If he is remembered at all, Hanns Heinz Ewers is remembered for his novel of supernatural sensationalism, Alraune. Ewers was, however, a prolific author whose many works included everything from novels to radio plays to newspaper articles to opera librettos to a fictionalized biography of Horst Wessel.

Ewers' novel Vampir can be viewed as an idealized autobiography of the period of his life spent in the United States during World War I, with some characters who have real-life counterparts. It can also be examined in the context of vampire literature, with special emphasis on Bram Stoker's Dracula as the standard. Here I give careful consideration to the treatment of female sexuality in each of these two novels. However, Vampir is, above all, a political novel. Written by a philosemitic German nationalist engaged in pro-German activities in the U.S. during WWI, it gave Ewers the opportunity to expound his unusual views in an unexpected format. The novel also presents an interesting meld of political and horror in the way it equates the protagonist's vampirism with the bloodlust of nations at war. Finally I trace the history of both Ewers and his novel Vampir through their years in Nazi Germany, and through his membership in the NSDAP, as his popularity waned and his books were banned as the nature of his "other" writings (besides the Horst Wessel novel) became known to his fellow National Socialists.

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