Ernst Toller was a German Jewish playwright, the son of wealthy parents in the Polish-speaking area of Prussia, and was considered one of the most promising of the German Expressionist dramatic movement. After enlisting in the German army in 1914, the horrors of trench warfare (including a personal spell in hospital) encouraged him to reconsider his political stance. Toller became involved in a general strike in Munich in 1918 before being elected President of the Central Revolutionary Committee of the short-lived Bavarian Soviet Republic of March 1919.

After being deposed by the Freikorps, Toller headed the Red Army which was defeated by reactionary troops. He escaped death but was sentenced to five years in prison, when he wrote his best play, "Die Masse-Mensch". However, Toller's politics made him unpopular with the Right, and his Expressionistic writing and pacifism did not endear to the hard Left.

Demonised by the Nazis, Toller left Germany soon after the ascension of Hitler and moved to London, where his autobiography, "I Was a German", was published. Toller later moved to New York and committed suicide in 1939. Pastor Hall (1940), was the only one of his plays to be filmed.

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Ernst Toller

Writer