Kurt Hiller

Who was Kurt Hiller?

Kurt Hiller also known as Keith Lurr and Klirr was a German essayist of high stylistic originality and a political journalist from a Jewish family. A socialist, he was deeply influenced by Immanuel Kant and Arthur Schopenhauer, despising the philosophy of G. W. F. Hegel, which made him quite unpopular with Marxists. Hiller was also an influential writer in the early German gay rights movement in the first two decades of the 20th century. In 1929, Hiller took over as chairman of the Scientific Humanitarian Committee from fellow gay activist Magnus Hirschfeld.

From the end of 1933 to 1934, he spent time in a variety of concentration camps before fleeing to Prague later in 1934, and then to London in 1938. In 1955, he returned to Germany, where he lived and wrote in Hamburg until his death.