Wolfgang Borchert, Draussen vor der Tür [The Man Outside]

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The highly successful play

Draussen vor der Tür

[

Outside the Door

] by Wolfgang Borchert, first broadcast as a radio play (13 February 1947), subsequently premiered on stage (21 November 1947), and published in the same year, was one of the first literary works in post-World War II Germany to address the situation of the defeated country: its privation, losses, and burden of guilt. It is associated with the slogans

Trümmerliteratur

(

literature of the ruins

) and

zero hour

. The latter term refers to the postulate that the nation and its culture had to make a fresh beginning after the devastation of the war and the oppression and genocide of the Nazi era. Borchert was a former German soldier and anti-Nazi dissident who wrote this play and over forty highly acclaimed short stories while…

1918 words

Citation: Saur, Pamela S.. "Draussen vor der Tür". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 13 April 2007 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=21634, accessed 19 March 2024.]

21634 Draussen vor der Tür 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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