The German linguistic literature after the year 1945 had to undergo a transformation and reparadigmatisation. The subject was the so-called Kahlschlagliteratur. Such authors as Heinrich Böll or Wolfgang Borchert preferred the short story form, which was the most suitable one for converting the fears of the Second World War. In Borchert’s three short stories: 1) Eisenbahnen, nachmittags und nachts, 2) Bleib doch, Giraffe, 3) Die Stadt, the dominant topic are the consequences of the Nazi era. Borchert uses in them the motive of the locomotive / train, which on the one hand can be read as the loneliness and post-war homelessness. On the other hand however, the locomotive can also stand for the homecoming and all coming back home people’s hope for the restoration of their pre-war life.
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