Georg Büchner

Born in 1813 in Goddelau in the Grand Duchy of Hesse, Georg Büchner studied medicine and science while also becoming involved in radical politics. In 1834 he helped write the pamphlet The Hessian Messenger, a fierce attack on social injustice, and soon had to flee into exile.

In an astonishingly short life, he produced works that became central to German literature, including Danton's Death, Leonce and Lena, the novella Lenz, and the unfinished play Woyzeck. His writing combines psychological depth, political anger, and an unusual sympathy for people pushed to the margins.

Büchner died in Zürich in 1837, when he was just 23. Though little was published in his lifetime, his reputation grew enormously afterward, and he is now seen as one of the most original and influential writers of the 19th century.