Editing Group 47 (section)

==Early history==

=== Background of ''Der Ruf'' ===
In the spring of 1945, ''[[Der Ruf (newspaper)|Der Ruf]], Zeitung der deutschen Kriegsgefangenen in USA'' (''The Call: Newspaper of German War Prisoners)'' was begun in a Rhode Island POW camp, Fort Philip Kearny, as part of American re-education for German POWs. It was edited by Curt Vinz, working with Alfred Andersch and Hans Werner Richter. Upon their return to Germany they planned to publish a successor magazine under the title ''Der Ruf – unabhängige Blätter der jungen Generation'' (''The Call – Independent paper of the Younger Generation''), which first appeared on 15 August 1946. The magazine was printed from literary texts, but the publishers (Andersch and Richter) understood it was primarily a political body, in which they argued for a free Germany as a bridge between East and West. They were also critical of the American occupation forces, which led to the prohibition of the April 1947 ''Ruf'' by the Information Control Division of the American Occupation Zone. After the dismissal of the editor, the magazine reappeared with a new political orientation, headed by Erich Kuby. However, it had lost its importance and was finally discontinued.<ref>Böttiger, Helmut. "Die Gruppe 47" in ''Als die deutsche Literatur Geschichte schrieb''. München: Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, 2012, p. 48.</ref>

After ''Ruf'' ceased publication, Hans Werner Richter began to plan a successor magazine, which he wanted to dub ''Der Skorpion'' (''The Scorpion''). On the 6 and 7 September in 1947, Richter held an editorial meeting with authors from the area of the planned newspaper in Ilse Schneider-Lengyel's house, on Bannwaldsee, near Füssen. Their manuscripts were read and discussed together, as well as the private purpose of the future magazine. While ''Der Skorpion'' was never actually published, the first meeting of Gruppe 47 was developed from this meeting near Bannwaldsee. With regard to the group's history, Richter later explained: "The origin of Group 47 was of a political-publicistic nature. It was not created by literati, but by politically committed publicists with literary ambitions."<ref name=":1">Richter (ed.): ''Almanach der Gruppe 47''. 1947–1962. p. 8.</ref>

=== Historical periodization ===
Friedhelm Kröll divided the history of Group 47 into four periods:
# Constitutional period 1947–49,
# Ascent period 1950–57,
# High period 1958–63,
# Late and Decay Period 1964–67.<ref>Kröll, Friedhelm. ''Gruppe 47''. Stuttgart: Metzler, 1979, p. 26ff.</ref>

=== Formation and organization ===
At the meeting at Bannwaldsee, 16 participants took part. To begin, [[Wolfdietrich Schnurre]] read his short story ''Das Begräbnis'' ("The Funeral"). After this, the other participants expressed open, partly sharp, spontaneous criticism, which was to become the later ritual of group criticism. This form of literary criticism, in which the speaker author always sat on the empty seat next to Richter, jokingly dubbed the "electric chair", remained the form of discussion for Group 47's entire existence. The important maxim was that the lecturer was not allowed to defend himself and that the review of a specific text was the focus of the meeting. Political discussions of literary or political nature, on which the group could have split, were consistently deferred to Richter. Despite the group's preference for realistic ''Trümmerliteratur'' (the post-war "rubble literature"), there was no official literary program, no common poetics and only a few principles about not allowing fascist or militarist texts.<ref name=":2">Blakemore, Erin. "[https://daily.jstor.org/gruppe-47-group-made-gunter-grass/ Gruppe 47: The Group That Made Günter Grass]". ''JSTOR Daily''. 24 April 2015.</ref>

The name Gruppe 47 emerged only after the first meeting, as Hans Werner Richter was planning to repeat the event regularly. The author and critic Hans Georg Brenner suggested the name, associating the group with the Spanish ''Generación del 98'' ([[Generation of '98]]) before. Richter, who rejected any organizational form of the meetings, whether "club, association, or academy", agreed with the proposal, saying "‘Group 47’ – that is without obligation and actually says nothing."<ref name=":2" />

It was only in 1962, on the 15th anniversary of the group’s birth, that Richter retrospectively formulated the "idealistic starting points" of Gruppe 47:
# "Democratic elite education in the field of literature and journalism;"
# "To repeatedly demonstrate the practice of democracy to a circle of individualists with the hope of long-distance and, perhaps much later, latitude and mass action;"
# "To achieve both objectives without a program, without a club, without organization and without any collective thinking to work against."<ref name=":1" />
On the topic of who he invited to the meetings of the group, Richter personally decided: "It is my circle of friends. [...] now I hold a meeting once a year, [...] this is called Gruppe 47 [...]. And I invite all the people, who suit me, are friends with me." [10] He left nothing to outside influence from the outset, which was later a heavily-criticized referral process. According to Heinz Ludwig Arnold, who wrote several times on Gruppe 47, Richter's strength was his organizational talent, as Richter had gained no importance as a writer or a critic, and had not done well in the two readings he had before the group. Gruppe 47's success became Richter's life task.<ref>Moralic, Izvor. "[https://daily.jstor.org/gruppe-47-group-made-gunter-grass/ Readings from The Electric Chair: The 60th Anniversary of a Post-War Literary Guild Unites German Greats]". ''The Vienna Review'', 1 December 2007.</ref>

=== The first year ===
Two months after the first meeting, the second meeting of Gruppe 47 was held, in Herrlingen near Ulm, in which the number of participants had doubled. {{Citation needed|date=September 2018}} Among the first-time participants was Richter's colleague Alfred Andersch, whose essay ''Deutsche Literatur in der Entscheidung'' (''German Literature in the Decision'') received a programmatic significance for the group. 

Starting from the thesis that "genuine artistry" was always "the same as the opposition to Nazism," Andersch stated that "the younger generation stood before a [[tabula rasa]], faced with the necessity to accomplish a renewal of German intellectual life, through original creations."<ref name=":0" /> Andersch's future plan remained the only essay that was read in the group for a long time.

In the following years, the meetings took place at different places, during spring and fall. At the seventh session in 1950 in Inzigkofen, the ''Preis der Gruppe 47'' (''Prize of Group 47'') was first launched, which in contrast to the established literary prizes, was intended for as yet unknown authors. Franz Joseph Schneider, who had belonged to the group since the previous year, donated a prize of 1000 Deutsche Marks ($532). After completing the readings, the members of the group present democratically voted on the winner. 

The lyricist [[Günter Eich]] was the first to be awarded the prize. He had joined the group during the third meeting in Jugenheim, and was regarded as the most profound author in the group during his early years.<ref>Wegmann, Nikolaus, and Cornelius Reiber. "[https://german.princeton.edu/landmarks/gruppe-47/ Gruppe 47] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170915235519/https://german.princeton.edu/landmarks/gruppe-47/ |date=2017-09-15 }}". Princeton University Department of German.</ref> In the following years, Richter organized awards of varying amounts for publishers and broadcasters, but only granted them irregularly. Richter allowed the participants to conclude whether or not a prize was to be awarded at each meeting.