Das Begräbnis
The funeral takes place in pouring rain under the illumination of carbide lamps in an atmosphere of general apathy.
The author employs ellipsis and parataxis as literary devices, making short, simple sentences that are strung together without use of conjunctions.
[4] Manfred Durzak [de] described the short story as having a strong formal structure, typical of Schnurre's texts.
He cites the obituary as an example of a significant statement disappearing behind linguistic clichés and states that Schnurre's satirical playing with the reader's romanticist expectations evokes comedy.
[6] Engler writes that the casualness and brashness of the tone led to the text being considered provocative in the post-war years, a time when literary pathos often prevailed.
[7] Heinz Ludwig Arnold summarised: "Schnurre describes the loss of faith in allegorical form, without the – worn-out – word 'faith' being used."
God had been abandoned by people who, faced with the existential problems of survival in the post-war period, could no longer find room for faith.
"[10] Günter Helmes [de] emphasised that at no time do the characters doubt the existence of God, but their reactions to the news of his death range from ignorance, indifference, malice and sympathy to a surprised "Oh; only today?
He is at least rooted in tradition to the extent that he recognises God as an authority and is astonished at the lack of response the death notice elicits from passers-by and the media.
While people's everyday lives seem damaged, the only thing working at full speed is a factory producing nitrogen compounds.
[13] For Manfred Durzak, the story does not offer any consolation, but he also notes that there is no resentment against the priest, who was even allowed to carry the coffin: Even the earthly representative of God was neither loved nor hated.
"[14] In a conversation with Karl-Josef Kuschel [de], Schnurre gave information about his atheism that had grown during the Second World War: "With the gas ovens in the concentration camps, the powerlessness of God is proven to me."
[16] According to his own account, Schnurre had "written the story at night on an upturned crib", with revisions resulting in a total of twelve to thirteen different versions.
[18] On 6 and 7 September 1947, Hans Werner Richter invited a total of 16 writers, including Wolfdietrich Schnurre, to a meeting at Bannwaldsee near Füssen in Ilse Schneider-Lengyel [de]'s house.
However, the meeting led to the birth of Gruppe 47, which was to have a formative influence on literary developments in the Federal Republic of Germany over the next 20 years.
The editors prefaced the text with a statement in its defence: "With this work, which has also provoked heated debate in the editorial office, Wolfdietrich Schnurre undertakes to portray the despair of this period by means of an extreme example.
Its verdict was: "His short story "Das Begräbnis des lieben Gottes", written in concise language, is grounded hard in reality and at the same time made transparent by its metaphysical concatenation.
"[22] According to Heinz Ludwig Arnold, Das Begräbnis became, alongside Günter Eich's Inventur, "the showpiece of the early Gruppe 47 literary programme" and characteristic of the rubble literature after the Second World War, of a realistic and committed writing against the false pathos of the Nazi era.
The majority of the audience, moved by the seriousness and the unspoken moral demand of the young author, gave applause, but some, visibly hurt in their religious feelings, left the hall in protest.
[34] Thirty years after his first lecture at Gruppe 47, Schnurre read Das Begräbnis once more in September 1977 to conclude a reunion of the already inactive group.
[37] Das Begräbnis is considered "representative post-war literature" and became "compulsory reading in literary history for students and Germanists".
