Toller, Ernst (1893-1939)

Toller, Ernst (1893-1939)

German playwright and poet, of Jewish parentage, known for his revolutionary sympathies. His plays, many of which make use of the techniques of Expressionism, marked by fervent humanitarianism and indignation at injustice, deal with the miseries of working people in an industrial civilization, the horror and brutality of war, and the eventual political revolt of the oppressed classes.

Toller's dramatic works include Die Wandlung ( 1919); Man and the Masses (Masse-Mensch; 1921), his best-known play; The Machine Wreckers (Maschinenstürmer; 1922); Der entfesselte Wotan ( 1923); Hinkemann ( 1924); Hoppla, wir leben! ( 1927), written in a panoramic technique compared to that of John Dos Passos; Feuer aus Kesseln ( 1930); Nie wieder Friede! (No More Peace!; 1937); Pastor Hall ( 1939). Other works are Gedichte der Gefangenen ( 1923); Vormorgen ( 1924), and Das Schwalbenbuch (The Swallow-Book; 1924), books of poetry; Quer durck ( 1930), translated as Which World--Which Way?, an account of travel in Russia and America; Look through the Bars ( 1937), a collection of letters from prison.

Toller fought in the German army during the early years of World War I but later helped to organize labor strikes in Germany as a means of stopping the war. He was elected president of the Bavarian Soviet Republic, set up as a result of revolution, but he was imprisoned for five years when the revolution was suppressed; his best-known works were written during his term in prison. When the National Socialist government came to power in Germany in 1933, Toller's books were burned and he was deprived of citizenship. He came to the U.S. as a refugee and was active in the anti-Fascist movements of the 1930's. In despair, he committed suicide in New York.