Background
Ernst Lothar, Emst Lothar Muller, was born on October 25, 1890, in Brunn, Moravia, Austria. He was the son of Joseph L. Muller, a lawyer, and Johanna Wohlmuth Muller.
Universitätsring 1, 1010 Wien, Austria
In 1914, Lothar received a law degree from the University of Vienna.
(A woman is Witness is a translation of "Zeugin des unsäg...)
A woman is Witness is a translation of "Zeugin des unsäglichen". Ernst Lothar (1890-1974) Austria & Colorado, was an Austrian-American novelist born in Moravia, the son of a lawyer. He was educated in Vienna and, at the insistence of his father, obtained his law degree at the University of Vienna in 1914. He worked as a prosecutor for the Austrian Ministry of Justice and as an administrator in the Ministry of Trade.
https://www.amazon.com/Woman-Witness-Paris-Diary-Lothar/dp/B000H459T6/?tag=2022091-20
1941
(The poignant and moving story of a subject people, crushe...)
The poignant and moving story of a subject people, crushed under the tyranny of the "New Order,' torn from their homeland and enslaved to manufacture the weapons of tyranny.
https://www.amazon.com/Beneath-Another-Sun-Ernst-Lothar/dp/B00EYQC32E/?tag=2022091-20
1943
(All Vienna knows that the inhabitant of number 10 Seilers...)
All Vienna knows that the inhabitant of number 10 Seilerstatte is none other than Christopher Alt, piano maker, the best in Vienna, probably in all of Austria, and possiblly the world over. His piano keys have given life to melodies by Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, and many more. On his deathbed, moved by the wish to keep his children united, he leaves a will specifying that his descendants, if they are to get their inheritance, must live together in the family home.
https://www.amazon.com/Vienna-Melody-Ernst-Lothar-ebook/dp/B079MFWX6C/?tag=2022091-20
1944
Ernst Lothar, Emst Lothar Muller, was born on October 25, 1890, in Brunn, Moravia, Austria. He was the son of Joseph L. Muller, a lawyer, and Johanna Wohlmuth Muller.
In 1897, the family moved to Vienna, where Lothar studied in the gymnasium. In 1914, he received a law degree from the University of Vienna.
During his studying, Lothar began writing poetry. Two volumes of poetry soon were published: Der ruhige Hain, and Die Rast. He also published a volume of prose in 1912 entitled Die Einsamen. All of these works were published by Piper in Munich. He also contributed to various newspapers and literary magazines. For a decade following his first marriage, Lothar combined his literary life with a legal and administrative career as the prosecutor for the Austrian Ministry of Justice and as an official in the Ministry of Trade. During World War I, he served as a lieutenant in the Sixth Imperial Dragoons Regiment. After over two years at this post, Lothar was dismissed and assigned a position in Weis as the assistant state attorney.
Ernst's most significant literary contribution during this period was a collection of political essays entitled Österreichische Schrfiten. In this volume, Lothar expounded his ideas of liberalism and humanism and maintains that civilized values such as moderation, toleration, and respect were necessary for the survival of the world after the war. He censured the jingoistic attitude that led to the abolishment of words of foreign origin from the language, a viewpoint that was seen by many as unpatriotic. The differences between his personal philosophy and the ideology of the state eventually proved too much for him to bear. His position as an attorney for the state obligated him to prosecute crimes in the civil world that would be rewarded in the military. When he was forced to sign a death sentence, he arrived at such a moral crisis that he requested, and subsequently received, a release from service in 1918.
In the same year, Ernst published his first novel, entitled Der Feldherr (“The General”), which was based on the life of Conrad von Hotzendorf, the Austrian commander-in-chief. Although the book was seen as a supporter of defeatism and was met with some disapproval, it nevertheless garnered Lothar the Bauemfeld Prize. After the war, he assisted with postwar reconstruction in his post as an official in the Ministry of Trade, where he worked on the creation of the Salzburg Festival. It was his work on this project that brought him into contact with the esteemed theater director Max Reinhard and the poet Hugo von Hofmannsthal.
In 1924, Lothar became a theater critic and feuilletonist for the Viennese periodical Neue Freie Press. He continued to work as a novelist and became an admired writer, publishing eight volumes during the 1920s, including the trilogy “Macht uber Alle Menschen” (“Power over all People”), which consisted of Irrlicht der Welt, Irrlicht der Geists, and Licht. In 1923, he published the novel titled Bekenntnis eines Herzsklaven and in 1925 he produced a book of prose stories, Triumph des Gefuhls. The merit of these works resulted in Lothar’s critical comparison to Arthur Schnitzler and Jakob Wasserman.
