Werner Bergengruen | |
|---|---|
 Werner Bergengruen | |
| Born | 16 September 1892 |
| Died | 4 September 1964(1964-09-04) (aged 71) |
| Occupation | poet, novelist. |
| Nationality | German |
| Period | 20th century |
| Spouse | Charlotte Hensel |
Werner Bergengruen (September 16, 1892 – September 4, 1964) was aBaltic Germannovelist andpoet. His best known works include the 1935 novelA Matter of Conscience [de] and the 1939 short story collectionDeath from Reval.
Bergengruen was born inRiga,Governorate of Livonia, which at that time belonged to theRussian Empire. After growing up inLübeck and attending theKatharineum, he started studyingtheology inMarburg in 1911. He later changed to studyingGermanistics andart history, but failed to graduate; he then moved toMunich. He served as a lieutenant duringWorld War I and joined theBaltische Landeswehr in 1919 to fight against theBolsheviks.
On 4 October 1919, he married Charlotte Hensel (1896–1990), a great-granddaughter of the composerFanny Mendelssohn, and the daughter of the mathematicianKurt Hensel. From the marriage there were four children, Olaf, Luise, Maria and Alexander.
Bergengruen started writing novels and short stories in 1923 and decided to become a full-time writer in 1927. While his earlier works were of a more contemplative nature and pondered metaphysical and religious questions, theNazis' rise to power led him to write more political works. His most successful novel,Der Großtyrann und das Gericht [de] (The Grand Tyrant and the Judgment, English title:A Matter of Conscience), published in 1935, is set in theRenaissance era, but the story of a merciless tyrant playing with the weaknesses of his underlings was often seen as a clear allegory on Germany's political situation. This interpretation is doubtful, though, as most of the novel was written before the Nazi takeover in 1933. In 1936 Bergengruen was received into theCatholic Church. The same year he moved to Munich; his new neighbour wasCarl Muth, editor of the Catholic monthlyHochland. In 1937 he was expelled from theReichsschrifttumskammer [de] for being unfit to contribute to German culture. Although Bergengruen was politically a staunch conservative, his Catholicism—as well as the fact that his wife was of partly Jewish heritage—contributed to his alienation from the Nazi regime. According to Gudrun Kuschke, "Bergengruen constitutes the zenith of clandestine poetry during the Nazi era," and his poetry "confronts the catarophe of the Third Reich, facing the reality of inner and external destruction without evasion or adornment."[1]
His 1939 short story collectionDeath from Reval consists of stories relating to death in theTallinn area.
In 1942, after his house in Munich was destroyed by bombs, Bergengruen moved toAchenkirch. AfterWorld War II, he lived in Switzerland,Rome, and finallyBaden-Baden, where he died in 1964.
He was submitted for consideration for theNobel Prize in Literature.[2]
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