Wolfgang Weyrauch was born
Königsberg, Prussia as the son of a
surveyor. After attending
gymnasium, and receiving his
Abitur, he began going to acting school in
Frankfurt am Main in 1924. Between 1925 and 1927, he acted in theaters in
Münster,
Bochum, and at the
Harztheater in
Thale. From 1927 to 1929, Weyrauch pursued
German history,
German studies, and
Romance studies at
Goethe University Frankfurt. In 1929, he began working as a freelance writer, from 1929 to 1933, at the
Frankfurter Zeitung, from 1932 to 1938, at the
Berliner Tageblatt, and, from 1933 to 1934, at the
Vossische Zeitung. In the 1930s, Weyrauch also began to write
radio plays, a newly emerged art form. During the 1930s, Weyrauch also worked as a
literary editor, and published his first books. From 1940 to 1945, he worked in an air intelligence unit in
World War II. In 1945, he was held in a Soviet
prisoner of war camp, and was released in the same year. After 1945, Weyrauch wrote radio plays, and narratives, and published numerous anthologies (see list below). From December 1945 to 1948, Weyrauch was the editor of
Ulenspiegel, a
satirical magazine, and
Ost und West, both published in Berlin. He shaped the direction of "
Kahlschlagliteratur" in
Tausend Gramm, a 1949 anthology edited by him, characterizing and promoting the rebirth of German literature, after the end of the
Third Reich. From 1950 to 1958, he was a literary editor at the Hamburg publisher,
Rowohlt Verlag. Beginning in 1959, he returned to freelance writing, first in
Gauting, near
Munich, and in
Darmstadt, after 1967. Weyrauch was a member of the
West German P.E.N., and the
German Writers' Union. In 1951, he began taking part in
Gruppe 47 conferences, and, in 1967, he became a member of the
Deutsche Akademie für Sprache und Dichtung in
Darmstadt, where he died. == Awards and honors ==