Grete Reiner (20 November 1885 – 8 March 1944) was an Austrian-Czech magazine editor and writer, who is notable for being the first translator of '' The Good Soldier Schwejk'', the antimilitarist satirical novel by

Jaroslav Hašek Jaroslav Hašek (; 1883–1923) was a Czechs, Czech writer, Humorism, humorist, Satire, satirist, journalist, Bohemianism, bohemian, first anarchist and then communist, and commissar of the Red Army against the Czechoslovak Legion. He is best k ...

. Her 1926 translation of ''Schwejk'' from the original Czech into German (or what was known as Prager Deutsch or Pražská Němčina) was highly prized by many including

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

Erwin Piscator Erwin Friedrich Maximilian Piscator (17 December 1893 – 30 March 1966) was a German theatre director and Theatrical producer, producer. Along with Bertolt Brecht, he was the foremost exponent of epic theatre, a form that emphasizes the socio- ...

in Berlin, who used it as the basis for a play in 1928. Reiner's work, ''Die Abenteuer des braven Soldaten Schwejk'' was followed by an abridged English translation by

Paul Selver (Percy) Paul Selver (22 March 1888 – 6 April 1970) was an English writer and translator. A prolific translator of Czech literature into English, he was best known as the translator of Karel Čapek.Robert M. Philmus, 'Matters of Translation ...

in 1930. Reiner was born in Prague under the name Grete Stein. After her second marriage to Dr. Karel Reiner (1897 – 1943), she was also known as Grete Reinerová (Czech name) or Markéta Reinerová, as well as Greta Reiner-Straschnow (because she had a son with her first husband JUDr. Oskar Straschnow, named Kurt (1911 – 1999)). Reiner was executive editor of an anti-fascist émigré magazine in Prague called ''Deutsche Volkszeitung'' and was approached by

Max Brod Max Brod (; 27 May 1884 – 20 December 1968) was a Bohemian-born Israeli author, composer, and journalist. He is notable for promoting the work of writer Franz Kafka and composer Leoš Janáček. Although he was a prolific writer in his ow ...

, editor of

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 ...

's works, to translate ''The Good Soldier Schwejk''. On its publication in 1921–23, Max Brod had immediately recognised ''Schwejk'' as a major work of literature, and had tried to translate a portion of it into German himself in the weeks following Hašek's death in 1923. Greta Reiner's full translation was published in 1926. Brod subsequently created a German play from the novel, collaborating with Hans Reimann. According to the ''Biographia Judaica Bohemiae'', on 22 December 1942, Grete Reiner was deported to the Sammellager in Terezín (Theresienstadt) as a result of the Nazi measures for the "final solution of the Jewish question", and from there on 6 September 1943, to KZ Auschwitz. Unless she fell victim to other abuse, Grete Reiner was gassed with the entire transport on the night of 8–9 March 1944. Much of the scant information about Grete Reiner comes from another writer in Prague at the time called Lenka Reinerová (no relation), who became the ''grande dame'' of Prague's German-language literature. At the age of 19 Lenka was asked to take Greta Reiner's place as editor of ''Deutsche Volkszeitung'' and was the only member of her family to survive the Holocaust.

References

External links

The Adventures of...Hasek's Comic MasterpieceLenka Reinerova interview on Czech Radio (English)Obit of Lenka Reinerova
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reiner, Grete 1892 births 1944 deaths Czech translators 20th-century translators Czech magazine editors Czech women magazine editors Czech people who died in Auschwitz concentration camp 20th-century women writers Czech Jews who died in the Holocaust Jewish women writers Jewish Czech writers