Ludwig Benjamin Derleth (3 November 1870 – 13 January 1948) was a German writer and poet, best known for his highly-stylized and anti-humanistic writings on spirituality and Christianity.

[10] It is believed that fellow author Thomas Mann's interactions with Derleth during this period inspired his 1904 short story "Beim Propheten" ("At the Prophet's"),[11] as well as characters in his novella Gladius Dei (1902) and Doktor Faustus (1947).

Proklamationen caused detractors and critics to occasionally label his work as "proto-Nazi" or fascistic, though he would distance himself from Nazism, living in Switzerland during the Third Reich.

[12][13][11] In Derleth's later poetry, he would meditate on themes of apocalyptic war, referring to Hitler as a "blindly raging destroyer of history's rule of peace / who attempted to fill the abyss with innumerable corpses" in Das Sybillinische Buch ("The Sibylline Book", written 1935-1940).

Seraphinische Hochzeit takes the form of parables about a monk named Bruder Immerwach (literally, "Brother Ever-wake") who experiences mystical visions; the work combines prose and rhyming poetry.

Der Tod des Thanatos, completed towards the end of Derleth's life, is largely a meditation on sin, war, and violence incorporating Biblical themes.