Ludwig Winder (7 February 1889 in

Šafov Šafov () is a municipality and village in Znojmo District in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 100 inhabitants. Šafov lies approximately west of Znojmo, south-west of Brno, and south-east of Prague. Demographics ...

– 16 June 1946 in

Baldock Baldock ( ) is a historic market town in the North Hertfordshire district of Hertfordshire, England. The River Ivel rises from springs in the town. It lies north of London and north northwest of the county town of Hertford. Nearby towns inc ...

) was an Austrian-Czech German-language writer, journalist and literary critic. He escaped Nazi persecution at the start of

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 ...

when he and his family moved to the UK where he spent his last years.

Life

Ludwig Winder was born in 1889 in

Moravia Moravia ( ; ) is a historical region in the eastern Czech Republic, roughly encompassing its territory within the Danube River's drainage basin. It is one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia. The medieval and early ...

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...

, the son of a Jewish family, but grew up in nearby

Holešov Holešov (; ) is a town in Kroměříž District in the Zlín Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 12,000 inhabitants. The historic town centre with the castle complex is well preserved and is protected as an urban monument zone. Administra ...

, where he was brought up in a strictly religious atmosphere. In 1906 he published his first poetry book at his own expense. After moving to Vienna in 1907 he worked for the liberal newspaper ''Die Zeit'' after completing his matriculation examination before joining the editorial staff of the nationalist '' Deutsche Zeitung Bohemia'' in Prague. He belonged to the so-called "

Prague Circle Prague ( ; ) is the capital and 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 metropolitan area is home to approximately 2.3 mi ...

" of writers which included

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 was a close friend of the journalist and philosopher

Felix Weltsch Felix Weltsch (; 6 October 1884, Prague – 9 November 1964, Jerusalem) was a German language, German-speaking Jewish librarian, philosopher, author, editor, publisher and journalist. A close friend of Max Brod, Ludwig Winder and Franz Kafka, ...

and the writers

Oskar Baum Oskar Baum (21 January 1883 – 20 March 1941) was a Czech music educator and writer in the German language. Life Baum was born on 21 January 1883 in Plzeň, as the son of a Jewish cloth goods merchant. He had vision problems from the time o ...

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 ...

Johannes Urzidil Johannes Urzidil (3 February 1896 in Prague – 2 November 1970 in Rome) was a German-Bohemian writer, poet and historian. His father was a German Bohemian and his mother was Jewish. Life Urzidil was educated in Prague, studying German, art hi ...

and

Ilse Aichinger Ilse Aichinger (1 November 1921 – 11 November 2016) was an Austrians, Austrian writer known for her accounts of her persecution by the Nazis because of her Jewish ancestry.

.Ludwig Winder - Jewish Virtual Library
/ref> He worked for various newspapers as an editor, literary critic, local journalist, theatre lecturer, etc. Between 1915 and 1938 he wrote over 2,500 feature articles for the newspaper ''Deutsche Zeitung Bohemia'' in Prague. In 1917 Winder published his first novel, ''Die rasende Rotationsmaschine'' which examined the difficulties faced by Jews from religious eastern communities in integrating themselves into modern western society. His semi-autobiographical novels ''Die juedische Orgel'' (1922) and ''Hugo: Tragoedie eines Knaben'' (1924) concern the battle of young eastern Jews for a secular existence. His play ''The Woman Without Qualities'' was used by

Robert Musil Robert Musil (; 6 November 1880 – 15 April 1942) was an Austrian philosophical writer. His unfinished novel, ''The Man Without Qualities'' (), is generally considered to be one of the most important and influential modernist novels. Family M ...

as a model for his opus magnum ''Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften''. In 1934 he was awarded the State Prize of the Czechoslovak Republic for German-language literature. His later novels were concerned with the history and downfall of the

Habsburg monarchy The Habsburg monarchy, also known as Habsburg Empire, or Habsburg Realm (), was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities (composite monarchy) that were ruled by the House of Habsburg. From the 18th century it is ...

: these included ''Die Nachgeholten Freuden'' (1927) and ''Der Kammerdiener'' (1945), while his 1937 novel ''Der Thronfolger'' (''The Heir to the Throne'') was critical of the

Archduke Franz Ferdinand Archduke Franz Ferdinand Carl Ludwig Joseph Maria of Austria (18 December 1863 – 28 June 1914) was the heir presumptive to the throne of Austria-Hungary. His assassination in Sarajevo was the most immediate cause of World War I. Fran ...

and was banned shortly after its publication. Particularly noteworthy is his novel ''The Jewish Organ'' (1922), which appeared in a new edition in 2001. The story of the Jew Albert, who grows up in the Jewish ghetto of a small town in Moravia takes up the classical themes of romanticism such as the fight against the father and self-realization through detachment from the family. After the

German occupation of Czechoslovakia 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 ...

