Ernst Toller

Ernst Toller (born 1893 December 1 in Samotschin, Germany (now Szamocin, Poland) was a playwright, poet, pacifist, Expressionist, anarchist, Munich “Soviet” leader. His 1920 play Masse‐Mensch (Man and the Masses, 1920) brings widespread fame.

A German Expressionist involved with other writers in forming an insurrectionary Bavarian “government” when the workers revolt. Anarchists are principal actors: Ehrich Mühsam, Gustav Landauer, Ernst Toller, Ret Marut (B. Traven), and others, fought for the development of Workersʼ Councils and self‐managed co-operatives.

Despite success as playwright and poet, Ernst Toller hangs himself in his Manhattan hotel room, convinced his plays are passé.

External link

• http://www.cwru.edu/artsci/modlang/german380/toller.html