Toller, Ernst (1893–1939)

German dramatist and poet. His expressionist drama has communist and pacifist overtones. In his play Masse-Mensch/Mass and Man 1921, a messianic central figure urges humanity to renew itself through revolution. His other plays include Die Maschinenstürmer/The Machine Wreckers 1922, Hinkemann 1924, and Hoppla, wir leben!/Such Is Life! 1927.

Toller served on the western front during World War I. Invalided out of the army, he engaged in revolutionary politics. With the foundation of a Bavarian soviet republic in Munich in 1919, he was appointed president of its central committee; after its violent suppression, he was imprisoned for five years. After Hitler's rise to power, Toller emigrated to the USA, where he committed suicide in 1939. His experiences are recorded in the autobiography Eine Jugend in Deutschland/I Was a German 1933.