Franz Viktor Werfel (; 10 September 1890 – 26 August 1945) was an

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

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 ...

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while other ...

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes play (theatre), plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for Theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Readin ...

, and

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

whose career spanned

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 ...

, the

Interwar period In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period, also known as the interbellum (), lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days) – from the end of World War I (WWI) to the beginning of World War II ( ...

, and

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 ...

. He is primarily known as the author of '' The Forty Days of Musa Dagh'' (1933, English tr. 1934, 2012), a novel based on events that took place during the

Armenian genocide The Armenian genocide was the systematic destruction of the Armenians, Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Spearheaded by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), it was implemented primarily t ...

of 1915, and '' The Song of Bernadette'' (1941), a novel about the life and visions of the French Catholic saint

Bernadette Soubirous Bernadette Soubirous, Sisters of Charity of Nevers, SCN (; ; ; 7 January 184416 April 1879), also known as Bernadette of Lourdes (religious name, in religion Sister Marie-Bernarde), was a miller's daughter from Lourdes ( in Occitan), in the Dep ...

, which was made into a Hollywood film of the same

name A name is a term used for identification by an external observer. They can identify a class or category of things, or a single thing, either uniquely, or within a given context. The entity identified by a name is called its referent. A person ...

Early life

Born in

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 ...

(then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire), now the capital of the Czech Republic, Werfel was the first of three children of a wealthy manufacturer of gloves and leather goods, Rudolf Werfel. His mother, Albine Kussi, was the daughter of a mill owner. His two sisters were Hanna (born 1896) and Marianne Amalie (born 1899). His family was

Jew Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...

ish. As a child, Werfel was raised by his Czech Catholic governess, Barbara Šimůnková, who often took him to

mass Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...

in Prague's main cathedral. Like the children of other progressive German-speaking Jews in Prague, Werfel was educated at a Catholic school run by the Piarists, a teaching order that allowed for a

rabbi A rabbi (; ) is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi—known as ''semikha''—following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of t ...

to instruct Jewish students for their '' bar mitzvahs''. This, along with his governess's influence, gave Werfel an early interest (and expertise) in

Catholicism The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

, which soon branched out to other faiths, including

Theosophy Theosophy is a religious movement established in the United States in the late 19th century. Founded primarily by the Russian Helena Blavatsky and based largely on her writings, it draws heavily from both older European philosophies such as Neop ...

and

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

, such that his fiction, as well as his nonfiction, provides some insight into comparative religion.

Career

Werfel began writing at an early age and, by 1911, had published his first book of poems, ''Der Weltfreund'', which can be translated as "the friend to the world" as well as philanthropist, humanitarian, and the like. By this time, Werfel had befriended other German Jewish writers who frequented Prague's , chief among them Max Brod and

Franz Kafka Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a novelist and writer from Prague who was Jewish, Austrian, and Czech and wrote in German. He is widely regarded as a major figure of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of Litera ...

, and his poetry was praised by such critics as Karl Kraus, who published Werfel's early poems in Kraus's journal, ''Die Fackel'' (The Torch). In 1912, Werfel moved to Leipzig, where he became an editor for Kurt Wolff's new publishing firm, where Werfel championed and edited Georg Trakl's first book of poetry. While he lived in Germany, Werfel's milieu grew to include Else Lasker-Schüler, Martin Buber,

Rainer Maria Rilke René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke (4 December 1875 – 29 December 1926), known as Rainer Maria Rilke, was an Austrian poet and novelist. Acclaimed as an Idiosyncrasy, idiosyncratic and expressive poet, he is widely recognized as ...

, among other German-language writers, poets, and intellectuals in the first decades of the twentieth century. With the outbreak of World War I, Werfel served in the Austro-Hungarian Army on the Russian front"Franz Werfel", U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum
/ref> as a telephone operator. His duties both exposed him to the vicissitudes of

total war Total war is a type of warfare that includes any and all (including civilian-associated) resources and infrastructure as legitimate military targets, mobilises all of the resources of society to fight the war, and gives priority to warfare ov ...

as well as provided him with enough of a haven to continue writing Expressionist poems, ambitious plays, and letters voluminously. His eclectic mix of

humanism Humanism is a philosophy, philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential, and Agency (philosophy), agency of human beings, whom it considers the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The me ...

