Oskar Maria Graf

Born in Berg am Starnberger See in 1894, Oskar Maria Graf grew up in a baker’s family and later became known for writing about Bavarian everyday life with unusual honesty and warmth. Britannica describes him as a regional novelist and poet whose work is marked by frank realism as well as socialist and pacifist convictions, and many of his books draw on his own experiences.

Graf’s life was closely tied to the upheavals of the 20th century. He served during World War I, became involved in radical politics in Munich, and after the Nazi rise to power went into exile. He is especially remembered for publicly denouncing the Nazi book burnings and for insisting that his own books be burned too rather than spared.

After years in exile in Europe, he emigrated to New York, where he lived for the rest of his life and later became an American citizen. He died there in 1967. Today he is remembered as a German-American writer whose autobiographical novels, stories, and sketches preserved a strong sense of Bavarian speech and culture while speaking to much larger questions of freedom, dignity, and belonging.