Ernst Jünger

Ernst Jünger (29 March 1895 – 17 February 1998) was a highly decorated German soldier and author 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 WW1 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 WW2 he 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 a honoured establishment figure, although critics continued to charge him with the glorification of war as a transcending experience.