Walter Mehring (29 April 1896 – 3 October 1981) was a German author and one of the most prominent satirical authors in the

Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic (german: link=no, Weimarer Republik ), officially named the German Reich, was the government of Germany from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional federal republic for the first time in history; hence it is ...

. He was banned during the

Third Reich Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

, and fled the country.

Early life

He was the son of the translator and writer Sigmar Mehring. His literary career began with the Sturm and Berliner

Dada Dada () or Dadaism was an art movement of the European avant-garde in the early 20th century, with early centres in Zürich, Switzerland, at the Cabaret Voltaire (in 1916). New York Dada began c. 1915, and after 1920 Dada flourished in Pari ...

movements.

Early writings

From the 1920s, he published

lyric poetry Modern lyric poetry is a formal type of poetry which expresses personal emotions or feelings, typically spoken in the first person. It is not equivalent to song lyrics, though song lyrics are often in the lyric mode, and it is also ''not'' equi ...

and satirical prose in various magazines and newspapers such as the famous '' Weltbühne'' or '. He fought against

militarism Militarism is the belief or the desire of a government or a people that a state should maintain a strong military capability and to use it aggressively to expand national interests and/or values. It may also imply the glorification of the mili ...

and

antisemitism Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

and considered himself an anarchist. He also wrote songs for some of the best

cabaret Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music, song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, a casino, a hotel, a restaurant, or a nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining o ...

s in Berlin:

Max Reinhardt Max Reinhardt (; born Maximilian Goldmann; 9 September 1873 – 30 October 1943) was an Austrian-born theatre and film director, intendant, and theatrical producer. With his innovative stage productions, he is regarded as one of the most pro ...

's , Rosa Valetti's Café Größenwahn and for

Trude Hesterberg Trude Hesterberg (2 May 1892 – 31 August 1967) was a German film actress. She appeared in 89 films between 1917 and 1964. Selected filmography * ''The Rosentopf Case'' (1918) * '' The Story of a Maid'' (1921) * ''Fridericus Rex'' (1922) ...

's . Artists like George Grosz became close friends. From 1921 to 1928, he lived and worked in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

Persecution

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 The Nazi book burnings were a campaign conducted by the German Student Union (, ''DSt'') to ceremonially burn books in Nazi Germany and Austria in the 1930s. The books targeted for burning were those viewed as being subversive or as representi ...

. Mehring emigrated to

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, where he met the actress and writer

Hertha Pauli Hertha Ernestine Pauli (September 4, 1906 – February 9, 1973) was an Austrian journalist, writer and actress. Biography Hertha Ernestine Pauli was born in Vienna, the daughter of feminist Bertha Schütz and chemist Wolfgang Pauli. Her brothe ...

. She was his companion during his escape from the Nazis through

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

. 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 Luiz Heinrich Mann (; 27 March 1871 – 11 March 1950), best known as simply Heinrich Mann, was a German author known for his socio-political novels. From 1930 until 1933, he was president of the fine poetry division of the Prussian Academy ...

Leonhard Frank Leonhard Frank (4 September 1882 in Würzburg – 18 August 1961 in Munich) was a German expressionist writer. He studied painting and graphic art in Munich, and gained acclaim with his first novel ''The Robber Band'' (1914, tr. 1928). When a Ber ...

, Emil Gumbel. In Marseilles they met

Varian Fry Varian Mackey Fry (October 15, 1907 – September 13, 1967) 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 ...

( Emergency Rescue Committee), who helped them to escape.Fry, Varian: Surrender on Demand. Random House, 1945.

Exile

He emigrated to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. With the aid of the European Film Fund he got employment with

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 ...

. 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.

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.

References

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. https://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

*
New York Times Obituary
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mehring, Walter 1896 births 1981 deaths Writers from Berlin Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United States German satirists German Expressionist writers German male non-fiction writers German-language poets People with acquired American citizenship Dada