Alfred Andersch´s autobiographical texts from the 1950s have been heavily criticized in recent literature on the topic. W.G. Sebald´s essay about Andersch was of crucial importance. The details of Andersch´s stay in the Dachau concentration camp as well as the writer´s motivation to desert at the end of the war were questioned. The article aims at a new reading of Andersch´s autobiographical texts with regard to their credibility. It compares the early short story Flucht in Eturien with the autobiography Die Kirschen der Freiheit and a few less known texts. The analysis leads to the conclusion that Andersch “re-wrote” his biography as a creation that fulfils unconscious wishes of a whole generation. His intention was to adapt the image of decent young men of antifascist beliefs whose only guilt was the loyalty to their comrades.
Autobiographisches Schreiben in Alfred Anderschs Prosa der 50er Jahre