This biography of Ernst von Salomon (1902-1972) traces the life path of one of the most controversial writers of the 20th century. Salomon embodies like few others the Wilhelmine youth, which experienced a world in upheaval after 1918. The social disintegration of the Prussian cadet student intensified after his experiences in the Freikorps into a bitter enmity against the Weimar Republic. Even after serving prison sentences for the murder of Walther Rathenau, the anti-liberal mindset remained a guiding compass for Ernst von Salomon. Salomon's psychogram provides insights into the isolated world of the militant conspirators of the 1920s and the social mechanisms necessary to maintain paramilitary warrior groups. Terror and violence were as much hallmarks of this as the longing for a life of purpose.