In November 1918, after more than four years of war with millions of casualties, the Habsburg monarchy collapsed. Representatively for the downfall of the empire, the poet Otfried Krzyzanowski (born 1886 in Starnberg, Bavaria) died around the same time. He was not a front-line soldier in the trenches; he lost his life in the hinterland, in Vienna, due to a combination of destitution, illness, and hunger. His literary work is minimal and has almost entirely been forgotten. His persona remains remembered both by contemporaries (Franz Blei, Anton Kuh, Alfred Polgar, and Franz Werfel) and in the second half of the 20th century as a protagonist in obituaries, essays, and various publications: he was anecdoted as a "coffeehouse writer," "bohemian," and "hunger poet." Krzyzanowski's appearance, his unusual language, facial expressions, gestures, and character are often stereotypically depicted.