1967-2007: the Gruppe 47 As a Cultural Heimat (Essay‪)‬

Since the late 1960s the Gruppe 47 has been the subject of a wealth of media material, ranging from commemorative broadsheet articles and reviews of specialist academic studies, through regular high profile anniversary TV documentaries, to a number of large-scale traveling exhibitions and public events and several hundred radio features. (2) At the very latest in 2007, when the contemporary author Maxim Biller drew a striking parallel between himself and the Gruppe 47 in a TV documentary, the symbolic importance behind the group's enduring presence in the contemporary public consciousness should have become clear: Meine einzige Chance ist es, meine eigene Gruppe 47 zu sein. Ich bin fur mich die Gruppe 47. Ich muss das alles machen. Ich muss mich selbst kritisieren, ich muss [...] Lobbyarbeit fur mich machen. Man muss tatsachlich die offentliche Meinung manipulieren. (Ammer)