Franz Schoenberner (December 18, 1892April 11, 1970) was a German editor and writer.

Life and works

Franz Schoenberner grew up as the eleventh child of a pastor 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 ...

. From 1911 to 1914, he studied literature and art history in Berlin 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 ...

. From 1923 to 1925, he was editor of the ''Auslandpost'', the literary supplement of the ''

Allgemeine Zeitung The ''Allgemeine Zeitung'' was the leading political daily journal in Germany in the first part of the 19th century. It has been widely recognised as the first world-class German journal and a symbol of the German press abroad. The ''Allgemein ...

'' and the weekly radio '' Süddeutscher Rundfunk''. In 1927, he was the successor of

Georg Hirth Georg Hirth (13 July 1841 in Tonna, Germany, Tonna – 28 March 1916 in Tegernsee) was a German writer, journalist and publisher. He is best known for founding the cultural magazine ''Jugend (magazine), Jugend'' in 1896, which was instrumental ...

as editor of the

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau ( ; ; ), Jugendstil and Sezessionstil in German, is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. It was often inspired by natural forms such as the sinuous curves of plants and ...

journal ''Jugend''. Schoenberner became an associate of

Thomas Theodor Heine Thomas Theodor Heine (28 February 1867 – 26 January 1948) was a German painter, illustrator and cartoonist. Born in Leipzig, Heine established himself as a gifted caricaturist at an early age, which led to him studying art at the Kunstakademie ...

and from November 1929 to March 1933, the last editor of ''

Simplicissimus :''Simplicissimus is also a name for the 1668 novel ''Der abenteuerliche Simplicissimus, Simplicius Simplicissimus'' and its protagonist.'' ''Simplicissimus'' () was a German language, German weekly satire, satirical magazine, founded by Albert ...

'', before Hitler's seizure of power. The editors and authors of ''Simplicissimus'' came into conflict with the Nazi's and many fled Germany for their lives. Schoenberner and his wife, novelist Ellie Nerac, followed Heine on 20 March 1933 to exile in Switzerland and then to France where he lived in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin on the

French Riviera The French Riviera, known in French as the (; , ; ), is the Mediterranean coastline of the southeast corner of France. There is no official boundary, but it is considered to be the coastal area of the Alpes-Maritimes department, extending fr ...

. During this time he published articles in

Klaus Mann Klaus Heinrich Thomas Mann (18 November 1906 – 21 May 1949) was a German writer and dissident. He was the son of Thomas Mann, a nephew of Heinrich Mann and brother of Erika Mann (with whom he maintained a lifelong close relationship) and Go ...

's exile magazine ''Die Sammlung'' and the social democratic '' Zurcher Zeitung''. After war broke out in 1939, he was re-located to France, where he was interned as an "alien enemy". His detention camp was the former brick works Les Milles, in

Toulon Toulon (, , ; , , ) is a city in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of southeastern France. Located on the French Riviera and the historical Provence, it is the prefecture of the Var (department), Var department. The Commune of Toulon h ...

. There he met many artists and writers, such as

Max Ernst Max Ernst (; 2 April 1891 – 1 April 1976) was a German-born painter, sculptor, printmaker, graphic artist, and poet. A prolific artist, Ernst was a primary pioneer of the Dada movement and surrealism in Europe. He had no formal artistic trai ...

Walter Hasenclever Walter Georg Alfred Hasenclever (8 July 1890 – 22 June 1940) was a German Jewish Expressionist poet and playwright. His works were banned when the Nazis came to power and he went into exile in France. There he was imprisoned as a "foreign e ...

and

Lion Feuchtwanger Lion Feuchtwanger (; 7 July 1884 – 21 December 1958) was a German Jewish novelist and playwright. A prominent figure in the literary world of Weimar Republic, Weimar Germany, he influenced contemporaries including playwright Bertolt Brecht. ...

. In 1941, he fled with the help of the refugee organization "

Emergency Rescue Committee Varian Mackey Fry (October 15, 1907 – September 13, 1967) was an American journalist. Fry ran a rescue network in Vichy France from August 1940 to September 1941 that helped 2,000 anti-Nazi and Jewish refugees, mostly artists and intellec ...

" to

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

, then

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

and on 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 ...

. In New York he published the first volume of his memoirs ''Confessions of a European Intellectual'' (1946) which described his years in Germany. The second volume, ''The Inside Story of an Outsider'', was published in 1949, about his eight years in exile. In 1951, he fell down a flight of stairs after an assault, and spent rest of his life in a wheelchair paralyzed from the waist down. His experience and thoughts were worked into the third volume of his memoirs, ''You Still Have Your Head: Excursions from Immobility''. In 1965 Schoenberner returned to Germany on a visit, after 32 years away from his home country. He died in 1970, in

Teaneck, New Jersey Teaneck () is a Township (New Jersey), township in Bergen County, New Jersey, Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is a bedroom community in the New York metropolitan area. The town is know for their pancake throwing contest held ...

Works

*''Confessions of a European Intellectual''. New York: MacMillan 1946. *''The Inside Story of an Outsider''. New York: MacMillan 1949. *''You Still Have Your Head: Excursions from Immobility''. New York: MacMillan 1957. *''Der Weg der Vernunft und andere Aufsätze''. Icking und München: Kreisselmeier Verlag 1969.

References

External links

Register of the Franz Schoenberner Papers, 1899-1970
Hoover Institution Archives
Franz Schoenberner: An Inventory of His Correspondence
at the

Harry Ransom Center The Harry Ransom Center, known as the Humanities Research Center until 1983, is an archive, library, and museum at the University of Texas at Austin, specializing in the collection of literary and cultural artifacts from the Americas and Europe ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schoenberner, Franz 1890 births 1970 deaths Journalists from Berlin German male journalists Allgemeine Zeitung people Emigrants from Nazi Germany to France German male writers