, confessionalism, autobiography, as well as mythology and religiosity developed further during this time. His poems and plays ranged from scenes of

ancient Egypt Ancient Egypt () was a cradle of civilization concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in Northeast Africa. It emerged from prehistoric Egypt around 3150BC (according to conventional Egyptian chronology), when Upper and Lower E ...

(notably the potentially monotheistic religion of

Akhenaton Akhenaten (pronounced ), also spelled Akhenaton or Echnaton ( ''ʾŪḫə-nə-yātəy'', , meaning 'Effective for the Aten'), was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh reigning or 1351–1334 BC, the tenth ruler of the Eighteenth Dynasty. Before the ...

) to occult allusions (Werfel had participated in séances with his friends Brod and Kafka) and incorporate a parable from the

Baháʼí Faith The Baháʼí Faith is a religion founded in the 19th century that teaches the Baháʼí Faith and the unity of religion, essential worth of all religions and Baháʼí Faith and the unity of humanity, the unity of all people. Established by ...

in the poem "Jesus and the Carrion Path". His bias for Christian subjects, as well as his antipathy for

Zionism Zionism is an Ethnic nationalism, ethnocultural nationalist movement that emerged in History of Europe#From revolution to imperialism (1789–1914), Europe in the late 19th century that aimed to establish and maintain a national home for the ...

, eventually alienated many of his Jewish friends and readers, including early champions such as Karl Kraus. Others, however, stood by him, including Martin Buber, who published a sequence of poems from Werfel's wartime manuscript, ''Der Gerichtstag'' (Judgment Day, published in 1919) in his monthly journal, ''Der Jude'' (''The Jew''). and wrote of Werfel in his prefatory remark:

Since I was first moved by his poems, I have opened (knowing well, I should say, it's a problem) the gates of my invisible garden .e., an imaginarium">imaginarium.html" ;"title=".e., an imaginarium">.e., an imaginariumto him, and now he can do nothing for all eternity that would bring me to banish him from it. Compare, if you will, a real person to an anecdotal one, a late book to an earlier, the one you see to you yourself; but I am not putting a value on a poet, only recognizing that he is one—and the way he is one.

In the summer of 1917, Werfel left the frontline for the Military Press Bureau in Vienna, where he joined other notable Austrian writers serving as propagandists, among them Robert Musil, Rilke, Hugo von Hofmannsthal, and Franz Blei. Through the latter, Werfel met and fell in love with Alma Mahler, widow of Gustav Mahler, the former lover of the painter Oskar Kokoschka, and the wife of the

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

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 ...

, then serving in the Imperial German Army on the Western Front. Alma, who was also a composer, had already set one of Werfel's poems to music, despite Werfel's being much younger, shorter, and having Jewish features that she, being both anti-Semitic and attracted to Jewish men, initially found distasteful. Their love affair culminated in the premature birth of a son, Martin, in August 1918. Martin, who was given the surname of Gropius, died in May of the following year. Despite attempts to save his marriage to Alma, with whom he had a young daughter, Manon, Gropius reluctantly agreed to a divorce in 1920. Ironically, Alma refused to marry Werfel for the next nine years. However, Alma, more so than with her first two husbands and lovers, lent herself to the development of Werfel's career and influenced it in such a way that he became an accomplished playwright and novelist as well as poet. They married on 6 July 1929. Schillerpark 20

In April 1924, ''Verdi – Roman der Oper'' (Novel of the Opera) was published by Zsolnay Verlag, establishing Werfel's reputation as a novelist. In 1926, Werfel was awarded the Grillparzer Prize by the Austrian Academy of Sciences, and in Berlin, Max Reinhardt performed his play ''Juarez and Maximilian'' (depicting the struggle in 1860's

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

between the Republican leader Benito Juárez and the French-backed Emperor Maximilian). By the end of the decade, Werfel had become one of the most important and established writers in German and Austrian literature and had already merited one full-length critical biography. Werfel's journey (with his wife Alma) in 1930, to British-ruled Palestine, and his encounter with the Armenian refugee community in Jerusalem, inspired his novel '' The Forty Days of Musa Dagh'' which drew world attention to the

by the Ottoman government. Werfel lectured on this subject across Germany. The Nazi newspaper '' Das Schwarze Korps'' denounced him as a propagandist of "alleged Turkish horrors perpetrated against the Armenians". The same newspaper, suggesting a link between the Armenian and the later Jewish genocide, condemned "America's Armenian Jews for promoting in the U.S.A. the sale of Werfel's book". Werfel was forced to leave the Prussian Academy of Arts in 1933. His books were burned by the Nazis. Werfel left Austria after the

Anschluss The (, or , ), also known as the (, ), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into Nazi Germany on 12 March 1938. The idea of an (a united Austria and Germany that would form a "German Question, Greater Germany") arose after t ...

in 1938 and went to France, where they lived in a fishing village near Marseille. Visitors to their home at this time included

Bertolt Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known as Bertolt Brecht and Bert Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a p ...

and

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 ...

