UW German Theatertruppe Presents...

Goerg Büchner was born in Goddelau on October 17, 1813. From a young age he demonstrated a propensity for literary talent, and in 1828 (at the age of 15) he joined an organization of individuals interested in Shakespeare. By the age of 18, he had begun studying medicine in Strasbourg, where he became interested in French literature and politics. At the time, the ideas of the French Revolution were becoming popular.

 

In 1831 he moved to Giessen to continue his studies. While there, he founded a new branch of a secret society devoted to the cause of the revolution. Known as "Gesellschaft der Menschenrechten", the society included members who had previously been in the Shakespeare society Büchner had joined. During this time, he wrote a letter to his parents expressing that a violent uprising was necessary to correct injustices imposed by the existing rulers. In 1834 he published a revolutionary pamphlet criticizing social injustice in the Hessian empire, called der Hessische Landbote. Another of the secret society, who had worked with him on writing and distributing the pamphlet, was subsequently arrested for treason and ultimately died in prison. 

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Büchner fled to Straßburg in 1835 to avoid arrest. During the following year, Büchner completed his manuscript for Dantons Tod and published a study describing the nervous system of fish. A few months later, in 1836, he completed Leonce und Lena. He had intended to submit the play for a competition, but he missed the deadline and the play was never published. He then moved to Zurich to write Woyzeck.

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In 1837 Büchner suddenly fell ill with Typhus, and on February 2nd of the same year, he died. His funeral procession was attended by over a hundred people, including the mayor of Zurich. He was buried at a church nearby, but when its graveyard was leveled in 1875, his remains were moved to their current location, a solitary burial site on "Germania hill".