Bruno Maria Adler (14 October 1888 – 27 December 1968) was a German art historian and writer. He taught art history in

Weimar Weimar is a city in the state (Germany), German state of Thuringia, in Central Germany (cultural area), Central Germany between Erfurt to the west and Jena to the east, southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg and west of Dresden. Together w ...

and lectured about it at the

Bauhaus The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the , was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined Decorative arts, crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., ...

. Adler fled Germany after the Nazis seized power and emigrated to England, where he worked first at a German-Jewish refugee school in

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

, then as a writer with the German Service of

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

Radio.

Early years

Adler was born to Jewish parents in

Carlsbad Carlsbad may refer to: Geographical locations * Carlsbad, California, San Diego County, United States ** Carlsbad Santa Fe Depot, NRHP ID No. 93001016 * Carlsbad, New Mexico, United States ** Carlsbad Caverns National Park ** Carlsbad Irriga ...

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...

. His mother was Therese Adler (née Hirsch) and his father was Moritz Adler, editor and critic with the

social democratic Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...

newspaper, ''Volkswille'' and an elected representative.Joachim W. Storck; Christoph König
''Internationales Germanistenlexikon: 1800–1950. Band 1: A–G''
Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. (2003), pp. 6–8. Adler attended gymnasium in Carlsbad and

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

. From 1910 to 1916, he studied art history, the history of literature, and philosophy at universities in

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. ...

Erlangen Erlangen (; , ) is a Middle Franconian city in Bavaria, Germany. It is the seat of the administrative district Erlangen-Höchstadt (former administrative district Erlangen), and with 119,810 inhabitants (as of 30 September 2024), it is the smalle ...

and

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

, acquiring his doctorate in 1917 with a dissertation on the origin and beginning of woodcuts. From 1919 to 1924, Adler lectured on art history at the

, and between 1920 and 1930, he taught

art history Art history is the study of Work of art, artistic works made throughout human history. Among other topics, it studies art’s formal qualities, its impact on societies and cultures, and how artistic styles have changed throughout history. Tradit ...

at the Weimar Saxon-Grand Ducal Art School. His association with Johannes Itten, who also taught at the Bauhaus, led to him publishing and editing ''Utopia: Dokumente der Wirklichkeit'' ("Utopia: Documents of Reality"). This included translations by Adler from the

Rigveda The ''Rigveda'' or ''Rig Veda'' (, , from wikt:ऋच्, ऋच्, "praise" and wikt:वेद, वेद, "knowledge") is an ancient Indian Miscellany, collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns (''sūktas''). It is one of the four sacred canoni ...

and work by

Nicholas of Cusa Nicholas of Cusa (1401 – 11 August 1464), also referred to as Nicholas of Kues and Nicolaus Cusanus (), was a German Catholic bishop and polymath active as a philosopher, theologian, jurist, mathematician, and astronomer. One of the first Ger ...

. During this period, Adler also edited writings by

Adalbert Stifter Adalbert Stifter (; 23 October 1805 – 28 January 1868) was a Bohemian- Austrian writer, poet, painter, and pedagogue. He was notable for the vivid natural landscapes depicted in his writing and has long been popular in the German-speaking wo ...

and

Matthias Claudius Matthias Claudius (15 August 1740 – 21 January 1815) was a German poet and journalist, otherwise known by the pen name of "Asmus". Life Claudius was born at Reinfeld, near Lübeck, and studied at Jena. He spent the greater part of his life i ...

Exile in England

After the Nazis seized power, Adler was forced to flee to

. In 1936, he went to England. Writing under the pseudonymous

anagram An anagram is a word or phrase formed by rearranging the letters of a different word or phrase, typically using all the original letters exactly once. For example, the word ''anagram'' itself can be rearranged into the phrase "nag a ram"; which ...

''Urban Roedl'', Adler released a biography of Stifter with the publisher

Ernst Rowohlt Ernst Hermann Heinrich Rowohlt (23 June 1887 in Bremen – 1 December 1960 in Hamburg) was a German publisher who founded the Rowohlt publishing house in 1908 and headed it in its repeated incarnations until his death. In 1912, he married actres ...

, who was afterward prohibited by the Nazis from working, having been charged with disguising Jewish writers. From 1936 to 1938, Adler continued to use the pseudonym during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and occasionally, after the war. Adler taught at the New Herrlingen School (also known as Bunce Court),Lesley Bellew, "Anna's children", ''Kent Messenger'' newspapers, ''

Blitz Blitz, German for "lightning", may refer to: Military uses *Blitzkrieg, blitz campaign, or blitz, a type of military campaign *The Blitz, the German aerial campaign against Britain in the Second World War *, several ships of the Prussian, Imperia ...

Spirit'', special souvenir supplement (4 February 2011), p. 11 a German-Jewish school founded by

Anna Essinger Anna Essinger (15 September 1879 – 30 May 1960) was a German Jewish educator. At the age of 20, she went to finish her education in the United States, where she encountered Quakers and was greatly influenced by their attitudes, adopting them fo ...

with help from British

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...

s. Originally located in

Herrlingen Blaustein () is a town in the district of Alb-Donau Baden-Württemberg in Germany. It is situated on the Blau River, 6 km west of Ulm and has about 15,000 inhabitants. Before 1968, Blaustein was known as Herrlingen. It was created in 196 ...

