After the end of World War II, the Federal Republic of Germany experienced an era of political restoration and rapid economic recovery under Chancellor Konrad Adenauer (1949-63) that culminated in the
Wirtschaftswunder(economic miracle). A collective focus on consumerism swept aside concerns about coming to terms with the National Socialist past and its crimes, as well as questions of collective guilt. Since 1947 an informal association of young authors, who had returned from prisoner-of-war camps, gathered bi-annually, later annually, in literary workshops to raise questions about suppressed issues of guilt and punishment, of responsibility and individual courage and the possibility of a truly new beginning in German literature, society and politics. Over the next two decades, this…
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Citation: Hoffmeister, Gerhart. "Gruppe 47 [Group 47]". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 23 August 2006 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=1677, accessed 23 November 2024.]
