Ralph Korngold
Encyclopedia
Ralph Korngold was a Polish-born author and businessman. He is best remembered as a leading public propagandist for the Socialist Party of America
during the decade of the 1910s and as a biographer of Maximilien Robespierre
.
merchant from Holland, while his mother hailed from Poland
. Included in the family were one brother and two sisters.
Korngold spent most of his childhood in the city of Amsterdam
. It was there that he got his start as a writer for the daily newspaper De Telegraaf
(The Telegraph), which published his first work when Korngold was just 17. Korngold also began pursuing a literary career and at age 19 won a prize for a short story published in the literary journal De Twintigst Eeuw. (The Twentieth Century).
Korngold emegrated to the United States in 1903, continuing to work for De Telegraaf as its correspondent.
, soon moving to Chicago
to join the staff of the Chicago Daily Socialist.
Korngold became a touring lecturer on behalf of the Socialist Party's National Lyceum Course in 1911, speaking on behalf of the party to audiences across the United States.
In 1912, he married a fellow Socialist Party member, Janet Fenimore, with whom he had one child, Arnold "Bud" Dresden.
Korngold was made the head of the Socialist Party's Literature Department in 1914, an operation run out of party headquarters in Chicago
. He was also the business manager of the party's weekly newspaper, The American Socialist, from the time of its establishment in 1914.
. He entered the world of business, becoming at one point the president of a successful cutlery business, bankrolling enough capital to pursue his passion for writing.
In 1924 the family went abroad, with Korngold hoping to become a successful fiction writer living the French Riviera
, however his wife was unable to become acclimated to life in Europe. The couple split in 1926, with Janet returning with son Bud to America.
Financial troubles associated with the Great Depression
forced Korngold to leave France for America again in 1930, where he returned to Chicago and the world of business. He returned to France three years later, shifting his literary work from fiction to the writing of a biography of Maximilien Robespierre
.
In Paris
Korngold met a Hungarian woman named Piri Helen Ozer, whom he married in 1936 following the finalization of his divorce. In that same year he published his Robespierre biography, Robespierre, the First Modern Dictator.
The Fall of France to Nazi Germany
in 1940 forced Korngold to make a hasty departure from Europe. Korngold returned to the United States and a career in business until a 1946 heart attack forced his retirement.
, where Ralph resumed his writing career. He ultimately published seven works of historical biography beginning with his 1936 Robespierre book.
Ralph Korngold died October 27, 1964.
Korngold's papers are held by the Newberry Library
in Chicago, Illinois.
Socialist Party of America
The Socialist Party of America was a multi-tendency democratic-socialist political party in the United States, formed in 1901 by a merger between the three-year-old Social Democratic Party of America and disaffected elements of the Socialist Labor Party which had split from the main organization...
during the decade of the 1910s and as a biographer of Maximilien Robespierre
Maximilien Robespierre
Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre is one of the best-known and most influential figures of the French Revolution. He largely dominated the Committee of Public Safety and was instrumental in the period of the Revolution commonly known as the Reign of Terror, which ended with his...
.
Early years
Ralph Korngold was born in Warsaw, Poland in 1882, the son of an ethnic Jewish parents. His father was diamondDiamond
In mineralogy, diamond is an allotrope of carbon, where the carbon atoms are arranged in a variation of the face-centered cubic crystal structure called a diamond lattice. Diamond is less stable than graphite, but the conversion rate from diamond to graphite is negligible at ambient conditions...
merchant from Holland, while his mother hailed from Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
. Included in the family were one brother and two sisters.
Korngold spent most of his childhood in the city of Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
. It was there that he got his start as a writer for the daily newspaper De Telegraaf
De Telegraaf
De Telegraaf is the largest Dutch daily morning newspaper, with a daily circulation of approximately . De Telegraaf is based in Amsterdam...
(The Telegraph), which published his first work when Korngold was just 17. Korngold also began pursuing a literary career and at age 19 won a prize for a short story published in the literary journal De Twintigst Eeuw. (The Twentieth Century).
Korngold emegrated to the United States in 1903, continuing to work for De Telegraaf as its correspondent.
Socialist
In 1908 Korngold joined the Socialist Party of AmericaSocialist Party of America
The Socialist Party of America was a multi-tendency democratic-socialist political party in the United States, formed in 1901 by a merger between the three-year-old Social Democratic Party of America and disaffected elements of the Socialist Labor Party which had split from the main organization...
