Gerhart Hauptmann, a German dramatist, and novelist won the 1912 Nobel Prize in Literature. One of the well-known and controversial play was the 1905 ‘Vor Sonnenaufgang’ (Before Sunrise). Around the same time, he was a founding member of a eugenics organisation in Berlin which aimed at Racial hygiene. The play touched upon the hereditary alcoholism and the plot involved the main character rejecting his fiancée because of the concerns of potential children’s genetics.
