During his lifetime, only one poem of his was published: Nachmittag an der Bzura appeared in 1915 in the patriotic magazine Wieland, without his knowledge or consent.

The only son born of journalist, writer and social democratic women's rights activist Lily Braun and the social democratic politician and publicist Heinrich Braun, Otto was considered a "child prodigy" and admired the poet Stefan George.

[7] In Gustav Wyneken's estate in the Archive of the German Youth Movement, a copy of Otto Braun's posthumous lyrical works and diaries published in 1919 were later found.

In it, Wyneken had commented in handwriting: "It is significant that so much fuss is being made about this book, as it is ideally suited as an example of mediocrity... Open any page!

It is mainly a feeling, of course, but there is also a rational reason: W. [Wyneken] gave a speech on the Wickersdorf world view at the foundation festival the day before yesterday.

Therefore, Dr. Joseph Petzoldt, head teacher at the Königliches Gymnasium zu Spandau and private lecturer at the Technische Hochschule Charlottenburg, author of Sonderschulen für hervorragend Befähigte,[13] applied to the Ministry of Spiritual, Educational and Medical Affairs on December 8, 1909, at the to be partially released from teaching duties and entrusted with the private instruction of the then twelve-year-old pupil.

[15] Lily Braun exchanged ideas with Käthe Kollwitz about her own and her two sons Hans and Peter [de].

Borchardt subsequently became Braun's mentor, to whom he also submitted his early literary works for review and assessment.

Braun unilaterally fell in love with the Berlin dancer and actress Katta Sterna, a niece of Käthe Kollwitz, but Borchardt finally managed to dissuade Braun from this unpromising love affair during a heated conversation,[21] because she was in a relationship with Ernst Matray [de].

From November 13 to December 12, 1917, Otto Braun was accommodated in the military hospital in Schloss Neubeuern through the mediation of Lieutenant Colonel Herwarth von Bittenfeld, where he signed the guest book, which has been preserved.

[2] When he then met Karin (1898–1920) at the castle, the daughter of the art historian and entrepreneur Eberhard von Bodenhausen, who was considered mentally unstable in her own family, he was impressed by her and fell in love.

Her father was the brother-in-law of the lady of the castle, Julie Freifrau von Wendelstadt (1871–1942), née Countess Degenfeld-Schonburg.

[24] At the end of 1917, after a renewed declaration of his fitness for military service, which is hardly comprehensible from today's medical perspective given the severity of his injuries,[17] he was deployed to the Western Front from February 1918,[20] where, as a 20-year-old Leutnant and Ordonnanzoffizier together with five comrades from his 1st Reserve-Jäger-Battalion.

Otto Braun was buried in the German military cemetery near Bayonvillers in the Somme department, but was later reburied.

The fresh naturalness and youthful cheerfulness of his disposition led one to expect the emergence of an intellectually highly developed and harmonious personality.

Horrible, horrible..."[28] Under the title Aus nachgelassenen Schriften eines Frühvollendeten, the later fourth wife of his father, Julie Braun-Vogelstein, published Otto Braun's diary notes, letters, poems and scenes from a play after the end of the war, which were also published in English in London and New York City.