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Arnold Zweig

アルノルト・ツヴァイク

Arnold Zweig

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1887-11-10 （Glogau, Province of Silesia, Prussia, German Empire (now Głogów, Poland)）
Died
1968-11-26 （East Berlin, East Germany） age 81
Nationality
German
Languages
German
Religion
Judaism
Residence History
Prussia (birthplace) → Germany (Berlin, Breslau/Wrocław etc.) → Czechoslovakia (exile period) → Switzerland (exile period) → France (exile period) → Eretz-Israel / Mandatory Palestine (Haifa) → East Germany (East Berlin)

Career

Occupations
writer, pacifist, socialist
Active Years
1913-1968
Affiliations
Academy of Arts, Berlin (President 1950–1953), World Peace Council (delegate)
Memberships
Cultural advisory board of the SED (East Germany), World Peace Council, Academy of Arts, Berlin (GDR)
Influenced By
Friedrich Nietzsche, Sigmund Freud (psychoanalysis)
Influenced
Writers and cultural figures in East Germany, Subsequent generations of anti-war and social-critique writers

Education

Universities of Breslau (Wrocław), Munich, Berlin, Göttingen, Rostock and Tübingen (humanities)
Humanities (history, philosophy, literature) / History, Philosophy, Literature
Period: 1907–1914
Country: Germany (historical)
Studied at several universities between 1907 and 1914; notably influenced by Friedrich Nietzsche.

Awards

Lenin Peace Prize
1958
Organization: USSR
Result: 受賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

The Case of Sergeant Grischa

1927 anti-war novel

Set during World War I, the novel critiques military bureaucracy and the fate of individuals; it established Zweig's international reputation.

warbureaucracyjustice and injustice
Adaptations
  • [film] The Case of Sergeant Grischa (film) / Herbert Brenon (1930)
Translations
  • English translation and many others

The Axe of Wandsbek

1943 social novel with political themes

Based on the 1932 Altona riot, the novel explores personal conscience and the violence of political systems; adapted into films in East and West Germany.

power and responsibilitymoral conflictimpact of Nazism
Adaptations
  • [film] The Axe of Wandsbek (1951 film) / Falk Harnack (1951)
  • [television / docudrama] The Axe of Wandsbek (1982 TV docudrama) / Heinrich Breloer, Horst Königstein (1982)
Translations
  • English translation and others

Education Before Verdun

1935 war novel

Part of the cycle 'The Great War of the White Men'; examines the educational and social meaning of war and transformation of individuals.

effects of warpersonal developmentsocial critique
Adaptations
  • [film / television] Erziehung vor Verdun (film) / Egon Günther (1973)
Translations
  • English translation and others

Bibliography

  • Claudia
  • Die Bestie
  • Ritualmord in Ungarn
  • The Face of East European Jewry
  • The Case of Sergeant Grischa
  • De Vriendt Goes Home
  • The Axe of Wandsbek
  • The Letters of Sigmund Freud & Arnold Zweig (editorial edition)

Adaptations

  • The Case of Sergeant Grischa (1930 film, presumed lost)
  • The Axe of Wandsbek (1951 East German film)
  • The Axe of Wandsbek (1982 West German TV docudrama)
  • Erziehung vor Verdun (1973 film)

Translations of Works

  • Numerous translations into English and other languages (e.g. The Case of Sergeant Grischa)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
realist depictionpsychoanalytic approachclear social and political perspective
Recurring Motifs
absurdity of warJewish identity and alienationconflict of conscience and responsibility

Health

  • declining health (details unspecified)
    1962–1968
    After 1962 he virtually withdrew from political and artistic activities.

Legacy

Arnold Zweig is known for his anti-war fiction centered on World War I and for works about German-Jewish identity. Widely recognized in East Germany and active in cultural administration after the war, many of his works were translated and adapted, securing him an important place in 20th-century German literature.

Academic Societies

  • Academy of Arts, Berlin (GDR)

Archives

  • Archive of the Academy of Arts, Berlin
  • Library of Congress (related holdings)

In Popular Culture

  • Multiple film and television adaptations (e.g. The Axe of Wandsbek)

Quotes

  • "The Judenzählung was a reflection of unheard sadness for Germany's sin and our agony. ... If there was no antisemitism in the army, the unbearable call to duty would be almost easy."
    Source: Letter to Martin Buber (15 February 1917) (1917)

Trivia

  • Not related to Stefan Zweig.
  • Some of his books were burned during the Nazi book burnings.
  • Awarded the Lenin Peace Prize in 1958.
  • Reportedly nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature seven times.