Oskar Loerke

Oskar Loerke (13 March 1884, Jungen – 24 February 1941, Berlin) was a German poet, prose writer, literary critic and essayist.

Loerke paved the way for nature poetry with his formally strict poems characterized by intense imagery, musicality and mythical traits.

[3] From 1910 to 1917, Loerke was a member of the Donnerstags-Gesellschaft ("Thursday Society") in Berlin, a circle for artists and intellects to discuss literature, music and painting.

However, later that year, he had signed the Gelöbnis treuester Gefolgschaft ("pledge of the most loyal followers"), a declaration of allegiance to Hitler, reportedly to protect his Jewish publisher Samuel von Fischer.

[1] Loerke retreated to his house in Frohnau, Berlin, and remained as chief editor of S. Fischer Verlag, which he tried to defend against ever new repressions and censorship measures.

[3] In 1940, few months before his death, Loerke wrote an obituary for his former friend, Silesian poet and National Socialist Hermann Stehr, which was published in the newspaper Das Reich.

Loerke (seated 5th from the right) at the Prussian Academy of Arts, 1929
Grave of Oskar Loerke