Der Wehrwolf (The Wehrwolf), published in 1910 by Hermann Löns, is a historical German novel set during the Thirty Years’ War. It chronicles the story of a community of Lower Saxon peasants who, devastated by the marauding armies of all sides, organize themselves into a ruthless band of avengers to protect what remains of their world. Written in German, the novel combines pastoral landscape description with violent historical realism.
Löns was a beloved nature writer and regional author, and Der Wehrwolf became one of the most widely read German novels of the early twentieth century. Download this free public-domain EPUB for a powerful and morally complex historical chronicle.