Arnold Zweig facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Arnold Zweig
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Arnold Zweig (left) with Otto Nagel
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| Born |
Arnold Zweig
10 November 1887 |
| Died | 26 November 1968 (aged 81) |
| Nationality | German |
| Occupation | writer |
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Arnold Zweig (born November 10, 1887 – died November 26, 1968) was a German Jewish writer. He was also a pacifist, meaning he believed in solving problems without war, and a socialist, someone who believes in fairness and equality for everyone.
He is most famous for his series of six books about World War I.
Contents
Arnold Zweig's Life and Work
Arnold Zweig was born in a town called Glogau, which was then part of Germany. His father was a saddler, someone who makes and repairs saddles. (He was not related to another famous writer named Stefan Zweig.)
After finishing school, Arnold Zweig studied a lot of different subjects at many universities. He learned about history, philosophy, and literature. He was especially interested in the ideas of a philosopher named Friedrich Nietzsche. His first important books, Novellen um Claudia (1913) and Ritualmord in Ungarn, helped him become known as a writer.
World War I Experience
Arnold Zweig joined the German army during World War I. He fought as a private soldier in France, Hungary, and Serbia. While he was fighting, the German army did something called the "Judenzählung," which was a special count of Jewish soldiers. This experience made him very sad and changed his mind about the war. He started to see the war as something that was hurting people, including Jewish people, on both sides.
Later, he wrote a short story called Judenzählung vor Verdun about his experiences. The war completely changed Arnold Zweig from someone who loved his country very much to someone who strongly believed in peace.
Towards the end of the war, he worked in the army's press office. There, he learned about Jewish groups in Eastern Europe.
Understanding Eastern European Jews
In 1920, Arnold Zweig worked with an artist named Hermann Struck to publish a book called Das ostjüdische Antlitz (The Face of East European Jewry). This book tried to help German-speaking Jews understand and feel sympathy for Jewish people in Eastern Europe. These communities often lived in difficult conditions and had different traditions. The book used simple drawings of faces to show their stories and feelings.
After the War and New Ideas
After World War I, Arnold Zweig became an active Zionist in Germany. Zionism is a movement that supports a Jewish homeland. He also became a socialist. After a political event in 1923, Zweig moved to Berlin and worked as an editor for a newspaper called Jüdische Rundschau.
In the 1920s, Zweig became very interested in the ideas of Sigmund Freud, a famous doctor who developed psychoanalysis, a way to understand the human mind. Zweig even had therapy with Freud himself. He wrote to Freud, saying that Freud's methods helped him a lot and made him feel whole again. Freud and Zweig wrote many letters to each other over the years, and these letters were later published in a book.
In 1927, Zweig published his famous anti-war novel, The Case of Sergeant Grischa. This book made him known all over the world. The story is about a soldier's struggle for justice during the war. Some characters in his books were based on real people, like Kaiser Wilhelm II and Field Marshal von Hindenburg. Others were disguised but would have been recognized by readers at the time.
From 1929, he wrote for a socialist newspaper called Die Weltbühne. He even attended one of Adolf Hitler's speeches. He told his wife that Hitler reminded him of Charlie Chaplin but without the talent.
Leaving Germany
In 1933, Arnold Zweig saw his books being burned by the Nazis. He said that the crowds seemed happy watching the books burn, and he felt they would be just as happy if real people were burning. That night, he decided to leave Germany.
Life in Exile
When the Nazi Party came to power in Germany in 1933, many Jewish people, including Zweig, chose to leave the country. Zweig first went to Czechoslovakia, then Switzerland, and France. After spending time with other famous writers like Thomas Mann and Bertolt Brecht in France, he moved to Mandatory Palestine, which was then under British rule.
In Haifa, Palestine, he started a German-language newspaper called Orient. While living in Palestine, Zweig became friends with other German-speaking immigrants. Many of them felt like refugees and planned to return to Europe one day. During this time, Zweig became less interested in Zionism and more interested in socialism.
In Haifa, Zweig continued his psychoanalysis. His novels De Vriendt Goes Home and A Costly Dream are partly set in Palestine. They explore ideas about Zionism, socialism, and psychoanalysis. In De Vriendt Goes Home, a young Zionist kills another Jewish man who was trying to find common ground with the local Arab population. Zweig was an important connection between Freud and the people studying psychoanalysis in Palestine.
His 1947 book The Axe of Wandsbek was about a violent event called the Altona Bloody Sunday in 1932. This event involved a march that turned violent, leading to many people being shot. The book explored the injustice faced by some people who were later punished for their alleged involvement.
Return to East Germany
In 1948, Arnold Zweig was invited to return to the Soviet-controlled part of Germany, which became East Germany in 1949. He became very involved in the communist system there. He was a member of parliament and helped advise the communist party on cultural matters. He was also the President of the DDR Academy of Arts, Berlin from 1950 to 1953.
He received many awards and honors from the government, including the Lenin Peace Prize from the USSR in 1958 for his anti-war novels. He was also nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature seven times!
After 1962, Arnold Zweig's health declined, and he stopped being as active in politics and art. He passed away in East Berlin on November 26, 1968, at the age of 81.
Film Adaptations
Many of Arnold Zweig's books have been made into movies:
- The Case of Sergeant Grischa (1930), an American film. Sadly, this film is now lost.
- The Axe of Wandsbek (1951), made in East Germany.
- Der Streit um den Sergeanten Grischa (1968), an East German TV film.
- Junge Frau von 1914 (1970), an East German film.
- Erziehung vor Verdun (1973), an East German film.
- The Axe of Wandsbek (1982), a West German TV film.
See Also
In Spanish: Arnold Zweig para niños
- List of peace activists
