Hermann Hesse (1877-1962) became a committed and outspoken pacifist during World War I. As a result, he was harshly criticized in the conservative and right-wing press. His books, which focused on spirituality and self-fulfillment rather than politics, met with general critical acclaim and remain popular to this day. This photograph by Swiss portrait photographer Gret Widmann shows Hesse at age fifty-two. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1946.