Alfred Henschke, aka Klabund

Alfred Henschke (1890-1928) studied chemistry and pharmacology in Munich. He soon changed his plans, however, and studied philosophy, philology, and theater in Munich, Berlin, and Lausanne. In 1912 he quit his studies and took the pseudonym Klabund, styling himself after Peter Hille as a vagabond poet. A first volume of poetry was published under the title Morgenrot! Klabund! Die Tage dämmern! (Dawn! Klabund! The Days Break!). The name Klabund goes back to a north and northeast German name and was devised by him and others as a combination of Klabautermann (a devious hobgoblin of German folklore) and Vagabund (vagabond).
In WWI he was not drafted into the military due to his tuberculosis, and during the war years he often spent time in Swiss sanatoria. He became an opponent of the war and. In 1917 he published an open letter to Kaiser Wilhelm II in the newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung, calling for the emperor's abdication, and was subsequently charged with treason and lèse-majesté as a result.
In 1925 his play Der Kreidekreis (The Chalk Circle), based on a Chinese story, was first produced in Meissen. The Berlin performances of the play later that year achieved great success; (Bertolt Brecht adapted the play in his Kaukasischer Kreidekreis (The Caucasian Chalk Circle)). In the years that followed, Klabund wrote regularly for cabarets, including Schall und Rauch. Klabund is one of the 'burned poets' whose work was part of author Jürgen Serke's investigation of writers and poets whose work was banned during the Nazi regime.