Reinhard Baumgart’s autobiographical work “Damals. Ein Leben in Deutschland (Then. A Life in Germany)” is a revised, illustrated new edition of the original publication, which appeared in 2003 from Carl Hanser Verlag, now featuring an index.
This new edition stands out for its meticulous corrections, which make the text linguistically more reliable, supplemented by vivid photographs that bring the content to life, and the newly added index, which allows for quick navigation and makes the work particularly user-friendly for targeted research.
The memoirs of the distinguished literary critic and essayist Reinhard Baumgart can be read as much more than just personal memoirs: To this day, the book is regarded as an impressive historical document of West German intellectual and literary history.
The enduring relevance of “Damals (Then)” is particularly evident in the context of the 2026 new edition. The book offers a precise panorama of the emergence of the West German cultural elite, its hopes, power struggles, and subsequent disappointments. Group 47 emerges here both as an intellectual laboratory of the early Federal Republic and as an exclusive circle with clear mechanisms of inclusion and exclusion. Baumgart vividly depicts the dynamics of friendships and rivalries, artistic vanities, political factionalism, and literary fashions—themes that continue to shape debates about cultural networks and intellectual elites to this day.
For more information, please see the press release.
Authorship: Reinhard Baumgart, Afterword: Hildegard Baumgart