Löns, Hermann

(August 29, 1866, Culm – September 26, 1914, Loivre near Reims [killed in action]), German writer and journalist. Löns’s importance to the literary and cultural history of the First World War lies mostly in the many attempts by others, after his death, to use and appropriate his work published before the war. While it is known that Löns enlisted as a volunteer as early as August 24, 1914, interpretations of the motives behind his action range from: patriotic enthusiasm for the war; c…