32 Facts About Wolfdietrich Schnurre

Wolfdietrich Schnurre served in Nazi Germany's army from 1939 until 1945, when he escaped from a prisoner camp after having been arrested for desertion.

Wolfdietrich Schnurre was briefly imprisoned by British troops; after his release he returned to Germany in 1946 and began to write commercially.

Wolfdietrich Schnurre is sometimes considered a representative of the rubble literature movement, a short period in German literary history during which many authors, often former soldiers, sought to re-establish German literature after the incisive events of the war.

Wolfdietrich Schnurre was a founding member of the literary association Gruppe 47, and his short story Das Begrabnis, which describes God's death and burial, was read at the group's first meeting in 1947.

Wolfdietrich Schnurre received many awards for his literary work, including the Immermann-Preis in 1959, the Bundesverdienstkreuz in 1981, and the Georg Buchner Prize in 1983.

Wolfdietrich Schnurre remained a highly active writer from the 1940s through the 1970s, but his literary output decreased after he moved to Felde in the early 1980s.

Wolfdietrich Schnurre was born in Frankfurt am Main on 22 August 1920 to Otto and Erna Wolfdietrich Schnurre.

Wolfdietrich Schnurre was raised by his father after Erna Wolfdietrich Schnurre left the family during his early childhood and remarried.

Wolfdietrich Schnurre frequently fell ill during childhood and was repeatedly placed in the care of Christian children's homes; traumatic experiences there contributed to his scepticism of religion in later life.

Wolfdietrich Schnurre attended a secular state school in Berlin until 1934, when he switched to a Humanistisches Gymnasium.

Wolfdietrich Schnurre, who was relatively independent from an early age due to his father being preoccupied with work and affairs with women, grew up in a lower- to lower-middle-class social environment.

Wolfdietrich Schnurre served in the army of Nazi Germany from 1939 until 1945.

Wolfdietrich Schnurre unsuccessfully attempted desertion in 1945, and was arrested and sent to a prisoner camp.

Wolfdietrich Schnurre was captured by British troops and briefly imprisoned near Paderborn.

Wolfdietrich Schnurre had married during the war; the couple had a son who was born in October 1945.

Wolfdietrich Schnurre's writing for Western publications led to conflicts with the Soviet authorities in East Berlin, leading to Schnurre moving to West Berlin two years later.

Wolfdietrich Schnurre was a founding member of the literary association Gruppe 47 and his short story Das Begrabnis was the first piece of literature read at the group's initial meeting.

Wolfdietrich Schnurre became a member of the Federal Republic of Germany's branch of PEN in 1958, but left in 1961 to protest against PEN's silence after the construction of the Berlin Wall, which had separated him from his father.

Wolfdietrich Schnurre remarried a year later; the couple adopted a son in 1974.

Wolfdietrich Schnurre moved to Felde in the early 1980s, leaving his family behind.

Wolfdietrich Schnurre died of heart failure in Kiel on 9 June 1989 and was buried in the Waldfriedhof Zehlendorf cemetery in Berlin.

Wolfdietrich Schnurre left behind detailed instructions for his funeral, requesting that there be no speech, sermon or music.

Wolfdietrich Schnurre was highly active as an author and published more books than any other German author in the period between 1945 and 1972.

Blencke has stated that Wolfdietrich Schnurre's "fundamental feeling of guilt became the crucial driver of his writing", and that his own memory served as the most important source of literary material.

Wolfdietrich Schnurre was uncomfortable with political labels and never joined a party, but expressed support for socialist ideas, specifically for the ideology of the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany, a short-lived offshoot of the Social Democratic Party of Germany that had dissolved long before he reached adulthood.

Wolfdietrich Schnurre wanted to "write as a contemporary", and explicitly intended for his stories to be read by "average" and young readers.

Wolfdietrich Schnurre has to perceive them, rip them open, push his actors into them.

In, Wolfdietrich Schnurre tells the story of a man who unexpectedly receives a letter containing an obituary that informs him of God's death.

Wolfdietrich Schnurre decides to attend the funeral; there are only seven other people in attendance, including two gravediggers and a priest who struggles to recall the name of the deceased, calling him "Klott or Gott or something like that".

Wolfdietrich Schnurre employs colloquial language and uses ellipsis and parataxis as literary devices, making short, simple sentences that are strung together without use of conjunctions.

At the time of publication, Wolfdietrich Schnurre had already faded into relative obscurity.

Wolfdietrich Schnurre held frequent and successful public readings for varied audiences.