Ludwig Winder fled on 29 June 1939 with his wife Hedwig (1891–1987) and their older daughter

Marianne Winder Marianne Winder (10 September 1918 – 6 April 2001) was a Czech-British specialist in Middle High German and a librarian at the Institute of Germanic Studies at the University of London. She later was associated for more than thirty years wi ...

through Poland and Scandinavia to England. The younger daughter Eva, born in 1920, chose to remain in Prague. She died in 1945 in the concentration camp at

Bergen-Belsen Bergen-Belsen (), or Belsen, was a Nazi concentration camp in what is today Lower Saxony in Northern Germany, northern Germany, southwest of the town of Bergen, Lower Saxony, Bergen near Celle. Originally established as a prisoner of war camp, ...

.Nigel Allan
'Marianne Winder'
''Medical History'', Vol. 45, No. 4, October 2001, p. 533-535 - accessed September 28, 2019)Obituary for Marianne Winder - ''Buddhist Studies Review'', Vol 19, Issue 1 (2002) pg. 56-57
/ref> Six weeks after their arrival in England the Winders were evacuated to

Reigate Reigate ( ) is a town status in the United Kingdom, town in Surrey, England, around south of central London. The settlement is recorded in Domesday Book of 1086 as ''Cherchefelle'', and first appears with its modern name in the 1190s. The ea ...

, where they lived in a refugee hostel for Czechs and where Marianne Winder was registered as a student aged 18. When the hostel was closed in 1941, the family moved to

, then a small village in

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...

. In England Winder also worked in newspapers and continued to write novels under the two

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true meaning ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individual's o ...

s Herbert Moldau and G. A. List, under the latter name writing ''One Man's Answer'' and published by George G. Harrap in 1944. Other novels from this period include ''Die November-wolke'' (1942), a story about emigrants during a night-bombing raid in London, and ''Die Pflicht'' (1943 but only fully published in 1988) was probably commissioned by the

Czechoslovak government-in-exile The Czechoslovak government-in-exile, sometimes styled officially as the Provisional Government of Czechoslovakia (; ), was an informal title conferred upon the Czechoslovak National Liberation Committee (; ), initially by Government of the Unit ...

and dealt with the themes of domination, power and oppression faced by Czech resistance against their German invaders. In the summer of 1941 Ludwig Winder was diagnosed with

coronary thrombosis Coronary thrombosis is defined as the formation of a blood clot inside a blood vessel of the heart. This blood clot may then restrict blood flow within the heart, leading to heart tissue damage, or a myocardial infarction, also known as a heart ...

and he succumbed to his heart disease in

on 16 June 1946 aged 57. His ashes were buried in London.Margarita Pazi
'Ein Versuch jüdischer deutsch-tschechischer Symbiose: Ludwig Winder'
''The German Quarterly'', Vol. 63, No. 2, Focus: Jews and Germans/Jewish-German Literature (Spring, 1990), pp. 211-221

Works (reprints)

* ''Dr. Muff''. Novel. Zsolnay, Vienna 1990, . * ''The Jewish Organ''. Novel. Residence, Salzburg 1999, . * ''The Heir to the Throne: A Franz Ferdinand Romance''. Zsolnay, Vienna 2014, .

Literature

* Jindra Broukalová: Ludwig Winder as a poet of the human soul and reality. A contribution to the contemplation of the novel "The heir to the throne, a Franz Ferdinand novel" in the context of the narrative work of its author. Univ. Karlova, Praha 2008, . * Arno Gassmann : Dear father, dear God? The father-son conflict among the authors of the closer Prague circle (Max Brod - Franz Kafka - Oskar tree - Ludwig Winder). Diss. Karlsruhe 2001, Hedgehog, Oldenburg 2002 (studies to the German literature, literature and media science 83), . * Gerhard Härle : How much beauty does the man need? Ludwig Winders, Hugo '- or the duel of outsiders. In: Forum Homosexuality and Literature 30 (1997), pp. 99–117. * Kurt Krolop : Ludwig Winder (1889-1946). His life and his narrative early work. A contribution to the history of Prague German literature. Hall 1967. * Margarita Pazi : An attempt by Jewish German-Czech symbiosis: Ludwig Winder. In: ''The German Quarterly'' 63/2 (1990), pp. 211–221. * Christiane Spirek: A voice from Bohemia - the Prague author Ludwig Winder. In: Exile 17 (1997), p. 45-55. * Judith von Sternburg: God's evil dreams. The novels of Ludwig Winders. With a preliminary remark by Dieter Sudhoff . Hedgehog, Paderborn 1994. * Patricia-Charlotta Steinfeld d. Ludwig Winder (1889-1946) and the Prague German literature. First full bibliography of the work Ludwig Winder. Röll, Dettelbach 2009. *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Winder, Ludwig 1889 births 1946 deaths People from Znojmo District People from the Margraviate of Moravia Jewish Czech writers Czech male writers Austrian male writers Czech writers in German People of the Prague linguistic circle Jews who immigrated to the United Kingdom to escape Nazism