Writer, born in Glogów, W Poland (formerly Glogau, Germany). His writing, socialistic in outlook, was coloured by his interest in Zionism, which led him to seek refuge in Palestine when exiled by the Nazis in 1934. He is best known for his pacifist novel, Der Streit um den Sergeanten Grischa (1928, The Case of Sergeant Grischa).
Arnold Zweig (November 10, 1887 - November 26, 1968) was a German writer and an active pacifist.
Life and work
Zweig was born in Glogau, Silesia (today Glogow, Poland) son of a Jewish saddler.
His first literary works Novellen um Claudia (1913) and Ritualmord in Ungarn gain him wider recognition.
Zweig volunteered for the German army in World War I and saw action as a private in France, Hungary and Serbia.
By the end of the war he was assigned to the Press department of the German Army Headquarters in Kaunas and there he was first introduced to the East European Jewish organisations.
In a quite literal effort to put a face to the hated Ostjude (Eastern European Jew), due to their Orthodox, economically depressed, "unenlightened," "un-German" ways, Zweig published with the artist Hermann Struck Das ostjuedische Antlitz (The Face of East European Judaism) in 1920.
After World War I he was an active socialistic zionist in Germany.
In the 1920s, Zweig was taken by the psychiatric theories of Sigmund Freud and underwent Freudian therapy.
Freud returned this ardent letter with a warm letter of his own, and the Freud-Zweig correspondence continued for a dozen years -- momentous years in Germany's history.
In 1927, Zweig published the pacifist novel The Case of Sergeant Grischa, which made him an international literary figure.
When the Nazis took power in Germany in 1933, Zweig was one of many Jews who packed their bags and went into exile.
In Haifa, Palestine he published a German newspaper "Orient".
In 1948, after a formal invitation from the East German government, Zweig decided to return to the Soviet Zone (later called the GDR).
In East Germany he was in many ways involved in the communist system.
After 1962, due to poor health, Zweig virtually withdrew from the political and artistic fields.
Arnold Zweig died in East Berlin on the November 26, 1968.
He is best known for his World War I tetralogy.
Bibliography
Major works:
Claudia (1913) Young Woman of 1914 Playthings of Time The Time is Ripe De Vriendt Goes Home The Case of Sergeant Grischa (1927) Education before Verdun (1935) Crowning of a King The Axe of Wandsbek (1947)
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