Wolfdietrich Schnurre

Wolfdietrich Schnurre (22 August 1920 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany – 9 June 1989 in Kiel, West Germany) was a German writer.

Schnurre was an important literary figure of post-war West Germany. Apart from numerous short stories he also wrote novels, tales, diaries, poems, radio plays and (beginning in the 1960s) children's books which he partly illustrated himself.

Life and work 

Schnurre grew up in Frankfurt before his father, a librarian, moved to Berlin in 1928. Here Schnurre attended a socialist elementary school and grammar school. Between 1939 and 1945 he involuntarily became a Wehrmacht soldier. In April 1945 he fled to Westphalia and returned to Berlin after the end of war. In the beginning he lived in the Eastern part of the city, but in 1946 he moved to West Berlin. In the following years he worked as theatre and movie reviewer for Deutsche Rundschau and other Berlin newspapers.

From 1950 Schnurre was an independent writer. He was a founding member of the literary association Gruppe 47 and his short story Das Begräbnis (The Funeral) was the first piece of literature read at the group's initial meeting. He was also member of PEN in the Federal republic of Germany which he left in 1961 to protest against PEN's silence after the construction of the Berlin Wall. Since 1959 Schnurre was member of the German Academy for Language and Literature in Darmstadt. In 1964 he came down with severe polyneuritis.

Schurre received several awards for his works including the Prize Young Generation of the Fontane Award of the City of Berlin (1958), the Immermann Award (1959), the Georg Marckensen Literature Award (1962), the Federal Cross of Merit (Bundesverdienstkreuz, 1981), the Literature Award of the City of Cologne (1982), the ''Georg Büchner Prize (1983) and the Culture Award of the City of Kiel (1989).

Literary works

 Das Begräbnis, 1947
 An die Harfner, 1948
 Rettung des deutschen Films, 1950
 Die Rohrdommel ruft jeden Tag, 1950
 Sternstaub und Sänfte,  1953
 Die Blumen des Herrn Albin, 1955
 Kassiber, 1956
 Abendländler, 1957
 Protest im Parterre, 1957
 Als Vaters Bart noch rot war, 1958
 Barfußgeschöpfe, 1958
 Eine Rechnung, die nicht aufgeht, 1958
 Anaximanders Ende, 1958
 Der Verrat, 1958
 Steppenkopp,  1958
 Jenö war mein Freund, 1958
 Das Los unserer Stadt, 1959
 Man sollte dagegen sein, 1960
 Berlin - eine Stadt wird geteilt, 1962
 Die Mauer des 13. August, 1962
 Funke im Reisig, 1963
 Die Gläsernen, 1963
 Ohne Einsatz kein Spiel, 1964
 Schreibtisch unter freiem Himmel, 1964
 Die Tat, 1964
 Kalünz ist keine Insel, 1965
 Die Erzählungen, 1966
 Das Schwein, das zurückkam, 1967
 Spreezimmer möbliert, 1967
 Was ich für mein Leben gern tue, 1967
 Die Zwengel, 1967
 Rapport des Verschonten, 1968
 Ein Schneemann für den großen Bruder, 1969 (with Marina Schnurre)
 Gocko, 1970 (with Marina Schnurre)
 Richard kehrt zurück, 1970
 Die Sache mit den Meerschweinchen, 1970 (with Marina Schnurre)
 Schnurre heiter, 1970
 Die Wandlung des Hippipotamos, 1970
 Immer mehr Meerschweinchen, 1971 (with Marina Schnurre)
 Der Spatz in der Hand, 1971
 Wie der Koala-Bär wieder lachen lernte, 1971 (with Marina Schnurre)
 Der Meerschweinchendieb,  1972
 Ich frag ja bloß, 1973
 Schnurren und Murren, 1974
 Der wahre Noah, 1974
 Eine schwierige Reparatur, 1976
 Ich brauch dich, 1976
 Klopfzeichen, 1978
 Der Schattenfotograf, 1978
 Erfülltes Dasein, 1979
 Kassiber und neue Gedichte, 1979
 Ein Unglücksfall, 1981
 Gelernt ist gelernt, 1984
 Emil und die Direktiven, 1985
 Mein Leben als Zeitgenosse, 1987
 Zigeunerballade, 1988
 Weihnachts-Schnurren, 1988
 Verkehrszeichen, 1991 (with Werner Kohn)
 Als Vater sich den Bart abnahm, 1995
 Die Prinzessin kommt um vier, 2000 (with Rotraut Susanne Berner)
 Kasimir hat einen Vogel, 2000 (with Manfred Bofinger)
 Doddlmoddl, 2003 (with Egbert Herfurth)

Category:1920 births
Category:1989 deaths
Category:People from Frankfurt
Category:People from Hesse-Nassau
Category:German military personnel of World War II
Category:German-language writers
Category:Trümmerliteratur
Category:Recipients of the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
Category:Georg Büchner Prize winners
Category:20th-century German novelists
Category:20th-century German poets
Category:German male poets
Category:German male novelists
Category:20th-century German male writers