Jochen Klepper (1903–1942)

Jochen Klepper was born in Beuthen, Silesia (present-day Poland) to the family of an evangelical Lutheran pastor. His father tutored him at home until he was 14 because he severed from severe asthma and headaches. Jochen then attended gymnasium (high school) in Glogau. In 1922, he began studying Protestant theology at the University of Erlangen, before transferring to the University of Breslau a year later. He completed his undergraduate degree and began doctoral studies, but in 1926 he decided against a career as a minister and dropped out. Instead, he became a journalist, writing for newspapers and magazines, and also worked for a church publisher. He joined the Social Democratic Party, in whose newspaper Vorwarts he published a number of articles, essays, and reports from 1928 to 1932. In 1931, he married Johanna Stein, who was Jewish, 13 years his senior, and had two daughters. The family moved to Berlin. His debut novel, Der Kahn der fröhlichen Leute (The Boat of Cheerful People), would be published in 1933. Around this time, Klepper started a job writing for a radio station in Berlin. When the Nazi regime took power in early 1933, however, he was dismissed from his position.
He published his second novel, Der Vater (The Father) in 1937, and it became a bestseller. However, he was expelled from the Nazi writers' organization, which brought with it unemployment. Klepper considered fleeing abroad, but could not bring himself to do so. With a special permit, he was able to publish the volume of poetry Kyrie in 1938.

Shortly before the outbreak of World War II, his older stepdaughter Brigitte was able to emigrate to England. In December 1940, Klepper was drafted by the German Army. He served in a supply unit in Poland, the Balkans, and the Soviet Union before being discharged in 1941 because of his so-called non-Aryan marriage.

In late 1942, his younger stepdaughter Renate's efforts to emigrate abroad had failed and she was about to be deported by the Nazis. Klepper, Johanna, and Renate committed suicide together on the night of December 10/11, 1942, using sleeping pills and gas. That night, Klepper gave a neighbor his manuscripts for safekeeping, including the diary he had kept from 1932 to 1942. The diary was published by his sister Hildegard in abridged form in 1957 with the title Unter dem Schatten deiner Flügel (Under the Shadow of Your Wings).