Walter Mehring
Encyclopedia
Walter Mehring was a German
author and one of the most prominent satirical
authors in the Weimar Republic
. He was banned during the Third Reich
, and fled the country.
His literary career began with the Sturm
and Berliner Dada
movements. Beginning in the 1920s he published lyric poetry
and satirical prose in various magazines and newspapers, for example the famous Weltbühne or the Tage-Buch. He fought against militarism
and antisemitism and considered himself an anarchist
. He also wrote songs for some of the best cabaret
s in Berlin: Max Reinhardt
's Schall und Rauch, Rosa Valetti
’s Café Größenwahn and for Trude Hesterberg
's Wilde Bühne. Artists like George Grosz
became close friends. From 1921 to 1928 he lived and worked in Paris
. He was persecuted by the Nazis, particularly by Joseph Goebbels
, and consequently fled the country. On 10 May 1933 his books were burnt during the Nazi book burnings
.
Mehring emigrated to Vienna, where he met the actress and writer Hertha Pauli
. She was his companion during his escape from the Nazis through France
. He dedicated his "Briefe zur Mitternacht" to her. The period spent in France he also described in "No Road back". When the Nazis occupied France he was briefly imprisoned in an internment camp. He managed to escape and together with Hertha Pauli he wandered around France, meeting many other people on the run from the Nazis: Franz Werfel
, Alma Mahler-Werfel, Heinrich Mann
, Leonhard Frank
, Emil Gumbel. In Marseilles they met Varian Fry
(Emergency Rescue Committee), who helped them to escape.
He emigrated to the United States
. With the aid of the European Film Fund
he got employment with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
. He also wrote articles for Aufbau
and became a naturalized US citizen, but never really managed to settle in the United States and returned to Europe after the war.
In Europe he was unable to replicate his earlier successes.
In 1981 he died in Zurich.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
author and one of the most prominent satirical
Satire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
authors in the Weimar Republic
Weimar Republic
The Weimar Republic is the name given by historians to the parliamentary republic established in 1919 in Germany to replace the imperial form of government...
. He was banned during the Third Reich
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...
, and fled the country.
Biographical
Walter Mehring was the son of the translator and writer Sigmar Mehring.His literary career began with the Sturm
Sturm
Sturm may refer to:In persons:* Sturm , surname * Saint Sturm, 8th-century monkIn food:* Federweisser, known as Sturm in Austria, wine in the fermentation stage* Sturm Foods, an American dry grocery manufacturer...
and Berliner Dada
Dada
Dada or Dadaism is a cultural movement that began in Zurich, Switzerland, during World War I and peaked from 1916 to 1922. The movement primarily involved visual arts, literature—poetry, art manifestoes, art theory—theatre, and graphic design, and concentrated its anti-war politics through a...
movements. Beginning in the 1920s he published lyric poetry
Lyric poetry
Lyric poetry is a genre of poetry that expresses personal and emotional feelings. In the ancient world, lyric poems were those which were sung to the lyre. Lyric poems do not have to rhyme, and today do not need to be set to music or a beat...
and satirical prose in various magazines and newspapers, for example the famous Weltbühne or the Tage-Buch. He fought against militarism
Militarism
Militarism is defined as: the belief or desire of a government or people that a country should maintain a strong military capability and be prepared to use it aggressively to defend or promote national interests....
and antisemitism and considered himself an anarchist
Anarchism
Anarchism is generally defined as the political philosophy which holds the state to be undesirable, unnecessary, and harmful, or alternatively as opposing authority in the conduct of human relations...
. He also wrote songs for some of the best cabaret
Cabaret
Cabaret is a form, or place, of entertainment featuring comedy, song, dance, and theatre, distinguished mainly by the performance venue: a restaurant or nightclub with a stage for performances and the audience sitting at tables watching the performance, as introduced by a master of ceremonies or...
s in Berlin: Max Reinhardt
Max Reinhardt
----Max Reinhardt was an Austrian theater and film director and actor.-Biography:...
's Schall und Rauch, Rosa Valetti
Rosa Valetti
Rosa Valetti , born Rosa Vallentin, was a German actress, cabaret performer and singer.- Biography :Rosa Valetti was born in Berlin, the daughter of industrialist Felix Vallentin and sister of actor Hermann Vallentin. She played her first roles in the theatres of suburban Berlin...
’s Café Größenwahn and for Trude Hesterberg
Trude Hesterberg
Trude Hesterberg was a German film actress. She appeared in 89 films between 1917 and 1964.-Selected filmography:* Sand, Love and Salt * The Divorcée * Alraune...
's Wilde Bühne. Artists like George Grosz
George Grosz
Georg Ehrenfried Groß was a German artist known especially for his savagely caricatural drawings of Berlin life in the 1920s...
became close friends. From 1921 to 1928 he lived and worked 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...
