Kasimir Edschmid

Born Eduard Hermann Wilhelm Schmid in Darmstadt in 1890, Kasimir Edschmid became one of the notable literary figures associated with German Expressionism. He studied Romance languages in cities including Munich, Paris, Giessen, and Strasbourg, and in his early years built a reputation through poems, stories, essays, and manifestos.

Edschmid was also active in the wider artistic world. He helped found the Darmstädter Sezession in 1919, linking his name not just to literature but to the broader modernist culture of the time. His writing later moved beyond early Expressionism, developing through more realistic and visionary phases while keeping a strong interest in society, history, and travel.

His life was marked by the political upheavals of the 20th century: one of his books was among those burned by the Nazis in 1933. After the war, he remained an established presence in German literary life, and he died in Vulpera, Switzerland, in 1966.