Alfred Andersch
Alfred Andersch was a significant German writer and journalist known for his nuanced reflections on history and society. Born in 1914 in Munich, he faced early trauma, witnessing the execution of captives during his childhood and experiencing expulsion from high school. His political journey began with Communist Youth activism, but after being imprisoned in Dachau concentration camp in 1933, he severed ties with communism. Andersch's life was marked by a series of personal and professional transformations, including multiple marriages and the fathering of several children. His literary career included co-founding independent publications and creating radio programs that showcased emerging German authors.
Throughout his life, Andersch expressed critical views on post-war German democracy, especially under Chancellor Konrad Adenauer's regime, which he saw as stifling. His notable works include the acclaimed novel "Sansibar: Oder, Der letzte Grund" and the provocative poem "artikel 3 (3)," which addressed the resurgence of extremist ideologies. Andersch received several prestigious literary awards, reflecting his impact on German literature and his commitment to promoting other writers. He lived in Switzerland for many years before his death in 1980, leaving behind a legacy of thought-provoking writing that challenges readers to reconsider historical narratives.
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Alfred Andersch
Fiction and Nonfiction Writer
- Born: February 4, 1914
- Birthplace: Munich, Germany
- Died: February 21, 1980
- Place of death: Berzona/Ticino, Switzerland
Biography
Alfred Andersch was the second of three sons born to Alfred Andersch senior, an antiquarian book-seller, and his wife Hedwig Watzek Andersch. He had an early childhood memory of seeing captured Red Guardsmen led to their execution. Andersch also never forgot the day he was expelled from high school, describing it fifty years later in Der Vater eines Mörders with the hindsight that the principal, Gebhard Himmler, was the father of a murderer.
From 1928 to 1930, Alfred was apprenticed to Lehmann’s publishing company. He became active in the Communist Youth, and in March 1933 was incarcerated in the Dachau concentration camp. His mother obtained his release in May. The conditions in Dachau caused him to cut all ties with the communist movement.
In 1935, Andersch married Angelika Albert. Their daughter Susanne was born in 1937. They divorced in 1943. Andersch’s son Michael was born to the painter Gisela Groneuer in 1940, their son Martin in 1945, and their daughter Annette in 1950, the year of their marriage. Andersch also adopted Gisela’s children Peter and Cordula from her first marriage.
Andersch was sent to France in 1940 as a soldier, and then released from the military as a former concentration camp inmate. In 1943 he was drafted again, and deserted to the Americans in 1944. During his time as a prisoner of war he had access to an excellent library of books by American authors in German translation.
After returning to Germany, Andersch worked for the newspaper Neue Zeitung in Munich, then cofounded the independent newspaper Ruf, moved to Frankfurt in 1947 to work for the journal Frankfurter Hefte, and featured new German authors for Frankfurt radio. From 1955 to 1957, Andersch worked on his novel Sansibar: Oder, Der letzte Grund, edited the literary journal Texte und Zeichen and founded the program “radio essay” for Stuttgart radio.
Andersch described German democracy under Chancellor Konrad Adenauer as an “administration of taboos.” He emigrated to Tessin, Switzerland, in 1958, concentrated on his writing and traveled widely, to Rome, Spitzbergen and the Arctic, through North America on a lecture tour, to Mexico, Spain, Portugal and the Soviet Union.
He corresponded with his mother until her death in 1976. Her persistence in freeing him from Dachau is reflected in his final novel, Winterspelt, which emphasizes that one must not accept historical events as inevitable, but consider alternative outcomes. In 1976, Andersch’s poem about Germany, “artikel 3 (3),” caused a furor. Its opening stanza reads: “a people of / ex-nazis / and their / supporters / are again engaging in / their favorite sport / hunting down / communists / socialists / humanists / dissidents / leftists.”
In 1958, Andersch received the German Critics Prize for Sansibar, the Promotional Prize of the Immermann Prize, and the Hessian Radio Schleu�ner-Schueller Prize. In 1968, for his novel Ephraim, Andersch received the Nelly Sachs Prize of the City of Dortmund, and the Charles Veillon Prize. In 1975, for his complete works, he received the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts Prize for Literature.
A respected author himself, Andersch championed the works of many German authors, including Arno Schmidt, Heinrich Böll, Wolfgang Hildesheimer, and Ingeborg Bachmann. In 1979, he organized his papers for the German Literary Archive in Marbach. Andersch was diabetic and died of kidney failure.