Biografische Aspekte von Andreas Birkner. Etappen seines Schaffens

Abstract

Andreas Birkner (1911-1988) is one of the five 20th-century Romanian-German writers (together with Hans Bergel, Wolf von Aichelburg, Georg Scherg, and Harald Siegmund) that were given harsh jail sentences because of their literary activity, during the so-called “Writers’ trial” in 1959. The following article offers an introduction to the life and work of Andreas Birkner while grouping his literary activity into three major stages that distinguish themselves from each other chronologically as well as thematically, and are marked by important events in his life. Birkner was an evangelical priest who passionately pursued his literary activity and who wrote in his prose about Transylvanian themes, primarily focusing on his fellow countrymen, the Transylvanian Saxons, whose historical and political development in the 20th century is traced faithfully in his literary creations.