. After the German invasion and occupation of France during World War II, and the deportation of French Jews to the

Nazi concentration camps From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany operated more than a thousand concentration camps (), including subcamp (SS), subcamps on its own territory and in parts of German-occupied Europe. The first camps were established in March 1933 immediately af ...

, Werfel had to flee again. With the assistance of Varian Fry and the Emergency Rescue Committee in

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 ...

, he and his wife narrowly escaped the Nazi regime, finding shelter for five weeks in the pilgrimage town of Lourdes. He also received much help and kindness from the Catholic orders that staffed the shrine. He vowed to write about the experience and, safe in the United States, he published '' The Song of Bernadette'' in 1941. Fry and Unitarian Waitstill Sharp organized a secret crossing over the Pyrenees on foot. Assisted by Justus Rosenberg, they went to Madrid and then traveled on to Portugal. They stayed in Monte Estoril, at the Grande Hotel D'Itália, between 8 September and 4 October 1940. On the same day they checked out, they boarded the ''S.S. Nea Hellas'' headed for New York City, arriving on 13 October. Werfel and his family settled in Los Angeles, where they met other German and Austrian emigrants, such as Mann, Reinhardt, and Erich Wolfgang Korngold as well as Czech (as Werfel was Czechoslovak citizen). In southern California, Werfel wrote his final play, ''Jacobowsky and the Colonel'' (''Jacobowsky und der Oberst'') which was made into the 1958 film '' Me and the Colonel'' starring Danny Kaye; Giselher Klebe's

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

'' Jacobowsky und der Oberst'' (1965) is also based on this play. Before his death, he completed the first draft of his last novel ''Star of the Unborn'' (''Stern der Ungeborenen''), which was published posthumously in 1946.

Death

Franz Werfel died of heart failure in Los Angeles in 1945 and was interred there in the Rosedale Cemetery. However, his body was returned in 1975 to Vienna for reburial in the Zentralfriedhof.

Honours and awards

* 1926 Grillparzer Prize * 1927 Czechoslovak State Award * 1930 Schiller Prize * 1937 Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art, 1st class * 1949 Naming of Werfelstrasse in Hernals (Vienna) * 1975 Grave of honor () in the Zentralfriedhof (Vienna) * 1990 Stamp Austria, Franz Werfel 1890–1945 * 1995 Stamp Germany, Franz Werfel, 50th anniversary of Werfel's death * 1995 Stamp Armenia, Franz Werfel and 40 Days of Musa Dagh Hero * 2000 Monument on Schillerplatz in Vienna * 2006 Posthumous Award of Armenian Honorary Citizenship; the plaque was presented to the Austrian National Library.

Bibliography

In English (some of these titles are out of print): *''Mirror-Man: A Magic Trilogy'' (''Spiegelmensch: Magische Trilogie'') (1920), play *''The Trojans'' (1922) Play Published by Kurt Wolff as ''Die Troerinnen''. *''Verdi. Novel of the Opera'' (1924), novel *''Juarez and Maximilian'' (1925), play *''Paul Among the Jews: A Tragedy'' (1926), play *''The Man Who Conquered Death'' (''Der Tod des Kleinbürgers'') (1928), short story *'' Class Reunion'' (''Der Abituriententag'') (1928), novel (translated into English by Whittaker Chambers) *'' The Forty Days of Musa Dagh'' (1933; revised and expanded edition, 2012), novel *''Hearken Unto the Voice'', or ''Listen to the Voice'', or ''Jeremiah'' (''Höret die Stimme'', or ''Jeremias'') (1937), novel *''Embezzled Heaven'' (''Der veruntreute Himmel'') (1939), novel *'' The Song of Bernadette'' (1941), novel *''Pale Blue Ink in a Lady's Hand'' (''Eine blass-blaue Frauenschrift'') (1941; 2012), novella *''Jacobowsky und der Oberst'' (1944), play *''Star of the Unborn'' (1945/46), science-fiction novel *''Verdi: The Man and His Letters'', with Paul Stefan. New York, Vienna House 1973 *''Totentanz: 50 zeitlose Gedichte'', editor Martin Werhand. Melsbach, Martin Werhand Verlag 2016

