author
Heinrich Lilienfein
1879–1952
A prolific German playwright and novelist, he built his reputation on historical dramas and remained a visible literary figure in Weimar for decades. His career also tied him closely to the German Schiller Foundation, where he served in a leading role from 1920 until his death.
1 Audiobook
Die große Stille: Roman
by Heinrich Lilienfein
About the author
Born in Stuttgart on November 20, 1879, Heinrich Lilienfein studied history, philosophy, and art history in Tübingen and Heidelberg, earning a doctorate in 1902. He began writing early, and by the first years of the twentieth century he was already finding an audience as a dramatist.
Lilienfein became known above all for numerous plays, many of them built around historical subjects, along with novels and shorter prose. Reference works describe his writing as shaped by a conservative outlook, with influences from German idealism and the classical tradition associated with Weimar.
In 1920 he moved to Weimar and became general secretary of the German Schiller Foundation, a post he held until 1952. He died in Weimar on December 20, 1952, leaving behind a body of work that reflects both literary ambition and the cultural world of early twentieth-century Germany.