, Germany, it was relocated to

, England because of Nazi persecution, where it became a haven for refugees, including both children from the

Kindertransport The ''Kindertransport'' (German for "children's transport") was an organised rescue effort of children from Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, total ...

s and adults, who joined the staff. Adler's nephew,

Gerard Hoffnung Gerard Hoffnung (22 March 192528 September 1959) was an artist and musician, best known for his humorous works. Raised in Germany, Hoffnung was brought to London as a boy to escape the Nazis. Over the next two decades in England, he became know ...

, was a pupil at Bunce Court.

German Service of the BBC

During the war, Adler worked in the German Service of the

. Under the guise of literary entertainment, these German-language programs broadcast British propaganda using established native-speaking writers in exile, such as Adler and

Robert Lucas The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' () "fame, glory, honour, praise, reno ...

, and targeted the average German, who was growing weary of endless war. Listening carried severe penalties in Germany, imprisonment and even death, so the programs were short, between three and seven minutes. Characters had to be easily identifiable and they had little time to impress the thought of their target audience.Jennifer Taylor; Ian Wallace (Ed.)
"The 'Endsieg' as Ever-Receding Goal. Literary Propaganda by Bruno Adler and Robert Lucas for BBC Radio"
''German-speaking exiles in Great Britain'', Volume 1. (1999), pp. 43–45. Retrieved 29 October 2011 Adler created the satirical "Frau Wernicke", a program broadcast from summer 1940 to January 1944. The lead role, Frau Gertrud Wernicke, was voiced by the German actress and cabaret artist

Annemarie Hase Annemarie Hase (1900 – 1971) was a German actress and cabaret artist. She emerged as a star during the Weimar Republic, but because she was Jewish she faced increasing persecution following the Nazi takeover in 1933. In 1936 she went into exile ...

, also in exile. The character was a Berlin woman married to a tradesman and

World War I 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 ...

veteran. She commented on the shortages plaguing the German populace, the state of the warJennifer Taylor
"The 'Endsieg' as Ever-Receding Goal"
(1999), p. 49. Retrieved 29 October 2011 and she launched subversive tirades against the Nazis, turning them into a laughing stock. ''Frau Wernicke'' became one of the most popular programs of the BBC's German Service. and Richard Dove (Eds.)
''Stimme der Wahrheit: German Language Broadcasting by the BBC''
Editions Rodopi (2003) . Retrieved 29 October 2011 Adler wrote the satirical series "Kurt und Willi" with the Scottish poet Norman Cameron. It featured two characters, a teacher named Kurt Krüger and Willi Schimanski, an official in the German Ministry of Propaganda. So skilled was the character Willi as a propagandist, that he was reputedly much admired within the actual Nazi Ministry. Adler later edited the monthly German-language magazine ''Neue Auslese aus dem Schrifttum der Gegenwart'', published by the US Information Services Division, Central Office of Information in London after the war.

Personal and legacy

Adler's first wife was Margit, née Téry (1892–1977), a painter, graphic designer and student of Johannes Itten. They were married in 1918 and had one son, Florian (1921–1998), an architect and editor. Adler married his second wife, Ilse, née Katz (1890–1974) in 1928. Adler's personal papers are archived at the

German Literature Archive The Deutsches Literaturarchiv Marbach (DLA – German Literature Archive), established in 1955, in Marbach am Neckar, is one of the most significant literary archives in the world. Its collections span literary and intellectual history from 1750 ...

(''Deutsches Literaturarchiv'') in

Marbach am Neckar Marbach am Neckar (, ) is a town about 20 kilometres north of Stuttgart. It belongs to the district of Ludwigsburg, the Stuttgart region and the European metropolitan region of Stuttgart. Marbach is known as the birthplace of Friedrich Schiller ...

. Included in the papers is correspondence with

Willi Baumeister Willi Baumeister (22 January 1889 – 31 August 1955) was a German painter, scenic designer, art professor, and typographer. His work was part of the art competitions at the 1928 Summer Olympics and the 1932 Summer Olympics. Life Born in S ...

Theodor Heuss Theodor Heuss (; 31 January 1884 – 12 December 1963) was a German liberal politician who served as the first president of West Germany from 1949 to 1959. His civil demeanour and his cordial nature – something of a contrast to German nati ...

Walter Gropius Walter Adolph Georg Gropius (; 18 May 1883 – 5 July 1969) was a German-born American architect and founder of the Bauhaus, Bauhaus School, who is widely regarded as one of the pioneering masters of modernist architecture. He was a founder of ...

, Itten,

Hermann Kasack Hermann Robert Richard Eugen Kasack (24 July 1896 – 10 January 1966) was a German writer. He is best known for his novel '' Die Stadt hinter dem Strom'' (''The city beyond the river''). Kasack was a pioneer of using the medium broadcast for li ...

