Hermann Fernau (born 1883 or 1884) was a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

lawyer, writer, journalist and pacifist.

Biography

Fernau was born in Breslau (now called

Wrocław Wrocław is a city in southwestern Poland, and the capital of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. It is the largest city and historical capital of the region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the Oder River in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Eu ...

), in the

Prussian Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, the House of Hohenzoll ...

Province of Silesia The Province of Silesia (; ; ) was a province of Prussia from 1815 to 1919. The Silesia region was part of the Prussian realm since 1742 and established as an official province in 1815, then became part of the German Empire in 1871. In 1919, as ...

. From 1905 he lived as a writer and journalist in Paris - he was a passionate pacifist and a

Francophile A Francophile is a person who has a strong affinity towards any or all of the French language, History of France, French history, Culture of France, French culture and/or French people. That affinity may include France itself or its history, lang ...

. When war broke out in 1914 he was convinced that Germany was guilty of provoking the war. However, in May of the following year he was deported to Switzerland. In May 1916 he settled in

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

, where he joined the German-exile pacifist community. In his books and newspaper articles he opposed the war and called for an end to the German monarchy. He was accused by the German authorities of writing the book ''J'Accuse'', condemning the actions of the German Empire, which in fact had been written by his fellow pacifist Richard Grelling.

Selected works

* Gustave Hervé: ''Elsaß-Lothringen und die deutsch-französische Verständigung. Translated by and with a forward from Hermann Fernau''. Duncker & Humblot, Munich, Leipzig 1913 * ''Die französische Demokratie, sozialpolitische Studien aus Frankreichs Kulturwerkstatt''. Duncker & Humblot, Munich, Leipzig 191
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* ''Gerade weil ich Deutscher bin! Eine Klarstellung der in dem Buche „J'accuse“ aufgerollten Schuldfrage''. Orell Füßli, Zürich 1916 ** ''Because I am a German''. Edited with an introduction by T.W. Rolleston. Constable, London 191
Digitalisat

References

1880s births Lawyers from Wrocław German pacifists 20th-century German writers Year of death missing 20th-century German male writers Journalists from Wrocław {{Germany-writer-stub

Biography

Selected works

See also

References