Friedrich Lienhard

Born on October 4, 1865, in Rothbach in Alsace, he was the oldest son of a village schoolteacher. After attending grammar schools in Buchsweiler and Schillersdorf, he began studying Protestant theology in Strasbourg, then left those studies and later abandoned literature and history studies in Berlin to devote himself to writing.

His early years as a freelance author were difficult, and he supported himself at times as a tutor and editor while traveling widely through Europe. In 1908 he withdrew to the Thuringian Forest, and in 1915 he married a childhood friend in Strasbourg on his 50th birthday.

He wrote across several genres, including poetry, drama, fiction, and cultural essays. Among the works associated with him are Lieder eines Elsässers, Wasgaufahrten, Till Eulenspiegel, Münchhausen, and the Wartburg trilogy; from 1920 to 1928 he also served as editor of the national-conservative cultural journal Der Türmer. He died in Weimar on April 30, 1929.