Alfred Kubin Alfred Leopold Isidor Kubin (10 April 1877 – 20 August 1959) was an Austrian artist, printmaker, illustrator, and occasional writer. Kubin is considered an important representative of Symbolism and Expressionism. Biography Kubin was born i ...

Georg Muche Georg Muche (8 May 1895 – 26 March 1987) was a German painter, printmaker, architect, author, and teacher. Early life and education Georg Muche was born on 8 May 1895 in Querfurt, in the Prussian Province of Saxony, and grew up in the Rhön ...

and Max Stefl. In 1958, Adler, again writing as Roedl, re-issued his 1936 biography of Stifter and dedicated it to his wife, Ilse Katz. Roedl was also the author of the Adalbert Stifter,

monograph A monograph is generally a long-form work on one (usually scholarly) subject, or one aspect of a subject, typically created by a single author or artist (or, sometimes, by two or more authors). Traditionally it is in written form and published a ...

, which Adler dedicated to

Erich Heller Erich Heller (27 March 1911 – 5 November 1990) was a British essayist, known particularly for his critical studies in German-language philosophy and literature of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Biography Heller was born at Chomuto ...

Publications (selected)

;as Bruno Adler: * Translation of

Gustave Flaubert Gustave Flaubert ( , ; ; 12 December 1821 – 8 May 1880) was a French novelist. He has been considered the leading exponent of literary realism in his country and abroad. According to the literary theorist Kornelije Kvas, "in Flaubert, realis ...

, ''Die Sage von St. Julian, dem Gastfreien'', (Original title: ''La légende de Saint Julien l'hospitalier'') M. Biewald, Weimar(1923) * ''Matthias Claudius. Werke'', Utopia-Verlag, Weimar (1924) * ''Das Weimarer Bauhaus'', Bauhaus Archive, Darmstadt (1965) * (Editor) ''Utopia: Dokumente der Wirklichkeit'', Martin Biewald, Weimar (1921); Kraus reprint, Munich (1980) ;as Urban Roedl: * ''Matthias Claudius: sein Weg und seine Welt'', Wolff, Berlin (1934) * ''Kampf um Polna'' (novel), Kacha, Prague (1934), reprinted Polná (1999) * ''Adalbert Stifter in Selbstzeugnissen und Bilddokumenten'', Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg (1965) * ''Jodel-Franz'', (with Billy Dongen). Munich: Ed. Insel-Ton, (1955) * ''Adalbert Stifter: Geschichte seines Lebens'', Francke, Bern (1958) * ''Frau Wernicke: Kommentare einer "Volksjenossin'', Uwe Naumann (Ed.), persona verlag, Mannheim (1990)

Bibliography

* Werner Röder,

Herbert A. Strauss Herbert Arthur Strauss (1 June 1918, Würzburg, Germany – 11 March 2005, New York, NY) was a German-born American historian. Life Strauss spent his youth in his home town of Würzburg, Bavaria. After school he began a commercial apprenticeshi ...

, Institut für Zeitgeschichte München (publisher.), ''Biographisches Handbuch der deutschsprachigen Emigration nach 1933.'' (International biographical dictionary of Central European émigrés 1933–1945.) 4 Volumes, Saur, Munich (1983). * Joseph Walk (Ed.), ''Kurzbiographien zur Geschichte der Juden 1918–1945''

Leo Baeck Institute The Leo Baeck Institute, established in 1955, is an international research institute with centres in New York City, London, Jerusalem and Berlin, that are devoted to the study of the history and culture of German-speaking Jewry. The institute was ...

, Jerusalem. Munich: Saur (1988) * Joachim W. Storck, "Adalbert Stifter im Exil. Urban Roedl (Bruno Adler) als Stifter-Biograph und Stifter-Interpret", in: Johann Lachinger (Ed.), ''Adalbert Stifter – Studien zu seiner Rezeption und Wirkung'', Kolloquium II Schriftenreihe of the Adalbert Stifter Institute, Upper Austria; 40 (2002) * Ulrike Wendland, ''Biographisches Handbuch deutschsprachiger Kunsthistoriker im Exil. Leben und Werk der unter dem Nationalsozialismus verfolgten und vertriebenen Wissenschaftler''. Saur, Munich (1999)

References

External links

* * Detlef Färber
''Ein Weltstar kam aus Halle''
''Mitteldeutsche Zeitung'' (14 November 2007). Retrieved 28 October 2011 * W. Bernhard
''Für Urban Roedl''
''Die Zeit'', (11 October 1963), No. 41. Retrieved 28 October 2011 * ''Roedl, Urban 1889?–1968'' a
worldcat
* Werner Eugen Mosse (ed.)
''Second Chance: Two Centuries of German-speaking Jews in the United Kingdom''
J.C.B. Mohr, Tübingen, Germany (1991), p. 149. Retrieved 20 October 2011 {{DEFAULTSORT:Adler, Bruno 1888 births 1968 deaths Writers from Karlovy Vary German art historians Staff of Bunce Court School Academic staff of the Bauhaus German male non-fiction writers Czech Jews Emigrants from Austria-Hungary to Germany Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United Kingdom