Generation Gap in the Plays of the First Post-war Years in West and East Germany

Abstract

In this article the author deals with dramatic art of West and East Germany in the first postwar years and studies the issue of fathers and sons in works "The Man Outside" ("Draußen vor der Tür") by W. Borchert (1947, West Germany) and "Wie Tiere des Waldes" by F. Wolf (1948, East Germany). The main topic of both plays is the war issue, the motive of guilt and responsibility growing into a generation gap. The representatives of the younger generation try to find out how their "fathers" could let fascism and war happen, why the "children" who had gone to war were forced to kill and to be killed. In the setting of the main conflict the one with authorities and God in both plays arises, there is an issue of depreciation of human life, a madness issue. As a result of comparison of plays the author comes to a conclusion that despite the common topic and the main conflict of plays the resolution becomes different. The play of East German F. Wolf has a more optimistic nature. The total hopelessness of a situation is observed in the work of Borchert. It is probably connected with the fact that optimism and belief in better future were important components of the socialist ideology and the principle of a socialist realism dominating in East Germany.