Anton Schnack Anton Schnack ( 21 July 1892 – 26 September 1973 ) was a German writer . He joined the German Army when World War I began . He is one of the leading German war poet s of the First World War , and has been compared with English poet Wilfred Owen . After the war he became an editor for numerous publications . He was one of the 88 writers who pledged their allegiance to Adolf Hitler in October 1933 in a Vow of Most Faithful Allegiance ( Gelöbnis treuester Gefolgschaft ) . Early life . Schnack was born in Rieneck , Lower Franconia , Bavaria . He was the third child of a station commander of the German gendarmerie . His older brother Friedrich Schnack ( 1888 – 1977 ) also became a writer , known for his works on natural history and children ' s literature . Schack followed his father ' s official postings around Bavaria , to Dettelbach , Kronach and Hammelburg . He attended the Progymnasium in Hammelburg ( predecessor of the Frobenius - Gymnasium Hammelburg ) . He became a journalist , and worked in Halberstadt and Bolzano . First World War poetry . Schnack served in the German Army in the First World War . He was wounded in 1916 . He began to publish poetry in " Die Aktion " in 1915 , but only published poetry on war subjects from 1917 . His first war poem was " Schwester Maria " ( " Sister Maria " ) , published in " Die Aktion " in January 1917 . He continued to publish war poems in three collections that he published in 1919 , " Strophen der Gier " ( " Verses of greed " ) , " Der Abenteurer " ( " The adventurer " ) and " Die tausend Gelächter " ( " The thousand laughs " ) . His published his most significant collection of war poetry , " Tier rang gewaltig mit Tier " ( " Beast strove mightily with beast " ) in 1920 , in a limited edition of 1 , 000 copies . This short work of around 80 pages contains 60 poems based on the sonnet form , on themes of night and death . In his 1985 book in German war poetry , Patrick Bridgwater , Emeritus Professor of German at the University of Durham , described Schnack ' s book as " the best single collection produced by a German war poet in 1914 - 1918 " , and one work , " Nächtliche Landschaft " , as the " best poem of the war written in German " . His poem " Verdun " was published in 1919 in the first edition of the socialist journal " Das Tribunal " . He also wrote a remarkable poem about desertion , entitled " Der Überlaufer " ( " The deserter " ) . Later life . After the end of the First World War , he became an editor in Darmstadt . From 1920 to 1925 , he was a literary editor and theatre critic for the " Neuen Badischen Landes - Zeitung " in Mannheim . He married Maria Glöckler on 24 October 1924 . He travelled in France , Italy and Dalmatia before returning to Mannheim and then settled in Berchtesgaden . He was one of the 88 writers who pledged their allegiance to Adolf Hitler in October 1933 in a Vow of Most Faithful Allegiance ( " Gelöbnis treuester Gefolgschaft " ) . He published lighter popular works in the 1930s and 1940s , including his 1935 work " Kleines Lesebuch " . In addition to his poetry , he also wrote some short plays , a few novellas and two novels , " Zugvögel der Liebe " ( 1936 ) and " Der finstere Franz " ( 1937 ) . His later works have less literary merit , and are overshadowed by his support for the Nazis . He moved to Frankfurt am Main in 1937 , and joined the Wehrmacht ( German Army ) in 1944 . He was captured by US forces . After the Second World War , he settled to Kahl am Main , where he later died in 1973 .