Albert Ehrenstein (23 December 1886 – 8 April 1950) was an Austrian-born German Expressionist poet. His poetry exemplifies rejection of bourgeois values and fascination with the Orient, particularly with China. He spent most of his life in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

, but also travelled widely across Europe,

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, and the

Far East The Far East is the geographical region that encompasses the easternmost portion of the Asian continent, including North Asia, North, East Asia, East and Southeast Asia. South Asia is sometimes also included in the definition of the term. In mod ...

. In 1930, he travelled to

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, and published his impressions in a series of articles. Shortly before the Nazi take-over, Ehrenstein moved to Switzerland, and in 1941 to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, where he died.

Early life

Ehrenstein was born to Jewish-Hungarian parents in Ottakring,

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

. His father was a cashier at a brewery and the family was poor. His younger brother was the poet Carl Ehrenstein (1892–1971). His mother was able to enroll him in high school, where he was harassed with anti-semitic bullying. From 1905 to 1910 he studied history and philosophy in Vienna and graduated in 1910 with a doctorate (with a thesis on Hungary in 1790). He had already decided on a career of literature, which he described as: "Hardly university studies; but by five years of alleged studies, I secured liberty: Time to do poetic work. Through tolerant overhearing directed to me by mail and offended about to light I put on even a doctorate."

Poetry and writing

In 1910 he wrote the poem "Wanderers song" published by Karl Kraus in the ''Overnight Torch''. The poem is attributed to the early expressionism and was published in 1911 with illustrations by his friend

Oskar Kokoschka Oskar Kokoschka (1 March 1886 – 22 February 1980) was an Austrian artist, poet, playwright and teacher, best known for his intense expressionistic portraits and landscapes, as well as his theories on vision that influenced the Viennese Expre ...

. Through Kokoschka he came into contact with

Herwarth Walden Herwarth Walden (actual name Georg Lewin; 16 September 1879 – 31 October 1941) was a German expressionist artist and art expert in many disciplines. He is broadly acknowledged as one of the most important discoverers and promoters of German av ...

and got it published in '' Der Sturm'', and later in Franz Pfemfert's magazine '' Die Aktion''. Ehrenstein quickly became one of the most important voices of expressionism and came into close contact with Else Lasker-Schüler, Gottfried Benn and

Franz Werfel Franz Viktor Werfel (; 10 September 1890 – 26 August 1945) was an Austrian-Bohemian novelist, playwright, and poet whose career spanned World War I, the Interwar period, and World War II. He is primarily known as the author of '' The Forty ...

. It was widely circulated Anton Kuh Spottvers wrote about it: "its a high honor of a work, only its verses disturb you." At the beginning of the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, Ehrenstein, who was deemed not fit for military service, was ordered to work in the Vienna War Archives. While many other artists were initially carried away by enthusiasm for the war, Ehrenstein from the beginning was a staunch opponent of the war, which he articulated clearly in a series of articles and poems (''The man screams''). During the war he came in contact with Walter Hasenclever and

Martin Buber Martin Buber (; , ; ; 8 February 1878 – 13 June 1965) was an Austrian-Israeli philosopher best known for his philosophy of dialogue, a form of existentialism centered on the distinction between the I and Thou, I–Thou relationship and the I� ...

. From 1916 to 1917 he belonged to the circle of the first Dadaist magazine ''The New Youth'', in which he published work alongside Franz Jung,

George Grosz George Grosz (; ; born Georg Ehrenfried Groß; July 26, 1893 – July 6, 1959) was a German artist known especially for his caricatural drawings and paintings of Berlin life in the 1920s. He was a prominent member of the Berlin Dada and New Obj ...

and Johannes R. Becher. The magazine took a clearly anti-Wilhelm position and was quickly banned. Becher and Ehrenstein worked at the same time as editors in publishing Kurt Wolff. After 1918 he supported the revolution in Germany and signed, along with several others including Franz Pfemfert and Zuckmayer, the manifesto of the Antinational Socialist Party. During the war, Ehrenstein met the actress Elisabeth Bergner and helped with her career breakthrough. He fell hopelessly in love with her and dedicated many of his poems to her. In the 1920s he traveled with Kokoschka through Europe, Africa, the Middle East and China, where he remained for a time. He turned to Chinese literature and wrote numerous adaptations from Chinese works and the quite successful novel ''Murderer from Justice'' (1931). By the end of 1932 Ehrenstein went to Switzerland to Brissago.

Fugitive on the run

Along many other authors, he was placed on a black list by the Nazi party. In the book burning of 10 May 1933, his books were thrown on the pyre. In the next few years, he published in exile in several journals of literature. In 1934 he travelled to the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, and in 1935 went to Paris to attend the "Congress for the Defense of Culture". In Switzerland he was threatened as a foreigner with deportation to Germany.

Hermann Hesse Hermann Karl Hesse (; 2 July 1877 – 9 August 1962) was a Germans, German-Swiss people, Swiss poet and novelist, and the 1946 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His interest in Eastern philosophy, Eastern religious, spiritual, and philosophic ...

tried to help him to get permanent asylum for Ehrenstein but only managed to get him temporary Residence Papers. He prevented extradition by getting Czechoslovak citizenship. He went to England to his brother Carl, then to France, until he was finally able to leave the country for Spain and then to the United States in 1941.

