The letters to Friedrich Wilhelm Oelze were, for Gottfried Benn, especially after the publication ban during National Socialism and in the early post-war years, the central forum for poetic, political, and personal reflections. These letters are not only highly revealing documents of Benn's work but also of the historical context, reflecting nearly 25 years of friendship. Benn's ability to remain artistically productive during the 'endless depression' and 'petrification' of the Third Reich is largely due to his friendship with the cosmopolitan and well-traveled Bremen merchant Oelze. Benn consistently included new poems with the letters and wrote about various 'germs and seedlings' of his texts. Harald Steinhagen and Jürgen Schröder first published the letters from Benn to Oelze nearly 40 years ago. Now, this most significant individual correspondence is being released.