. He was persecuted by the Nazis, particularly by Joseph Goebbels
Joseph Goebbels
Paul Joseph Goebbels was a German politician and Reich Minister of Propaganda in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. As one of Adolf Hitler's closest associates and most devout followers, he was known for his zealous oratory and anti-Semitism...
, and consequently fled the country. On 10 May 1933 his books were burnt during the Nazi book burnings
Nazi book burnings
The Nazi book burnings were a campaign conducted by the authorities of Nazi Germany to ceremonially burn all books in Germany which did not correspond with Nazi ideology.-The book-burning campaign:...
.
Mehring emigrated to Vienna, where he met the actress and writer Hertha Pauli
Hertha Pauli
Hertha Pauli was an Austrian journalist, author and actress.- Biography :Hertha Ernestine Pauli was born in Vienna, the daughter of the feminist Bertha Schütz and the medical scientist Wolfgang Pauli...
. She was his companion during his escape from the Nazis through 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...
. He dedicated his "Briefe zur Mitternacht" to her. The period spent in France he also described in "No Road back". When the Nazis occupied France he was briefly imprisoned in an internment camp. He managed to escape and together with Hertha Pauli he wandered around France, meeting many other people on the run from the Nazis: Franz Werfel
Franz Werfel
Franz Werfel was an Austrian-Bohemian novelist, playwright, and poet.- Biography :Born in Prague , Werfel was the first of three children of a wealthy manufacturer of gloves and leather goods. His mother, Albine Kussi, was the daughter of a mill owner...
, Alma Mahler-Werfel, Heinrich Mann
Heinrich Mann
Luiz Heinrich Mann was a German novelist who wrote works with strong social themes. His attacks on the authoritarian and increasingly militaristic nature of pre-World War II German society led to his exile in 1933.-Life and work:Born in Lübeck as the oldest child of Thomas Johann Heinrich Mann...
, Leonhard Frank
Leonhard Frank
Leonhard Frank was a German expressionist writer. He studied painting and graphic art in Munich, and gained acclaim with his first novel, The Robber Band...
, Emil Gumbel. In Marseilles they met Varian Fry
Varian Fry
Varian Mackey Fry was an American journalist. Fry ran a rescue network in Vichy France that helped approximately 2,000 to 4,000 anti-Nazi and Jewish refugees to escape Nazi Germany and the Holocaust.-Early life:...
(Emergency Rescue Committee), who helped them to escape.
He emigrated to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. With the aid of the European Film Fund
European Film Fund
The European Film Fund was a Non-Profit-Organisation, funded by the film agent Paul Kohner.- History :The European Film Fund was founded on November 5, 1938 on the initiative of Paul Kohner. Founder members were William Dieterle, Bruno Frank, Felix Jackson, Salka Viertel and Ernst Lubitsch...
he got employment with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
. He also wrote articles for Aufbau
Aufbau
Aufbau is a journal for German-speaking Jews around the globe. It was founded in 1934 and is a member of Internationale Medienhilfe . Hannah Arendt, Albert Einstein, Thomas Mann, and Stefan Zweig wrote for the publication. Until 2004 it was published in New York...
and became a naturalized US citizen, but never really managed to settle in the United States and returned to Europe after the war.
In Europe he was unable to replicate his earlier successes.
In 1981 he died in Zurich.
Selected works
- The lost library: The autobiography of a culture. Secker & Warburg, 1951.
- Timoshenko,: Marshal of the Red army. A. Unger, 1942.
- No road back. S. Curl, 1944.
Critics
- Boyle, Kay: The Poetry of Walter Mehring; NO ROAD BACK, Poems by Walter Mehring, in the German text as well as English translation by S.A. de Witt. In: New York Times, 03.09.1944.
- Walter Mehring, 85, Writer; His Sarcasm Enraged Nazis. In: New York Times, 06.10.1981. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990CE6DF1239F935A35753C1A967948260&scp=1&sq=mehring&st=cse
- Politzer, Heinz: The Lost Library, by Walter Mehring. In Commentary Magazine, Septembre 1951. http://www.commentarymagazine.com/viewarticle.cfm/the-lost-library--by-walter-mehring-1343
Literature
- Allen, Roy F.: Literary Life in German Expressionism and the Berlin Circles. UMI Research Press, 1983.
- Thomson, Philip John: The Grotesque in German Poetry, 1880-1933.Hawthorn Press, 1975.
- Spalek, John M./Bell, Robert F.: Exile, the Writer's Experience, University of North Carolina Press, 1982.
External links
- http://www.answers.com/topic/walter-mehring
- Walter Mehring on imdb.com http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0576520/