Fred Wander
Encyclopedia
Fred Wander was an Austria
n writer and Holocaust
survivor.
Wander was born Fritz Rosenblatt in Vienna
, he left school at 14 and worked as an apprentice in a textile mill, before travelling around Europe taking whatever jobs were going. He spent quite some time in pre-war Paris
and this is where he first started to write. In 1938 after the German annexation of Austria
, Wander escaped back to Paris via Switzerland
. After France
declared war on Germany in 1939 he was interned
and eventually sent back to Austria, where he ended up in Auschwitz concentration camp
, later being sent to Buchenwald concentration camp
.
Wander survived the camps and after World War II
he lived in East Germany
(GDR) from 1958 – 1983. It was while a resident in the GDR that in 1971 The Seventh Well (ISBN 0-7178-0466-6) was published, it was an account of his experiences in the concentration camps. The book won much critical acclaim following a later re-release, including the 2009 JQ Wingate Prize.
In 1983, Wander left the GDR and moved back to his native Vienna. He continued to write up until his death.
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n writer and Holocaust
The Holocaust
The Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...
survivor.
Wander was born Fritz Rosenblatt in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, he left school at 14 and worked as an apprentice in a textile mill, before travelling around Europe taking whatever jobs were going. He spent quite some time in pre-war Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
and this is where he first started to write. In 1938 after the German annexation of Austria
Anschluss
The Anschluss , also known as the ', was the occupation and annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany in 1938....
, Wander escaped back to Paris via Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
. After France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
declared war on Germany in 1939 he was interned
Internment
Internment is the imprisonment or confinement of people, commonly in large groups, without trial. The Oxford English Dictionary gives the meaning as: "The action of 'interning'; confinement within the limits of a country or place." Most modern usage is about individuals, and there is a distinction...
and eventually sent back to Austria, where he ended up in Auschwitz concentration camp
Auschwitz concentration camp
Concentration camp Auschwitz was a network of Nazi concentration and extermination camps built and operated by the Third Reich in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany during World War II...
, later being sent to Buchenwald concentration camp
Buchenwald concentration camp
Buchenwald concentration camp was a German Nazi concentration camp established on the Ettersberg near Weimar, Germany, in July 1937, one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps on German soil.Camp prisoners from all over Europe and Russia—Jews, non-Jewish Poles and Slovenes,...
.
Wander survived the camps and after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
he lived in East Germany
German Democratic Republic
The German Democratic Republic , informally called East Germany by West Germany and other countries, was a socialist state established in 1949 in the Soviet zone of occupied Germany, including East Berlin of the Allied-occupied capital city...
(GDR) from 1958 – 1983. It was while a resident in the GDR that in 1971 The Seventh Well (ISBN 0-7178-0466-6) was published, it was an account of his experiences in the concentration camps. The book won much critical acclaim following a later re-release, including the 2009 JQ Wingate Prize.
In 1983, Wander left the GDR and moved back to his native Vienna. He continued to write up until his death.
External links
- http://copac.ac.uk/wzgw?form=A%2FT&id=7984245&au=Fred+Wander&cau=&ti=&pub=&isn=&date=&lang=&lib=xx-all-option&fs=SearchWander's bibliography at CopacCopacCopac is a union catalogue which provides free access to the merged online catalogues of many major university research libraries in the United Kingdom and Ireland, plus an increasing number of specialist libraries and the British Library, the National Library of Scotland and the National Library...
].