, soon moving to Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
to join the staff of the Chicago Daily Socialist.
Korngold became a touring lecturer on behalf of the Socialist Party's National Lyceum Course in 1911, speaking on behalf of the party to audiences across the United States.
In 1912, he married a fellow Socialist Party member, Janet Fenimore, with whom he had one child, Arnold "Bud" Dresden.
Korngold was made the head of the Socialist Party's Literature Department in 1914, an operation run out of party headquarters in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
. He was also the business manager of the party's weekly newspaper, The American Socialist, from the time of its establishment in 1914.
Writer
Korngold left the Socialist movement some time shortly after the onset of World War IWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. He entered the world of business, becoming at one point the president of a successful cutlery business, bankrolling enough capital to pursue his passion for writing.
In 1924 the family went abroad, with Korngold hoping to become a successful fiction writer living the French Riviera
French Riviera
The Côte d'Azur, pronounced , often known in English as the French Riviera , is the Mediterranean coastline of the southeast corner of France, also including the sovereign state of Monaco...
, however his wife was unable to become acclimated to life in Europe. The couple split in 1926, with Janet returning with son Bud to America.
Financial troubles associated with the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
forced Korngold to leave France for America again in 1930, where he returned to Chicago and the world of business. He returned to France three years later, shifting his literary work from fiction to the writing of a biography of Maximilien Robespierre
Maximilien Robespierre
Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre is one of the best-known and most influential figures of the French Revolution. He largely dominated the Committee of Public Safety and was instrumental in the period of the Revolution commonly known as the Reign of Terror, which ended with his...
.
In 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...
Korngold met a Hungarian woman named Piri Helen Ozer, whom he married in 1936 following the finalization of his divorce. In that same year he published his Robespierre biography, Robespierre, the First Modern Dictator.
The Fall of France to Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
in 1940 forced Korngold to make a hasty departure from Europe. Korngold returned to the United States and a career in business until a 1946 heart attack forced his retirement.
Death and legacy
Following his retirement from commerce, Korngold and his wife moved to Santa Barbara, CaliforniaSanta Barbara, California
Santa Barbara is the county seat of Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Situated on an east-west trending section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States, the city lies between the steeply-rising Santa Ynez Mountains and the Pacific Ocean...
, where Ralph resumed his writing career. He ultimately published seven works of historical biography beginning with his 1936 Robespierre book.
Ralph Korngold died October 27, 1964.
Korngold's papers are held by the Newberry Library
Newberry Library
The Newberry Library is a privately endowed, independent research library for the humanities and social sciences in Chicago, Illinois. Although it is private, non-circulating library, the Newberry Library is free and open to the public...
in Chicago, Illinois.
Works
- Brain Jolters. Milwaukee: Milwaukee Social-Democratic Publishing Co., n.d. [1911].
- Are There Classes in America? Chicago: Socialist Party, 1914.
- Socialist Congressional Campaign Book. With Carl D. Thompson. Chicago: Socialist Party, 1914.
- Plan for the Systematic Distribution of Leaflets. Chicago: Socialist Party, n.d. [c. 1914].
- "Protect Your Rights" in The Price We Pay : Protect Your Rights. With Irwin St. John Tucker. Chicago: Socialist Party, n.d. [1917].
- Robespierre: First Modern Dictator. London: Macmillan, 1937. —English edition following the French-language edition of 1936.
- Saint-Just. Albert Lehmann, trans. Paris: B. Grasset, 1937. —In French.
- Robespierre and the Fourth Estate. New York: Modern Age Books, 1941.
- Citizen Toussaint. Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1944.
- Two Friends of Man: The story of William Lloyd Garrison and Wendell Phillips and Their Relationship with Abraham Lincoln. Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1950.
- Thaddeus Stevens: A Being Darkly Wise and Rudely Great. New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1955.
- The Last Years of Napoleon: His Captivity on St. Helena. New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1959.
External links
- Ralph Korngold Papers at Newberry LibraryNewberry LibraryThe Newberry Library is a privately endowed, independent research library for the humanities and social sciences in Chicago, Illinois. Although it is private, non-circulating library, the Newberry Library is free and open to the public...
, Chicago.