Rudolf Leonhard (27 October 1889, in Lissa,

German Empire The German Empire (),; ; World Book, Inc. ''The World Book dictionary, Volume 1''. World Book, Inc., 2003. p. 572. States that Deutsches Reich translates as "German Realm" and was a former official name of Germany. also referred to as Imperia ...

(today

Leszno Leszno (, , ) is a historic city in western Poland, seat of Leszno County within the Greater Poland Voivodeship. It is the seventh-largest city in the province with an estimated population of 62,200, as of 2021. Leszno is a former residential cit ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

) – 19 December 1953, in

East Berlin East Berlin (; ) was the partially recognised capital city, capital of East Germany (GDR) from 1949 to 1990. From 1945, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet occupation sector of Berlin. The American, British, and French se ...

) was a German author and communist activist.

Life

Leonhard came from a family of lawyers and studied law and

Philology Philology () is the study of language in Oral tradition, oral and writing, written historical sources. It is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics with strong ties to etymology. Philology is also de ...

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

and

Göttingen Göttingen (, ; ; ) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. According to the 2022 German census, t ...

. In 1914 he volunteered for the German military effort in

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 ...

, but quickly converted to

pacifism Pacifism is the opposition to war or violence. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaigner Émile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress in Glasgow in 1901. A related term is ...

and was brought before a

military court A court-martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of members of the arme ...

for his convictions. In 1918 he joined the USPD (Independent German Social Democratic Party) and fought alongside

Karl Liebknecht Karl Paul August Friedrich Liebknecht (; ; 13 August 1871 – 15 January 1919) was a German politician and revolutionary socialist. A leader of the far-left wing of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), Liebknecht was a co-founder of both ...

and

Rosa Luxemburg Rosa Luxemburg ( ; ; ; born Rozalia Luksenburg; 5 March 1871 – 15 January 1919) was a Polish and naturalised-German revolutionary and Marxist theorist. She was a key figure of the socialist movements in Poland and Germany in the early 20t ...

in the 1918 revolution. In 1919, he joined the KPD (

Communist Party of Germany The Communist Party of Germany (, ; KPD ) was a major Far-left politics, far-left political party in the Weimar Republic during the interwar period, German resistance to Nazism, underground resistance movement in Nazi Germany, and minor party ...

), but left that party in favor of the left-communist

KAPD The Communist Workers' Party of Germany (; KAPD) was an anti-parliamentarian and left communist party that was active in Germany during the Weimar Republic. It was founded in 1920 in Heidelberg as a split from the Communist Party of Germany (KP ...

(German Communist Workers’ Party), which he also left after a year. In 1918 he married the author Susanne Köhler, but was divorced from her after one year. However, Susanne had a son Wladimir Leonhard in 1921 (later called Wolfgang), for whom the presumed father was Rudolf.Susanne Leonhard, ''Gestohlenes Leben'', Steingrüben (1959), p. 13 In the early 1920s he married Frieda Gertrud Riess, a prominent Berlin portrait photographer. From 1919 onwards he was a freelance author for the publication ''

Die Weltbühne ''Die Weltbühne'' (, ‘The World Stage’) was a German weekly magazine for politics, art and the economy. It was founded in Berlin in 1905 as (‘The Theater’) by Siegfried Jacobsohn and was originally a theater magazine only. In 1913 it ...

'', and from the summer of 1922 he worked for the publishing house '' Verlag Die Schmiede'' as a lector and as the editor of a

series of books A book series is a sequence of books having certain characteristics in common that are formally identified together as a group. Book series can be organized in different ways, such as written by the same author, or marketed as a group by their publ ...

, “Außenseiter der Gesellschaft”. In late November 1925, he began and led the Gruppe 1925 which counted

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 ...

Alfred Döblin Bruno Alfred Döblin (; 10 August 1878 – 26 June 1957) was a German novelist, essayist, and doctor, best known for his novel '' Berlin Alexanderplatz'' (1929). A prolific writer whose œuvre spans more than half a century and a wide variety of ...