Later life and death

In New York he met other exiles, including

Thomas Mann Paul Thomas Mann ( , ; ; 6 June 1875 – 12 August 1955) was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novell ...

Richard Huelsenbeck Carl Wilhelm Richard Hülsenbeck (aka Charles R. Hulbeck) (23 April 189220 April 1974) was a German writer, poet, and psychoanalyst born in Frankenau, Hessen-Nassau who was associated with the formation of the Dada movement. Life and work Afte ...

, and

, and was granted a residence permit. Ehrenstein learned English, but found no work and lived on the income of articles he wrote for the newspaper '' Aufbau'', and by loans from

. In 1949, he returned to Switzerland, then returned to Germany, but was never published and finally returned, disappointed, to New York. After two years he was placed in a pauper's hospice on Welfare Island, where he died on 8 April 1950. After his death, friends gathered money so his urn could be shipped to England, where his brother Carl was still living. An honorary urn was finally buried in the Bromley Hill Cemetery in London.

Legacy

Ehrenstein's legacy was documented years later at the

National Library of Israel The National Library of Israel (NLI; ; ), formerly Jewish National and University Library (JNUL; ), is the library dedicated to collecting the cultural treasures of Israel and of Judaism, Jewish Cultural heritage, heritage. The library holds more ...

, where he was also later re-interred. In his life he influenced many 20th century authors and had personal relationships with many.

Selected works

Poetry and essays

*'' Tubutsch'', 1911 (veränderte Ausgabe 1914, häufige Neuaufl.) *''Der Selbstmord eines Katers'', 1912 *''Die weiße Zeit'', 1914 *''Der Mensch schreit'', 1916 *''Nicht da nicht dort'', 1916 *''Die rote Zeit'', 1917 *''Den ermordeten Brüdern'', 1919 *''Karl Kraus'' 1920 *''Die Nacht wird. Gedichte und Erzählungen'', 1920 (Sammlung alter Arbeiten) *''Der ewige Olymp. Novellen und Gedichte'', 1921 (Sammlung alter Arbeiten) *''Wien'', 1921 *''Die Heimkehr des Falken'', 1921 (Sammlung alter Arbeiten) *''Briefe an Gott. Gedichte in Prosa'', 1922 *''Herbst'', 1923 *''Menschen und Affen'', 1926 (Sammlung essayistischer Werke) *''Ritter des Todes. Die Erzählungen von 1900 bis 1919'', 1926 *''Mein Lied. Gedichte 1900–1931'', 1931 *''Gedichte und Prosa.'' Hg. Karl Otten. Neuwied, Luchterhand 1961 *''Ausgewählte Aufsätze.'' Hg. von M. Y. Ben-gavriêl. Heidelberg, L. Schneider 1961 *''Todrot. Eine Auswahl an Gedichten''. Berlin, hochroth Verlag 2009

Translations and adaptations

*''Schi-King. Nachdichtungen chinesischer Lyrik'', 1922 *''Pe-Lo-Thien. Nachdichtungen chinesischer Lyrik'', 1923 *''China klagt. Nachdichtungen revolutionärer chinesischer Lyrik aus drei Jahrtausenden'' 1924; Neuauflage AutorenEdition, München 1981 *''Lukian'', 1925 *''Räuber und Soldaten. Roman frei nach dem Chinesischen'', 1927; Neuaufl. 1963 *''Mörder aus Gerechtigkeit'', 1931 *''Das gelbe Lied. Nachdichtungen chinesischer Lyrik'', 1933

Literature

* * ''A. Ehrenstein. Lesung im Rahmen der Wiener Festwochen 1993'' Hg. Werner Herbst & Gerhard Jaschke. (Reihe: Vergessene Autoren der Moderne 67) Universitätsverlag Siegen, 1996 37 Seiten, dabei 2 S. aus der „Neue Deutschen Biographie“ - Viele kurze Texte quer durch sein Werk, keine Quellenangaben, eine Art Collage *

Stefan Zweig Stefan Zweig ( ; ; 28 November 1881 – 22 February 1942) was an Austrian writer. At the height of his literary career, in the 1920s and 1930s, he was one of the most widely translated and popular writers in the world. Zweig was raised in V ...

: "Albert Ehrensteins Gedichte", in: ''Rezensionen 1902–1939. Begegnungen mit Büchern''. 1983
E-Text

Notes

* ''Ehrenstein, Albert'', article in

Encyclopaedia Judaica The ''Encyclopaedia Judaica'' is a multi-volume English-language encyclopedia of the Jewish people, Judaism, and Israel. It covers diverse areas of the Jewish world and civilization, including Jewish history of all eras, culture, Jewish holida ...

. * Beigel, A. ''Erlebnis und Flucht im Werk Albert Ehrensteins'' (1966).

References

External links

* *
The Estate of Writer and Poet Albert Ehrenstein at the National Library of Israel
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ehrenstein, Albert 1886 births 1950 deaths German socialists Jewish socialists People from Ottakring Writers from Vienna Jewish Austrian writers Expressionist poets 20th-century Austrian poets German male poets 20th-century Austrian novelists German male novelists People from Austria-Hungary Immigrants to the German Empire Immigrants to the United States Jewish poets 20th-century German poets 20th-century German novelists German-language poets Austrian male poets 20th-century German male writers