Ernst Jünger
| Ernst Jünger | |
|---|---|
A centenarian Ernst Jünger, wearing both the Pour le Mérite and the Bavarian Maximilian Order.
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| Born |
29 March 1895 Heidelberg, Germany |
| Died | 17 February 1998 (aged 102) Riedlingen, Germany |
| Nationality | German |
| Genre | Diaries, novels |
| Subject | War |
| Notable works |
In Stahlgewittern Auf den Marmorklippen |
| Notable awards | Iron Cross I. Class (1916) Pour le Mérite (1918) Grand Merit Cross (1959) Schiller Memorial Prize (1974) Goethe Prize (1982) Maximilian Order (1986) |
| Spouse | m. 1925 Gretha von Jeinsen (1906–60) m. 1962 Liselotte Lohrer (1917–2000) |
| Military career | |
| Allegiance |
 German Empire (1915–1918) Weimar Republic (1919–1923) Nazi Germany (1939–1944) |
| Service/branch |
Prussian Army Reichsheer German Army |
| Years of service | 1915–1923, 1939–1944 |
| Battles/wars |
World War I World War II |
Ernst Jünger (29 March 1895 – 17 February 1998) was a highly decorated German soldier, author, and entomologist who became famous for his World War I memoir Storm of Steel. The son of a successful businessman and chemist, Jünger rebelled against an affluent upbringing and sought adventure in the Wandervogel, before running away to briefly serve in the French Foreign Legion, an illegal act. Because he escaped prosecution in Germany due to his father's efforts, Jünger was able to enlist on the outbreak of war. During an ill-fated German offensive in 1918 Jünger's World War I career ended with the last and most serious of his many woundings, and he was awarded the Pour le Mérite, a rare decoration for one of his rank.
In the aftermath of World War II Jünger was treated with some suspicion as a possible fellow traveler of the Nazis. By the latter stages of the Cold War his unorthodox writings about the impact of materialism in modern society were widely seen as conservative rather than radical nationalist, and his philosophical works came to be highly regarded in mainstream German circles. Jünger ended his extremely long life as an honoured establishment figure, although critics continued to charge him with the glorification of war as a transcending experience.
Ernst Jünger was born in Heidelberg as the eldest of six children of the chemical engineer Ernst Georg Jünger (1868–1943) and of Karoline Lampl (1873–1950). Two of his siblings died as infants. His father acquired some wealth in potash mining. He went to school in Hannover from 1901 to 1905, and during 1905 to 1907 to boarding schools in Hannover and Braunschweig. He rejoined his family in 1907, in Rehburg, and went to school in Wunstorf with his siblings during 1907 to 1912. During this time he developed his passion for adventure novels and for entomology. He spent some time as an exchange student in Buironfosse, Saint-Quentin in September 1909. With his younger brother Friedrich Georg Jünger (1898–1977) he joined the Wandervogel movement in 1911. His first poem was published with the Gaublatt für Hannoverland in November 1911. By this time, Jünger had the reputation of a budding poet bohemian.
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