Rudolf Georg Binding (13 August 1867 – 4 August 1938) was a German writer. During

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 ...

, he served as a cavalry master and

staff officer A military staff or general staff (also referred to as army staff, navy staff, or air staff within the individual services) is a group of officers, enlisted, and civilian staff who serve the commander of a division or other large milita ...

. He was primarily known for his diary which he wrote during his time in the war.

Life

Binfing was born 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 ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

, and died in

Starnberg Starnberg is a Town#Germany, town in Bavaria, Germany, some southwest of Munich. It is at the north end of Lake Starnberg, in the heart of the "Five Lakes Country", and serves as capital of the Starnberg (district), district of Starnberg. Recor ...

. He studied medicine and law before joining the Hussars. On the outbreak of the First World War, Binding, a forty-six years old, became commander of a squadron of

dragoon Dragoons were originally a class of mounted infantry, who used horses for mobility, but dismounted to fight on foot. From the early 17th century onward, dragoons were increasingly also employed as conventional cavalry and trained for combat wi ...

s. Except for a four-month period in Galicia in 1916, Binding spent the war on the Western Front. Binding's diary and letters, ''A Fatalist at War'', was published in 1927. His collected war poems, stories and recollections were not published until after his death in 1938. Binding was never a member of the National Socialist Party and publicly dissociated himself from one of its actions; but his relationship to it was ambiguous, for he saw it at times as an aspect of national revival. In 1928 he won a silver medal in the art competitions of the Olympic Games for his "" (Rider's Instructions to his Lover). From 1933 his private secretary and

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

interpreter was

Elisabeth Jungmann Elisabeth Jungmann, Lady Beerbohm (1894 – 28 December 1958) was an interpreter and the secretary, literary executor and second wife of the writer, caricaturist and parodist Sir Max Beerbohm. Born to a German Jewish family in Lublinitz i ...

a Jewish German. Binding had hoped to marry Jungmann but was prevented from doing so by the

Nuremberg Laws The Nuremberg Laws (, ) were antisemitic and racist laws that were enacted in Nazi Germany on 15 September 1935, at a special meeting of the Reichstag convened during the annual Nuremberg Rally of the Nazi Party. The two laws were the Law ...

. She became the second wife of Sir Max Beerbohm in 1956. In October 1933 Binding signed the declaring loyalty and support to

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

. He was on friendly terms with the English writer

A.P. Herbert Sir Alan Patrick Herbert CH (known as A. P. Herbert; 24 September 1890 – 11 November 1971), was an English humorist, novelist, playwright, law reformist, and, from 1935 to 1950, an independent Member of Parliament for Oxford University. Bo ...

, to whom he was introduced by Wilhelmine

Arnold-Baker The Blumenthal family is a Lutheran and Roman Catholic German noble family, originally from Brandenburg-Prussia. Other (unrelated) families of this name exist in Switzerland and formerly in Russia, and many unrelated families (quite a few of them ...

. They found that they had been within yards of each other in opposite trenches during the war.

Publications

By Rudolf Binding

* ''Aus dem Kriege.'' Rütten & Loening, Frankfurt-am-Main 1925; translated into English as
A Fatalist at War
', Ian F. D. Morrow, tr., Allen & Unwin, London 1929 and Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston and New York 1929 * ''Das grosse Rudolf-G.-Binding-Buch. Eine Auswahl aus dem Werk.''

Bertelsmann The Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA, commonly known as Bertelsmann (), is a German privately held company, private multinational corporation, multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate corporation based in Gütersloh, North Rhine-Westphalia, ...

, München 1979 * ''Der Opfergang. Eine Novelle.'' (53. edition, Insel, Frankfurt am Main 1993 )

About Rudolf Binding

* Traude Stenner: ''Rudolf G. Binding. Leben und Werk.'' Potsdam: Rütten & Loening. 1938. * Anton Mayer: ''Der Göttergleiche. Erinnerungen an Rudolf G. Binding.'' Potsdam: Rütten & Loening. 1939. *

Heinz Millotat The Kraft Heinz Foods Company, formerly the H. J. Heinz Company and commonly known as Heinz (), is an American food processing company headquartered at One PPG Place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The company was founded by Henry J. Heinz in 1869. ...

: ''Rudolf G. Bindings erzählerisches Werk.'' Würzburg-

Aumühle Aumühle () is a municipality in Schleswig-Holstein in northern Germany, about 21 km (14 mi) east of Hamburg. Its Friedrichsruh district is home to the family estate and mausoleum of Otto von Bismarck. Geography Aumühle lies on the ...

: Triltsch. 1939. * Roger L. Cole: ''The Ethical Foundations of Rudolf Binding's 'Gentleman'-Concept.'' The Hague and others: Mouton. 1966. (= Studies in German literature; 7) *

Bernhard Martin Bernhard is both a given name and a surname. Notable people with the name include: Given name *Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar (1604–1639), Duke of Saxe-Weimar * Bernhard, Prince of Saxe-Meiningen (1901–1984), head of the House of Saxe-Meiningen 194 ...

: ''Dichtung und Ideologie. Völkisch-nationales Denken im Werk Rudolf Georg Bindings.'' Frankfurt am Main and others: Peter Lang. 1986. (= Europäische Hochschulschriften; Reihe 1; Deutsche Sprache und Literatur; 950) * ''Reitvorschrift für eine Geliebte'' (New edition:

Olms The olm () or proteus (''Proteus anguinus'') is an aquatic salamander which is the only species in the genus ''Proteus'' of the family Proteidae and the only exclusively cave-dwelling chordate species found in Europe; the family's other extant g ...

, Hildesheim and others, 1995 ) * Kirstin M. Howard: ''The concept of honour in the context of the World War One. Accounts of

Walter Flex Walter Flex (6 July 1887 – 16 October 1917) was a German author of ''The Wanderer between the Two Worlds: An Experience of War'' (''Der Wanderer zwischen beiden Welten'') of 1916, a war novel dealing with themes of humanity, friendship, and suff ...

, Rudolf G. Binding and

Ernst Jünger Ernst Jünger (; 29 March 1895 – 17 February 1998) was a German author, highly decorated soldier, philosopher, and entomology, entomologist who became publicly known for his World War I memoir ''Storm of Steel''. The son of a successful busin ...

.''

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; ) is the second-most populous city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from ("fort of Edin"), the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of S ...

, New Zealand: Univ. of Otago, Dissertation, 1996.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Binding, Rudolf 1867 births 1938 deaths Writers from Basel-Stadt German people of Swiss descent German Army personnel of World War I 20th-century German male writers German World War I poets German male poets 20th-century German diarists Medalists at the 1928 Summer Olympics Art competitors at the 1928 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists in art competitions Swiss emigrants Immigrants to the German Empire