author
Fritz von Unruh
1885–1970
A gifted German Expressionist writer, he turned his experience as a Prussian officer into powerful antiwar drama and fiction. His work challenged militarism, opposed Nazism, and kept a strong moral urgency throughout a long literary life.
1 Audiobook
Ein Geschlecht: Tragödie
by Fritz von Unruh
About the author
Born in Koblenz in 1885, Fritz von Unruh was the son of a Prussian general and began his adult life in the army before leaving military service to devote himself to writing. He became known as a dramatist, poet, and novelist, and is widely associated with German Expressionism.
World War I shaped both his outlook and his reputation. His writing increasingly rejected militarism and argued for human dignity, peace, and moral responsibility, making him one of the notable antiwar literary voices of his generation.
He was also an outspoken opponent of the Nazis, left Germany in the early 1930s, later lived in exile in the United States, and returned to Germany in the 1960s. He died in 1970, remembered for passionate, high-energy works that joined literary experimentation with political conscience.