, Albert Ehrenstein,

Leonhard Frank Leonhard Frank (4 September 1882 in Würzburg – 18 August 1961 in Munich) was a German expressionist writer. He studied painting and graphic art in Munich, and gained acclaim with his first novel ''The Robber Band'' (1914, tr. 1928). When a Be ...

, Walter Hasenclever,

Walter Mehring Walter Mehring (29 April 1896 – 3 October 1981) was a German author and one of the most prominent satirical authors in the Weimar Republic. He was banned during the Third Reich and fled the country. Early life Mehring was Jewish, the so ...

and

Kurt Tucholsky Kurt Tucholsky (; 9 January 1890 – 21 December 1935) was a German journalist, satire, satirist, and writer. He also wrote under the pseudonyms Kaspar Hauser (after the Kaspar Hauser, historical figure), Peter Panter, Theobald Tiger and Ignaz Wr ...

among its members. After a difference of opinion, Leonhard left the group in 1927. In March 1928, he moved to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

at the invitation of his friend Walter Hasenclever and lived with him until 1934. In April 1933, Leonhard took part in the foundation of the „Ligue des Combattants de la Paix" and was co-president of the German sector alongside

Albert Einstein Albert Einstein (14 March 187918 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist who is best known for developing the theory of relativity. Einstein also made important contributions to quantum mechanics. His mass–energy equivalence f ...

. After the “Schutzverband Deutscher Schriftsteller” was taken over by the „ Reichsverband deutscher Schriftsteller", he successfully founded the „Schutzverband Deutscher Schriftsteller im Ausland" and became leader of the French section. He describes his experiences in the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

in his collection of stories “Der Tod des Don Quijote”. From 1939 until 1944, he was detained. First he was held in Le Vernet, then he was transferred to

Castres Castres (; ''Castras'' in the Languedocian dialect, Languedocian dialect of Occitan language, Occitan) is the sole Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Tarn (department), Tarn Departments of France, department in the Occitania (adminis ...

. He fled, was recaptured, and eventually fled again, living in underground

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 ...

until the end of the war. He returned to Paris in 1944. In 1947 he took part in the first Congress of German Authors. In 1950 he returned to Germany and took up residence in East Berlin. He was very ill at this point. Because he was seen as an immigrant from the West and due to his son's activities, he was only granted a small place on the East German literary scene. He died in 1953.

Selected works

His works include plays, poems, novels, and political essays: * Angelische Strophen (1913) * Der Weg durch den Wald (Poems) (1913) * Barbaren (Ballads) (1914) * Über den Schlachten (Poems) 1914) * Äonen des Fegefeuers (Aphorisms) (1917) * Bemerkungen zum Reichsjugendwehrgesetz (1917) * Beate und der große Pan (Novel) (1918) * Katilinarische Pilgerschaft (Poems) (1919) * Kamp gegen die Waffe (Speech) (1919) * Briefe an Margit (Poems) (1919) * Das Chaos (Poems) (1919) * Die Vorhölle (Tragedy) (1919) * Poems about "Mother" (1920) * Alles und Nichts! (Aphorisms) (1920) * Spartakus-Sonette (1921) * Die Ewigkeit dieser Zeit. Eine Rhapsodie gegen Europa (1924) * Segel am Horizont (Drama) (1925) * Das nackte Leben (Poems) (1925) * Das Wort (ein sinnliches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 1932) * Der Tod des Don Quijote (Poems from the Spanish Civil War, 1938) * Le Vernet (Gedichtzyklus, entstanden 1939–1944) * In derselben Nacht (dream journal from his time in Le Vernet, written 1939–1944) * Geiseln (Tragedy, 1945, dt. 1946) * Unsere Republik (Essays and Poems, 1951). * Selected Works in Four Volumes (1961 ff)

References

*This article was initially translated from the German Wikipedia entry)

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Leonhard, Rudolf 1889 births 1953 deaths People from Leszno People from the Province of Posen Jewish German politicians Jewish writers Jewish socialists Independent Social Democratic Party politicians Communist Party of Germany politicians Communist Workers' Party of Germany politicians Socialist Unity Party of Germany politicians German-language poets German male poets