Gustav Sievers was born in Almstedt. Shortly after his birth, his parents moved to Hanover. After attending school in the Limmer district, he worked as a canteen boy in an infantry regiment. At the age of 16, he worked in a weaving mill. He served prison sentences at an early age for begging, insulting police officers and »distributing social democratic writings« (a serious political offence around 1884). He lived in America (Chicago) for seven years, where he worked hard but also studied in public libraries and tried his hand at poetry. He returned to Hanover to his childhood sweetheart. In 1897, he began to make inventions and successfully applied for a patent for the »parachute loom«. Then he fell ill and was admitted to the Lengerich asylum. From 1902 onwards, he corresponded with August Bebel and the »Vorwärts« newspaper, expressing his opposition to the churches. He wrote secret texts, wrote and composed original poetry. Above all, he drew his own unique, typically coloured pictures of people and buildings. In 1903, he was transferred to the Lüneburg institution and nursing home. There he planned an assassination attempt on Otto Snell. After three years of isolation, he was transferred to the Göttingen State Prison. Almost three decades later, he was returned to the Lüneburg institution. At the age of 74, he was transferred to the Herborn Intermediate Institution and from there to Hadamar. He was murdered on 16 June 1941.
