The story of the writing of Wolfgang Borchert's onlypublished play, and of his brief career, has beentold frequently, but it merits reiteration at leastin summary. Borchert was born in Hamburg on 20 May1921, so was at the least propitious age for a youngman at the outbreak of the second great conflict ofthe twentieth century in 1939. After working as abookseller and then for a time as an actor, as wellas writing some early (unpublished) plays, he wasdrafted into the German army, had a series ofserious clashes with Nazi authority, was imprisoned,and eventually sent to the Eastern Front, where hewas wounded and suffered from frostbite and fever.After the war he struggled back to Hamburg but wasbroken and ill. In the couple of years that remainedfor him, he produced poems, a body of short stories,and at the end of 1946 or the start of 1947 hismasterpiece—indeed a masterpiece of worldliterature—the play Draußen vorder Tür. This, indeed, was completedwithin a matter of days. It was performed during hislifetime—on February 13, 1947, as a radio play—butthe first stage performance, in Hamburg, took placethe day after Borchert's death on November 20, 1947in a hospital in Switzerland. At the premiere ofBorchert's play, an announcement of Borchert's deaththe day before was made onstage by the director,Wolfgang Liebeneiner (who would later produce thefilm version). Nevertheless, a great deal can beclaimed for Draußen vor derTür. Its publication, which helpedrestore the fortunes of a major German publisherafter the war, permits the claim that Borchertrestarted German literature after a disastrous era.Having been performed on the radio and on stage, theplay was later filmed in a version with the titleLiebe 47 (Love in̕47), which appeared in 1949, but the film did nothave the success of the play, and it is lessrelevant in the present context. Gordon Burgess, inan analysis of the film, points out that its lack ofsuccess may have been linked to a temporary waningin the popularity of Borchert's work, perhapsbecause at this stage the public was becomingincreasingly reluctant to be reminded of thewar.