Binfing was born in
Basel,
Switzerland, and died in
Starnberg. He studied medicine and law before joining the Hussars. On the outbreak of the First World War, Binding, a forty-six years old, became commander of a squadron of
dragoons. Except for a four-month period in Galicia in 1916, Binding spent the war on the Western Front. Binding's diary and letters,
A Fatalist at War, was published in 1927. His collected war poems, stories and recollections were not published until after his death in 1938. Binding was never a member of the National Socialist Party and publicly dissociated himself from one of its actions; but his relationship to it was ambiguous, for he saw it at times as an aspect of national revival. In 1928 he won a silver medal in the art competitions of the Olympic Games for his "" (Rider's Instructions to his Lover). From 1933 his private secretary and
English interpreter was
Elisabeth Jungmann a Jewish German. Binding had hoped to marry Jungmann but was prevented from doing so by the
Nuremberg Laws. She became the second wife of
Sir Max Beerbohm in 1956. In October 1933 Binding signed the declaring loyalty and support to
Adolf Hitler. He was on friendly terms with the English writer
A.P. Herbert, to whom he was introduced by Wilhelmine
Arnold-Baker. They found that they had been within yards of each other in opposite trenches during the war. ==Publications==