In 1932, Lothar accepted the position of guest director at the Vienna Burgtheater. At this theater, he staged the 1873 Franz Grillparzer play Ein Bruderzwisl in Habsburg (“A Brotherly Quarrel in Hapsburg”), an idea that was suggested to him by Hofmannsthal. It was well-received by critics and theatergoers alike, and its production started a renaissance of Grillparzer’s work. Lothar went to stage several other Grillparzer plays both at the Burgtheater and at the Theater in der Josefstadt. In 1931, Lothar published Kleine Freundin: Roman einer Zwölfjährigen, which was subsequently translated by Willa and Edwin Muir as Little Friend and simultaneously published in 1933 in New York and London, where it received positive reviews. This was also made into a popular film, directed by Bertolt Viertel in London. It is a psychological study of twelve-year-old Felicitas Tagman, a child devoted to her Jewish father and her aristocratic mother and distressed at their friction.
Lothar’s involvement in the world of theater deepened on May 22, 1933, the day of his marriage to actress Adrienne Gessner, in Vienna. In the same year, he published Die Muhle der Gerechtigkeit oder Das Recht auf den Tod, which was translated by the Muir’ as The Mills of God in 1935. In August 1935, Lothar resigned from the Neue Freie Presse and took on the position of director of the Theater in def Josefstadt, replacing Max Reinhardt at Reinhardt’s request. However, his theatrical career came to an abrupt end with the Anschluss of 1938. As a Jew and a candid censor of Hitler, Lothar was fortunate to escape to Switzerland with his life. After a short stay in Paris, he and his wife immigrated to the United States in April 1939 and started to learn English. He soon learned that, although his publications received some critical acclaim abroad, his work and the work of fellow exiles were of little interest to the American public.
With some other exiles, Lothar started a German-speaking theater in 1940 in New York at the suggestion of Thomas Mann. However, the critics were not interested, and it only lasted through four productions. Lothar’s self-confidence reached a low point and his desire to write came to a halt. In the summer of 1941, he secured a position lecturing at Bard College in New York. That same year, his efforts to learn English paid off when Doubleday, Doran agreed to publish A Woman Is Witness. After his brief stint at Bard College, Lothar went to Colorado College to become a professor of the history of drama and comparative literature. At this time, he wrote and published Beneath another Sun, a story set in South Tirol that attempted to disclose the truth behind Hitler’s false propaganda concerning the protection of German minorities. The novel told the tale of a Tyrolean family during the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia. It was his most successful work in America.
Lothar’s growing success in America allowed him to quit his teaching position, and he accompanied Adrienne on her acting tours while he worked on his novels. In 1944, he published The Angel with the Trumpet, which chronicles the story of Austria from 1889, the year of the suicide of Crown Prince Rudolf at Mayerling, to 1938, the year of the Anschluss. After becoming a U.S. citizen, Lothar offered to serve the U.S. government in Austria. He returned to Austria after the war, serving as the Theater and Music Officer for Austria, under the auspices of a United States Army commission. His duty was to promote U.S. theater and music in Austria and to assist in the rehabilitation of the arts and culture of the country. His efforts led to a quick revival of the theater in postwar Austria. After the completion of his post in 1949, he decided to forfeit his U.S. citizenship and remain in Austria. His return to Vienna after the war was the basis for his last work to be translated into English, the semi-autobiographical Die Ruckkehr, which was published in 1949. The translation, Return to Vienna, was published in the same year. Lothar continued his work in the theater life of Vienna, and as a critic for Die Presse. His autobiography, Das Wunder des Uberlebens (“The Miracle of Survival”), was published in 1960.
(All Vienna knows that the inhabitant of number 10 Seilers...)
1944(The poignant and moving story of a subject people, crushe...)
1943(A woman is Witness is a translation of "Zeugin des unsäg...)
1941Lothar firmly believed in the power of culture to improve the condition of society. He was also a nationalistic writer, who saw Austria as important to the world at large.
As theater critic, he maintained the logic and objectivism that characterized his work as a state attorney, and his reviews display his serious attitude toward criticism and impartiality.
Lothat was a member of the Burgtheater and the P.E.N. clubs.
Quotes from others about the person
“Lothar writes with power, barring an occasional tendency to over elaboration. The Clairvoyant is intricate and unhurried in plan and makes no concessions to the reader’s impatience. Its chief merit as a piece of writing is in its concentrated and cumulative study of character.” - Lisle Bell, a critic for Books
In 1914, Ernst first wife’s name was Mary, but they divorced, and Lothar married Adrienne Gessner in 1933. Lothar had two children from his first marriage: Agathe and Hansi.