Fritz Hochwälder ( 1911-1986) also known as Fritz Hochwaelder, was an Austrian playwright. Known for his spare prose and strong moralist themes, Hochwälder won several literary awards, including the Austrian State Prize for Literature in 1966. Most of his plays were first played at the Burgtheater in Vienna. Hochwälder wrote social and political dramas, using historical themes in his plays. One of his earlier works Das Heilige Experiment (The Strong Are Lonely, 1943) drew on the violent dismantling of a utopian Jesuit settlement by the Spaniards in Paraguay in the 1760s and Der offentliche Anklager (The Public Prosecutor, 1948) delved into the violence of the French Revolution. The theme of violence was a major factor in his own life--in fact, without the Nazi rise to power, Hochwälder may not have become a successful playwright.
