Wednesday, 16 October 2024

Lion Feuchtwanger

Lion Feuchtwanger (German: [ˈfɔɪçtˌvaŋɐ]; 7 July 1884 – 21 December 1958) was a German-Jewish novelist and playwright. A prominent figure in the literary world of Weimar Germany, he influenced contemporaries including playwright Bertolt Brecht.

Feuchtwanger's fierce criticism of the Nazi Party—years before it assumed power— and being Jewish ensured that he would be a target of government-sponsored persecution after Adolf Hitler's appointment as chancellor of Germany in January 1933. Following a brief period of internment in France, and a harrowing escape from Continental Europe, he sought asylum in the United States, where he died in 1958.

Feuchtwanger is often praised for his efforts to expose the brutality of the Nazis and criticized for his failure to acknowledge the brutality of the rule of Joseph Stalin.

Early life and education

Feuchtwanger's ancestors originated from the Middle Franconian city of Feuchtwangen which, following a pogrom in 1555, expelled all its resident Jews. Some of the expellees subsequently settled in Fürth where they were called the Feuchtwangers, meaning those from Feuchtwangen. Feuchtwanger's grandfather Elkan moved to Munich in the middle of the 19th century. Lion Feuchtwanger was born in 1884 to Orthodox Jewish margarine manufacturer Sigmund Feuchtwanger and his wife Johanna née Bodenheim. He was the oldest in a family of nine siblings of which two, Martin and Ludwig became authors; Ludwig's son is the London-based historian Edgar Feuchtwanger. Two of his sisters settled in Palestine following the rise of the Nazi Party, one was killed in a concentration camp, and one sister settled in New York City.

This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - https://wn.com/Lion_Feuchtwanger

Famous quotes by Lion Feuchtwanger:

"An action doesn't have to be wrong just because it is not logical. It doesn't have to be right just because it has its logic."

"There's only a step from the sublime to the ridiculous, but there's no road leading from the ridiculous to the sublime."

"I have always made an effort to render every detail of my reality with the greatest accuracy; but I have never paid attention to whether my presentation of historical facts was an exact one."

"Ever since my youth it has disturbed me that of the literary works that survived their own epoch, so many dealt with historical rather than contemporary subjects."

"An author who sets about to depict events of the past that have run their course is suspected of wishing to avoid the problems of the present day, of being, in other words, a reactionary."

"From depicting the past, so goes the suspicion, it is a short step to glorifying the past."

"Both the historian and the novelist view history as the struggle of a tiny minority, able and determined to make judgments, which is up against a vast and densely packed majority of the blind, who are led by their instincts and unable to think for themselves."

"After closely examining my conscience, I venture to state that in my historical novels I intended the content to be just as modern and up-to-date as in the contemporary ones."

"What is a historian, anyway? It is someone who uses facts to record the development of humanity."

"Like the philosopher, the author views his task as one of establishing a clear connection between life and history, and of making the past bear fruit for the present and future."

"I should add that it is open to debate whether what we call the writing of history these days is truly scientific."

"Asking the author of historical novels to teach you about history is like expecting the composer of a melody to provide answers about radio transmission."

Latest News for: lion feuchtwanger

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Tragedy Plus Time: Arts Calendar February 15-21

LA Weekly 14 Feb 2024

Conduit at Ontario Museum of History & Art ... In 1943, German-Jewish anti-fascist and exiled writer Lion Feuchtwanger and his wife Marta fled Europe and settled in Pacific Palisades, where their house, Villa Aurora, became a haven for fellow exiles.

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Konzert und Lesung:Gegen Antisemitismus

Sued Deutsche 10 Nov 2023

Anschlie�end werden Sunnyi Melles und Stefan Hunstein Texte von Lion Feuchtwanger bis Gabriele Tergit lesen, ...

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The FBI vs. Charlie Chaplin

Vanity Fair 25 Oct 2023

... Chaplin’s phone and reading his mail—the report notes dinner invitations to Chaplin from Salka Viertel and five phone calls from Lion Feuchtwanger to Chaplin between August and October of 1945.