Adaptations of Werfel works

Film

*'' Juarez'', directed by

William Dieterle William Dieterle (July 15, 1893 – December 9, 1972) was a German-born actor and film director who emigrated to the United States in 1930 to leave a worsening political situation. He worked in Cinema of the United States, Hollywood primarily a ...

(1939, based on the play ''Juarez and Maximilian'') *'' The Song of Bernadette'', directed by Henry King (1943, based on the novel '' The Song of Bernadette'') *'' Me and the Colonel'', directed by Peter Glenville (1958, based on the play ') *', directed by Ernst Marischka (West Germany, 1958, based on the novel ''Embezzled Heaven'') *'' The Forty Days of Musa Dagh'', directed by Sarky Mouradian (1982, based on the novel '' The Forty Days of Musa Dagh'')

Television

*''Die wahre Geschichte vom geschändeten und wiederhergestellten Kreuz'', directed by (West Germany, 1963, TV film, based on the eponymous story) *''Jacobowsky and the Colonel'', directed by (West Germany, 1967, TV film, based on the play ') *''The Man Who Conquered Death'', directed by Hans Hollmann (West Germany/Austria, 1974, TV film, based on the story ') *''Class Reunion'', directed by (West Germany, 1974, TV film, based on the novel '' Class Reunion'') *''Cella oder Die Überwinder'', directed by (West Germany/Austria, 1978, TV film, based on the unfinished novel ''Cella oder Die Überwinder'') *', directed by (East Germany, 1978, TV film, based on the eponymous story) *', directed by Axel Corti (Austria, 1984, TV film, based on the story ') *''Jacobowsky and the Colonel'', directed by Martin Huba (Czechoslovakia, 1987, TV film, based on the play ') *''Embezzled Heaven'', directed by Ottokar Runze (Germany, 1990, TV film, based on the novel ''Embezzled Heaven'') *''Class Reunion'', directed by (Czech Republic, 2000, TV film, based on the novel '' Class Reunion'')

Theatre

*'' Jacobowsky and the Colonel,'' 1944, adaptation of ' by playwright

S. N. Behrman Samuel Nathaniel Behrman (; June 9, 1893 – September 9, 1973) was an American playwright, screenwriter, biographer, and longtime writer for ''The New Yorker''. His son is the composer David Behrman. Biography Early years Behrman's parents, Z ...

. Opened at the Martin Beck Theatre in New York City. *''

The Grand Tour ''The Grand Tour'' is a British motoring television series, created by Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, James May, and Andy Wilman, for Amazon Prime Video, and premiered on 18 November 2016. The programme was devised in the wake of the depar ...

'', 1979, Broadway musical with music and lyrics by Jerry Herman, based on the play ''Jacobowsky and the Colonel'' (''Jakobowsky und der Oberst, de'')

References

External links

* * * *
Mahler-Werfel papers
Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania.
Franz Werfel Papers at UCLA

Franz Werfel Family Papers at the Leo Baeck Institute, NY

by Bertold Hummel after the novel ''Jeremias'' by Franz Werfel {{DEFAULTSORT:Werfel, Franz 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American poets 20th-century American short story writers 20th-century Austrian dramatists and playwrights 20th-century Austrian male writers 20th-century Austrian novelists 20th-century Austrian poets American historical novelists American male dramatists and playwrights American male poets American male short story writers American science fiction writers American writers in German Austrian historical novelists Austrian male dramatists and playwrights Austrian male poets Austrian male short story writers Austrian science fiction writers Austrian World War I poets Expressionist poets German-language poets Exilliteratur writers Jewish American novelists Jewish American poets Jewish American short story writers Jewish Austrian writers Recipients of the Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art, 1st class World War II poets Writers from Austria-Hungary Writers from Prague Burials at the Vienna Central Cemetery Austro-Hungarian military personnel of World War I Jewish emigrants from Austria after the Anschluss to the United States Jews from Austria-Hungary 20th-century American Jews 20th-century Austrian Jews 1890 births 1945 deaths