Portrait of Ludwig Thoma

Birthday profile

Ludwig Thoma

German author, publisher and editor (1867–1921)

Born
January 21, 1867
Died
August 26, 1921
Zodiac sign
Aquarius
Birth year
1867

About Ludwig Thoma

Ludwig Thoma (German: [ˈluːt.vɪç ˈtoː.ma]; 21 January 1867 in Oberammergau – 26 August 1921 in Tegernsee) was a German author, publisher and editor, who gained popularity through his partially exaggerated description of everyday Bavarian life. After graduation from the Imperial Latin School in Landstuhl (today: Sickingen- Gymnasium Landstuhl), he first studied Forestry in Aschaffenburg, then Law until 1893 at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München and the University of Erlangen–Nuremberg. Subsequently, he settled down as a lawyer, at first in Dachau, later in Munich. After 1899, he worked for the magazine Simplicissimus and published humorous narrations, comedies, novels and stories. Thoma satirized Bavarian rural and small-town life. His serious peasant novels Andreas Vöst (1905), Der Wittiber (1911), and Der Ruepp (1922), as well as his humorous collections Assessor Karlchen (1900), Lausbubengeschichten (Tales of a Rascal, 1904), and Tante Frieda (Aunt Frieda, 1906), are characterized by authenticity of regional language and life. Thoma's dramas, including Die Medaille (The Medal, 1901), Das Säuglingsheim (The Orphanage, 1913), and especially Moral (1908), reflect elements of folk theatre. In 1907, he married 25-year-old Marietta di Rigardo, who was born in the Philippines. The marriage, however, did not last; Marietta was soon bored and by 1911 Thoma and Marietta were divorced. In the later years of his life, he wrote nationalistic propaganda agitating against left-wing politicians (e.g. for the newspaper Miesbacher Anzeiger). During World War I, he served as a medical orderly. In July 1917, he joined the German Fatherland Party. His best-known works are Der Münchner im Himmel (The Munich Man in Heaven), which was adapted into an animated short film released in 1962, the Lausbubengeschichten (Tales of a Rascal) and Jozef Filsers Briefwexel (Jozef Filser's Letters). Lausbubengeschichten was made into a movie in 1964, also released in English under the title Tales of a Young Scamp.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Career and life highlights

Ludwig Thoma timeline

  1. Born: January 21, 1867
  2. Died: August 26, 1921

The world when Ludwig Thoma was born

Ludwig Thoma was born in 1867. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Headlines and milestones

  • Top headlineUS purchases Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million
  • Technology milestoneDynamite patented by Alfred Nobel
  • Notable inventionDynamite
  • World population~1.47B

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderAndrew Johnson
  • U.S. population34.5M

1867 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Ludwig Thoma's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure18672026
Population34.5M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

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