Walter Serner (15 January 1889 – August 1942) was a
German-language
German (, ) is a West Germanic language in the Indo-European language family, mainly spoken in Western and Central Europe. It is the majority and official (or co-official) language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein. It is a ...
writer and essayist. His manifesto ''Letzte Lockerung'' was an important text of
Dadaism
Dada () or Dadaism was an anti-establishment art movement that developed in 1915 in the context of the Great War and the earlier anti-art movement. Early centers for dadaism included Zürich and Berlin. Within a few years, the movement had s ...
.
Life
Walter Serner was born Walter Eduard Seligmann in
Carlsbad
Carlsbad may refer to:
Geographical locations
* Carlsbad, California, San Diego County, United States
** Carlsbad Santa Fe Depot, NRHP ID No. 93001016
* Carlsbad, New Mexico, United States
** Carlsbad Caverns National Park
** Carlsbad Irriga ...
(Karlovy Vary),
Bohemia
Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...
(then
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 ...
, now Czech Republic). In 1913 he studied law in the Austro-Hungarian capital of Vienna and completed his doctorate in the
University of Greifswald
The University of Greifswald (; ), formerly known as Ernst-Moritz-Arndt University of Greifswald, is a public research university located in Greifswald, Germany, in the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
Founded in 1456, it is one of th ...
.
With the outbreak of
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 escaped to Switzerland in 1914 and participated in Dada activities in Zurich, Geneva, and Paris until 1920. During World War I he was the editor of the magazines ''Sirius'' and ''Zeltweg'' and a writer for ''
Die Aktion''. In 1921 Serner stayed in Italy with the artist
Christian Schad. Beginning in 1923 he began living in various European cities, including Barcelona, Bern, Vienna, Carlsbad, and Prague.
From 1925, Serner became the target of
anti-Semitism
Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...
. Serner had been born Jewish and had converted to Catholicism in 1913.
His play ''Posada'' premiered in Berlin in 1927, but his other planned shows were forbidden. In 1933 Serner's books were banned by the
government
A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state.
In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...
of
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...
.
In 1938 Serner married his partner Dorothea Herz in Prague, where he was working as a private teacher. When war broke out, they had no chance to escape from the occupied country. In 1942 he and his wife were interned in the
Theresienstadt
Theresienstadt Ghetto was established by the SS during World War II in the fortress town of Terezín, in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia ( German-occupied Czechoslovakia). Theresienstadt served as a waystation to the extermination c ...
concentration camp and three weeks later were moved in the direction of "the East", where they perished in Riga.
Walter Serner's most successful novel ''Die Tigerin'' (''The Tigress'') was made into
an English-language feature film by writer/director Karin Howard and released in 1992. At that time the novel was re-published in Germany where Serner's books enjoy a cult following. The film was shot in Berlin and Carlsbad.
