LITERATURE PRIZE

The Literature Prize of the Gruppe 47 was awarded to as yet unknown authors from 1950 . The prize money was at first collected from the members of the Gruppe 47, later some publishers and radio stations chipped in. The following list of receipients is by no means complete:


  • , for ''"Die schwarzen Schafe"''


  • , for ''"Die gestundete Zeit"''

  • , for the story ''"Templones Ende"''

  • , for Die Blechtrommel


  • , for ''"Die Jahreszeiten"''



DECLINE

The ''Gruppe 47'' quickly gained popularity, no doubt on the basis of the well-known members, and was soon a part of the literary establishment in Germany. The onset of the decline began just before the student protests in 1968 . There were grave differences of political opinion in the group. The public meetings were discontinued from October 1967 and in 1977 the group was officially disbanded.


WELL-KNOWN MEMBERS



EXTERNAL LINKS

  • Die Gruppe 47 (in German)

  • An account of the infighting: "Ein paar Dutzend Dichter - und kein Vers (Gruppe 47)", by Gert Rückel (in German)