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Unter Bayern:Der Dialekt wird in der Schule verschm�ht - zu Unrecht

Sued Deutsche 16 Sep 2023

Kostenlos anmelden ... Warum es Mundart sprechende Literaten und Parlamentsredner wie Oskar Maria Graf, Lena Christ, Lion Feuchtwanger, Georg Eisenberger und Sepp Daxenberger zu gro�er sprachlicher Meisterschaft gebracht haben, das hinterfragte keiner.

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The birth and long life of ‘Peat Bog Soldiers’ on its 90th anniversary

People's World 17 Aug 2023

This is its history. Score for “Peat Bog Soldiers” with image of Paul Robeson, 1942 ... Circus Konzentrazani ‘Peat diggers,’ by Hanns (Jean) Kralik, from W ... The American edition appeared as Rubber Truncheon with a foreword by Lion Feuchtwanger ... Army ... .

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Soviet Jews learned to ‘read between the lines,’ even in antisemitic literature

Cleveland Jewish News 26 Apr 2023

He studied in the joint Columbia University-Jewish Theological Seminary program, where he was surprised to learn Jewish classmates and German professors alike knew nothing about German Jewish writer Lion Feuchtwanger, whom Soviet Jews lionized.

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The real Jewish history behind Netflix’s ‘Transatlantic’ and the WWII rescue mission that inspired it

Cleveland Jewish News 05 Apr 2023

Although Fry’s son has said that he was a “closeted homosexual,” no such person is known to have existed ... American diplomat Hiram Bigham, who gave Fry crucial help and even hid writer Lion Feuchtwanger in his home, is also a character in the show ... .

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Bertolt Brecht (and me)

People's World 13 Feb 2023

In my three different U.S ... Brecht in 1954 ... Wikimedia Commons ... Brecht in exile had never happily integrated into the Southern California scene as smoothly as Lion Feuchtwanger, Thomas Mann, or even his frequent composer and close friend Hanns Eisler ... __ ... .

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Living Through the Beginning of the End

The Atlantic 19 Dec 2022

This existential dilemma is Lion Feuchtwanger’s abiding concern in The Oppermanns , a long-forgotten masterpiece published in 1933 and recently reissued with a revised translation by the novelist Joshua Cohen.

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TEXAS VIEW: Antisemitism is on the rise

Odessa American 14 Nov 2022

In his 1933 novel “The Oppermanns,” Lion Feuchtwanger did what all great writers do ... Vile words lead to vile deeds ... “His (Feuchtwanger’s) example shows that art can challenge power, as it were, ‘powerfully,’ and yet have no political effect,” he wrote.

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ANOTHER VIEWPOINT: Antisemitism being allowed to gain foothold

The Facts 12 Nov 2022

In his 1933 novel “ The Oppermanns,” Lion Feuchtwanger did what all great writers do ... “That was new.” ... “His (Feuchtwanger’s) example shows that art can challenge power, as it were, ‘powerfully,’ and yet have no political effect,” he wrote ... ....

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Antisemitism is on the rise. Condemn it.

Sherman Herald Democrat 09 Nov 2022

In his 1933 novel “The Oppermanns,” Lion Feuchtwanger did what all ...

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COLUMN: Antisemitism is on the rise. Condemn it.

The Lawton Constitution 08 Nov 2022

In his 1933 novel “The Oppermanns,” Lion Feuchtwanger did what all great writers do. He captured the specific to reveal the universal ... It is a hard read because we know what will happen in the world beyond the fiction ... Vile words lead to vile deeds ... .

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Editorial Roundup: Texas

Corsicana Daily Sun 07 Nov 2022

Austin American Statesman ... In his 1933 novel “The Oppermanns,” Lion Feuchtwanger did what all great writers do ... “His (Feuchtwanger’s) example shows that art can challenge power, as it were, ‘powerfully,’ and yet have no political effect,” he wrote ... END.

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