Work
Lifetime publications
* Letzte Lockerung. manifest dada. Hannover / Leipzig / Wien / Zürich: Steegemann, 1920
* Zum blauen Affen. Dreiunddreißig hanebüchene Geschichten. Hannover: Steegemann, 1921
* Der elfte Finger. Fünfundzwanzig Kriminalgeschichten. Hannover: Steegemann, 1923
* Der Pfiff um die Ecke. Zweiundzwanzig Spitzel- und Detektivgeschichten. Berlin: Elena Gottschalk, 1925
* Die Tigerin. Eine absonderliche Liebesgeschichte. Berlin: Gottschalk, 1925
* Die tückische Straße. Neunzehn Kriminal-Geschichten. Wien: Dezember, 1926
* Posada oder Der Große Coup im Hotel Ritz. Ein Gauner-Stück in drei Akten. Wien: Dezember, 1926
Latest publications
* Angst. Frühe Prosa. Erlangen: Renner, 1977
* Hirngeschwür. Texte und Materialien. Walter Serner und Dada. Erlangen: Renner, 1977
* Wong fun. Kriminalgeschichte. Augsburg: Maro, 1991
Collected editions
* ''Das gesamte Werk. Band 1-8, 3 Supplementbände''. Hrsg.: Thomas Milch. Erlangen, München: Renner, 1979–1992
** Bd. 1: Über Denkmäler, Weiber und Laternen. Frühe Schriften (1981)
** Bd. 2: Das Hirngeschwür. DADA (1982)
** Bd. 3: Die Tigerin. Eine absonderliche Liebesgeschichte (1980)
** Bd. 4: Der isabelle Hengst. Sämtliche Kriminalgeschichten I (1979)
** Bd. 5: Der Pfiff um die Ecke. Sämtliche Kriminalgeschichten II (1979)
** Bd. 6: Posada oder der große Coup im Hotel Ritz. Ein Gaunerstück in drei Akten (1980)
** Bd. 7: Letzte Lockerung. Ein Handbrevier für Hochstapler und solche die es werden wollen (1981)
** Bd. 8: Der Abreiser. Materialien zu Leben und Werk (1984)
** Bd. 9 = Supplementbd. 1: Die Haftung des Schenkers wegen Mängel im Rechte und wegen Mängel der verschenkten Sache (1982)
** Bd. 10 = Supplementbd. 2: Das fette Fluchen. Ein Walter Serner-Gaunerwörterbuch (1983)
** Bd. 11 = Supplementbd. 3: Krachmandel auf Halbmast. Nachträge zu Leben und Werk (1992) (sehr versch. Texte, Dokumente und Abb. von und über W. S., Dada, Christian Schad u. a., mit Erl.)
* ''Gesammelte Werke in zehn Bänden''. Hrsg. von Thomas Milch. München: Goldmann, 1988
** Bd. 1: Über Denkmäler, Weiber und Laternen. Frühe Schriften (enthält den Supplementband 1 der Renner-Ausgabe)
** Bd. 2: Das Hirngeschwür. DADA
** Bd. 3: Zum blauen Affen. Dreiunddreißig Kriminalgeschichten
** Bd. 4: Der elfte Finger. Fünfundzwanzig Kriminalgeschichten
** Bd. 5: Die Tigerin. Eine absonderliche Liebesgeschichte
** Bd. 6: Der Pfiff um die Ecke. Zweiundzwanzig Kriminalgeschichten
** Bd. 7: Posada oder der große Coup im Hotel Ritz. Ein Gaunerstück in drei Akten
** Bd. 8: Die tückische Straße. Neunzehn Kriminalgeschichten
** Bd. 9: Letzte Lockerung. Ein Handbrevier für Hochstapler und solche die es werden wollen
** Bd. 10: Der Abreiser. Materialien zu Leben und Werk (enthält den Supplementband 2 der Renner-Ausgabe)
* ''Sprich deutlich. Sämtliche Gedichte und Dichtungen''. Hrsg.: Klaus G. Renner. München: Renner, 1988
* ''Das Walter-Serner-Lesebuch. Alle 99 Kriminalgeschichten in einem Band''. München: Goldmann, 1992
* ''Das erzählerische Werk in drei Bänden''. Hrsg.: Thomas Milch. München: Goldmann/btb, 2000,
** Bd. 1: Zum blauen Affen / Der elfte Finger
** Bd. 2: Die Tigerin
** Bd. 3: Der Pfiff um die Ecke / Die tückische Straße
References
External links
The Necessity to Disappear (about Walter Serner) by Peter Luining
{{DEFAULTSORT:Serner, Walter
1889 births
1942 deaths
Writers from Karlovy Vary
Converts to Roman Catholicism from Judaism
Czech Roman Catholics
Czech Jews
Dada
Czech male writers
Jewish refugees
University of Greifswald alumni
Theresienstadt Ghetto prisoners
20th-century German male writers
Czech Jews who died in the Holocaust