author
Walter Hasenclever
1890–1940
A leading voice of German Expressionism, this poet and playwright wrote with urgency about rebellion, war, and the pressures of modern life. His career was cut short by exile under the Nazis, giving his work an added sense of historical weight.
2 Audiobooks
Das unendliche Gespräch: Eine nächtliche Szene
by Walter Hasenclever
Der Sohn: Ein Drama in fünf Akten
by Walter Hasenclever
About the author
Born in Aachen on July 8, 1890, Walter Hasenclever became one of the notable writers of early German Expressionism. He studied in Oxford, Lausanne, and Leipzig before turning fully to literature, and he first drew attention with poetry before making his name in drama.
His plays often pushed back against bourgeois values, authority, and war. Works such as Der Sohn and Die Menschen helped define the Expressionist stage in Germany, using intense language and bold theatrical effects to capture spiritual crisis and social unrest. Later in his career, he also wrote comedies, showing a wider range than his early reputation alone suggests.
Because he was Jewish and openly associated with work the Nazi regime rejected, his writing was banned after 1933 and he went into exile in France. After France fell in 1940, he was interned, and he died near Aix-en-Provence on June 22, 1940. His life and work remain closely linked as a record of artistic experiment and moral resistance in a dark period of European history.