Franz Adam Beyerlein

Born in Meißen on March 22, 1871, Franz Adam Beyerlein studied in Freiburg and Leipzig before building his literary career in Leipzig. He trained in law and related fields, but became known above all as a novelist and dramatist.

Before the First World War, he attracted attention with prose and plays that criticized the officer class and the culture of militarism in Germany. Among his best-known works are Jena oder Sedan? and the drama Der Zapfenstreich, which helped make him a widely read and discussed author of his time.

Beyerlein died in Leipzig on February 27, 1949. Although he is less widely remembered today than some of his contemporaries, his writing still stands out for its direct social criticism and for the way it captured the anxieties of Germany in the years before the war.