"Vielleicht ist unter allen Masken, aus denenman wählen kann, das Ich die beste" Über dieEntstehung einer Legende auf der Grundlage einer Autopbiografie: Alfred Anderschs Kirschen derFreiheit

Abstract

With his autobiography Die Kirschen der Freiheit, in which he describes his desertion from the Wehrmacht in Italy in 1944, the German author Alfred Andersch (1914–1980) established his reputation as an antifascist writer. Nevertheless, as we know by now, the authors behaviour during the naziperiod was much more ambivalent than was generally assumed on the basis of this autobiography. This article reconsiders Die Kirschen der Freiheit with this ambivalence in mind and, proceeding from Philippe Lejeunes concept of the autobiographical pact, tries to explain the misconceptions behind its reception over the years.