Werner Bergengruen served as a lieutenant during World War I and joined the Baltische Landeswehr in 1919 to fight against the Bolsheviks. On 4 October 1919, he married Charlotte Hensel, a descendant of the composer Fanny Mendelssohn, and daughter of mathematician Kurt Hensel. From the marriage there were four children, Olaf, Luise, Maria and Alexander. Bergengruen started writing novels and short stories in 1923 and decided to become a full-time writer in 1927. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature.