Ernst Toller

Ernst Toller (1893–1939) was a German writer, playwright, and political activist. Born in Samotschin in the former Prussian province of Posen, he came from a Jewish merchant family. After volunteering for military service in the First World War, he turned toward pacifism and revolutionary socialism. In 1919 he played a leading role in the short-lived Bavarian Soviet Republic and was sentenced to five years in prison after its defeat. During his imprisonment he wrote major Expressionist dramas including “Man and the Masses,” “The Machine Wreckers,” and “Hinkemann.” Other notable works include “Hoppla, We’re Alive!” and the autobiographical book “I Was a German.” After the Nazis came to power, Toller went into exile and later lived in the United States. He died by suicide in New York in 1939.