As the Pasing country house colonies grew more and more into the city and its life, they were excluded from the Würmtal development; Gauting acquired a favoured position in the rapid growth through the influx of locals and non-Bavarians, because here, in addition to the beauty of the forests, something of the hilly landscape of the foothills began. Planegg,

Characterised and highlighted by its castle, followed suit until finally Gräfelfing overtook the other two. After the First World War, it exerted an attraction that was lost to the others, and with pensioners from all parts of Germany, Munich officials and merchants, artists and writers, it developed into the most sought-after and ultimately the largest colony in the Würmtal.

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A spiritual development followed. The once purely Catholic small community was joined by a Protestant community due to the increasing number of immigrants, and the pensioners, who were often high-ranking civil servants, began to make demands for spiritual pleasures so that they would not have to rely solely on Munich and somewhat uncomfortable evening journeys. However, this need was by no means unique to Gräfelfing at first - the first impulses for a literary association came equally from Gauting, Planegg-Krailling and Gräfelfing. Above all, after the First World War there was a need for spiritual deepening and a distraction from the hardships of the time. The first followers of the "Literary Society" came from all four towns, and were later joined by Stockdorf and Lochham. Planegg seemed to be the given centre of this educational community, and so they met on Planegg soil for years. The Gauting members, initially not small in....

... the departure of Mr. v. Glencks from Gräfelfing these musical performances stopped, and the period around 1945 brought a restriction on the activities of the "Literary Aryan Society". The number of members decreased and so did the attendance of the members who were plagued by so many hardships - for a while the small one was enough Room at Cafe Walz in Gräfelfing for the lectures. But soon the lively urge for increased stimulation reappeared; There has been an unexpectedly large upswing in recent years: the “Weißer Rößl” hall had to be occupied again and it often could hardly accommodate the large number of members and guests. A leadership of very special activity always knew how to offer new ideas, organized concerts in private houses for smaller groups, facilitated transport options to the Munich theater performances and founded the music circle in 1949 with the chamber orchestra and the choir under the direction of Rudolf Lamy, Philharmonic -schen Choir Munich. The music circle organized concerts with Elly Ney and Rosl Schmidt. The drama circle, founded at the beginning of 1950, came to the public with a guest performance by the Munich Kammerspiele (“Behind Closed Doors”) and with the very successful performance of Euripides' “Troan Women” under the direction of Ms. Lore Bronner, Munich. It is no exaggeration to say that the “Literary Society” provides its members with compensation for attending Munich events and that Gräfelfing has become a valuable center for cultural endeavors. May what has been so successful in 30 years continue to develop upwards in the future!

Dr. Walter Goetz.