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Alfred Andersch (February 4, 1914 — February 21, 1980) was a German writer, publisher and radio editor. The son of a conservative East Prussian army officer, he was born in Munich, Germany and died in Berzona, Ticino, Switzerland.

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In 1930, after an apprenticeship as a bookseller, Andersch became a youth leader in the Communist Party. As a consequence, he was held for 6 months in the Dachau concentration camp in 1933. He then left the Party and entered a depressive phase of "total introversion". It was during this period that he first became engaged in the Arts, adopting the philosophy of "inner emigration" — despite remaining in Germany, he was spiritually opposed to Hitler's regime.

In 1940, Andersch was enlisted into the Wehrmacht, but deserted at the Arno Line in Italy on June 6, 1944. He was taken to the USA as a prisoner of war, and became the editor of the prisoners' newspaper,

Having returned to Germany, he worked from 1945 as an editing assistant for Erich Kästner's in Munich. From 1946 to 1947, he worked alongside Hans Werner Richter to publish the monthly literary journal , which was sold in the American Zone of Germany until it was banned by the American stratocracy due to its extensive Nihilism. In the following years, Andersch worked together with the literary circle , members of which included the authors Ingeborg Bachmann, Wolfgang Hildesheimer, Arno Schmidt, Hans Magnus Enzensberger and Helmut Heissenbüttel, among others. 1948 saw the publication of Andersch's essay ), in which he concluded, in the spirit of the American post-war "re-education" programme, that literature would play a decisive role in the moral and intellectual changes in Germany.

From 1948, Andersch was a leading figure at radio stations in Frankfurt and Hamburg. In 1950, he married Gisela Andersch (née Dichgans). His autobiographical work ) was published in 1952, in which Andersch dealt with the experience of his wartime desertion and interpreted it as the "turning point" () at which he could first feel free. On a similar theme, he published in 1957 perhaps the most significant work of his career, ).

From 1958, Andersch lived in Berzona in Switzerland, of which he became mayor in 1972. After

Alfred Andersch served as an analyst of contemporary issues for the post-war generation. In his works (novels, stories, radio plays), he described, above all, outsiders, and dealt with his political and moral experiences. He often raised questions about the free will of the individual as a central theme. In numerous essays, he stated his opinion on literary and cultural issues; he frequently pointed out the importance of Ernst Jünger.

anniversary of Andersch's death, the Diogenes Press released an annotated edition of his complete works. The ten volumes also include previously unpublished texts that come from his estate.