Junger, Ernst

▪ 1999

      German novelist and essayist (b. March 29, 1895, Heidelberg, Ger.—d. Feb. 17, 1998, Wilflingen, Ger.), wrote works early in his career that were marked by a pervading interest in the depersonalization of man and the glorification of war, but in midcareer he became equally impassioned about peace, European federation, and individual dignity. Jünger, who studied philosophy and natural sciences at the Universities of Leipzig and Naples, served in both World War I and II. Wounded several times in combat, he was granted Germany's top military honour for his exemplary service in World War I. Jünger abandoned his militaristic attitude, evident in such works as In Stahlgewittern (1920; The Storm of Steel, 1929), after his son was forced to join a suicide mission in the mid-1940s. Der Friede (written 1943, pub. 1948) illustrated his conversion to pacifism. Though lauded throughout his literary career, Jünger was continually tormented by accusations that he was a Nazi sympathizer. In Auf den Marmorklippen (1939; On the Marble Cliffs, 1947), a loosely disguised allegory of Germany under Nazi control, Jünger foretold the horrors of such a regime. Although he ended the novel with "So I swear to myself in the future to fall alone in freedom rather than to accompany the servants on the path to triumph," Jünger later fought in the armed forces of the Third Reich. His youthful nationalism, expressed both in his early writings and in his military service, had attracted the attention of the Nazi Party, which offered him a seat in the Reichstag and membership in the nazified German Academy. Though he rejected both offers and was later associated with a group that plotted to kill Adolf Hitler, Jünger's relationship with the Nazi Party was never clarified and remained controversial.

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▪ German writer

born March 29, 1895, Heidelberg, Ger.

died Feb. 16, 1998, Wilflingen

      German novelist and essayist, an ardent militarist who was one of the most complex and contradictory figures in 20th-century German literature.

      Jünger joined the French Foreign Legion in 1913, but his father had him brought back to Germany. In 1914 he volunteered for the German Army at the outbreak of World War I and served as an officer on the Western Front throughout the conflict. As a soldier Jünger was conspicuous for his bravery: he was wounded at least seven times, and in 1918 he was awarded the Pour le Mérite medal, Germany's highest military decoration. After the war he published In Stahlgewittern (1920; The Storm of Steel), a novel in the form of a diary; it contains vivid recollections of his life in the trenches and his experiences in combat as a company commander. In a dispassionate, matter-of-fact voice, Jünger describes the heroism and suffering displayed by himself and his fellow soldiers in the brutal fighting on the Western Front. The Storm of Steel was a success with critics and public alike in Germany and other countries. Two years later he published Der Kampf als inneres Erlebnis (“Combat as an Internal Experience”).

      After being discharged from the army in 1923, Jünger studied zoology and botany at the Universities of Leipzig and Naples. He published further recollections and reflections on his war experiences in Das Wäldchen (1925; “The Grove”) and Feuer und Blut (1925; “Fire and Blood”). Despite his militarism, his preference for authoritarian government, and his radical nationalist ideals, Jünger resisted Adolf Hitler (Hitler, Adolf)'s offers of friendship in the late 1920s and declined to join the Nazi movement even after it came to power in Germany in 1933. Indeed, during Hitler's chancellorship, he wrote a daring allegory on the barbarian devastation of a peaceful land in the novel Auf den Marmorklippen (1939; On the Marble Cliffs), which, surprisingly, passed the censors and was published in Germany. Jünger served as an army staff officer in Paris during World War II, but by 1943 he had turned decisively against Nazi totalitarianism and its goal of world conquest, a change manifested in Der Friede (written 1943, pub. 1948; “The Peace”). Jünger was dismissed from the army in 1944 after he was indirectly implicated with fellow officers who had plotted to kill Hitler. A few months later, his son died in combat in Italy after having been sentenced to a penal battalion for political reasons.

      Jünger's postwar novels include Heliopolis (1949) and Gläserne Bienen (1957; The Glass Bees), a disturbing story of a jobless former soldier in an overmechanized world symbolized by artificial bees and marionettes. After 1950 Jünger lived in self-imposed isolation in West Germany while continuing to publish brooding, introspective novels and essays on various topics. In such later books as Aladins Problem (1983), he tended to condemn the militaristic attitudes that had led to Germany's disastrous participation in the World Wars. Jünger's Sämtliche Werke (“Complete Works”) were published in 18 volumes from 1978 to 1983.

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