Unruh, Fritz von (1885-1970)

German dramatist, poet, and novelist. His play Offiziere/Officers 1910 was heavily critical of the tradition of German militarism and nationalism. The dramatic poem Vor der Entscheidung/Before the Decision 1919 expressed similar antiwar sentiments. Among Unruh's other works are a war novel, Der Opfergang/Way of Sacrifice, written at the front during World War I (at Verdun, France, in 1916), and the dramas Ein Geschlecht/A family 1916 and Bonaparte 1927.

Unruh was a Guards officer in the Prussian army until 1912, when he resigned his commission to concentrate on writing. He left Germany with the rise of Nazism, living in the USA 1941-52.