German poet and trade unionist, was born on April 10, 1896 in Wickrath, Germany and died on  September  2, 1971 in Moers, Germany.

Esser grew up in an orphanage and worked after his schooling initially as a weaver. During the First World War, he was drafted as an infantryman. Then Esser worked as a miner in the Lower Rhine lignite area, became a union member and joined the KPD. Inspired by the early worker poetry, he wrote poems and stories from the world of work.

In 1933 he was taken as a communist and trade unionist in “protective custody” and charged with treason. In the concentration camp Börgermoor Esser wrote together with Wolfgang Langhoff the song of the Moorsoldaten as a resistance song against persecution and suppression. In the following years he lived in great economic need with his family because of repeated arrests and the impossibility to find a job. Presumably to avoid further persecution, Esser published some patriotic poems in National Socialist publications during this period.

After the Second World War, he resumed his trade union activity, but broke away from communism in the time of Stalinism. Esser retired in 1960 and continued to publish poetry in newspapers. He died in 1971 in Moers. His grave (and a plaque) are located in the cemetery Trompet in Duisburg-Rheinhausen.