Wilhelm Schäfer

Born in Ottrau in 1868 and later raised in the Rhineland, Wilhelm Schäfer came from a modest background and first trained as a schoolteacher. He worked as a teacher in Vohwinkel and Elberfeld before turning more fully toward literature, and an early publishing contract gave him the chance to travel and build a broader literary life.

Schäfer wrote mainly short stories and anecdotes, often in a style linked to earlier German authors such as Kleist and Hebel. He also worked as an editor, notably for the cultural magazine Die Rheinlande, and moved in artistic circles that included friendships with writers such as Hermann Hesse.

He became especially prominent after the 1922 publication of Dreizehn Bücher der deutschen Seele, a book associated with völkisch-nationalist ideas and later popularity in the Weimar and Nazi periods. He died in Überlingen in 1952, leaving behind a body of work that is remembered both for its storytelling craft and for the ideological currents tied to parts of his writing.