Das Brot der frühen Jahre

Brot der frühen Jahre, Das, a story by H. Böll, published in 1955. The maintenance electrician Walter Fendrich tells the story of his love for Hedwig Muller. It matures on a Monday in the spring of 1955 which, from morning till night, marks the time of action. His love effects a complete change of outlook in Fendrich's attitude to life, which has been shaped by the years of deprivation during his childhood. The lack of ‘the bread of the early years’ during the war and the immediate post-war period has left him with an anxiety complex over his material existence, which the relative prosperity and security of his more recent existence as an employee of a flourishing washing-machine company has not removed. This side of his life is reflected in his friendship with Ulla, the daughter of his employer, whom he abandons for the affection and stability that Hedwig inspires in him. (Film version by H. Vesely, 1962.)