 This was on display in the "Hausmann debate" in April 1947 at which Günther Weisenborn argued for a more nuanced position, whereby there should indeed be a very harsh approach to former Nazi activist criminals, but otherwise "display generosity".For Weisenborn this meant that despite recent reproaches to Thomas Mann, the author should nevertheless be invited to the 1947 writers' congress; Birkenfeld rejected this.The first German Writers' Congress took place between 4 and 8 October 1947 in the eastern sector of Berlin, and was addressed by Birkenfeld on the theme of "Collaboration of Writers' Organisations" ("Zusammenarbeit der Schriftstellerorganisationen").