Alfred Neumann
Alfred Neumann was a notable Jewish writer and playwright born in 1895 in what is now Poland. After moving to Berlin with his family, he graduated high school and pursued studies in art history and literature in Munich. His literary career began to flourish with the encouragement of publisher George Mueller, leading to his first poetry collection published in 1917. Neumann's work often explored themes of power and guilt, showcasing his ability to create realistic characters and maintain suspense.
In addition to poetry, Neumann contributed to theater, adapting his story "Der Patriot" into a successful play and later a screenplay that won an Academy Award. His career also included several other screenplays, demonstrating his versatility as a writer. After moving to Geneva and later the United States, he became a citizen in 1946. Neumann passed away in 1952 in Switzerland, and while he may not be widely recognized today, his contributions to literature and film during his lifetime garnered significant acclaim.
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Alfred Neumann
Writer
- Born: October 15, 1895
- Birthplace: Lautenberg, West Prussia, Germany (now in Poland)
- Died: October 3, 1952
- Place of death: Lugano, Switzerland
Biography
Alfred Neumann was born in 1895 in Lautenberg, West Prussia, Germany, now a part of Poland. His parents, Wolff Neumann and Malvina Joseph Neumann, were Jewish. His family moved to Berlin, where he graduated from high school in 1912. Neumann then studied art history and history in Munich. Here, he met the publisher George Mueller, who encouraged and mentored Neumann in his writing career. Neumann worked as a reader for Georg Muller Publishing, as a dramatic teacher for the Munich Little Theater, and as a dramatic advisor to the Otto Falkenberg Repertory Theater.
During World War I, Neumann served in a field artillery unit until 1915, when he was wounded and his military service was terminated. He returned to Munich in 1917 and began to write poetry, which his friend Mueller accepted for publication. Neumann’s first book, the poetry collection Die Lieder vom Lacheln und der Not: Gedichte, was published in 1917.
In 1920, Neumann moved to Geneva, Switzerland, where he continued his studies and received a degree in romance language and literature in 1921. While in Geneva, Neumann translated the poems of the French author Alfred de Musset. He married a Swiss dancer named Martina in 1922, but the marriage did not last very long, and he married his friend Mueller’s adopted daughter, Katharina Schatzberger-Muller, in 1924. Neumann became a citizen of the United States in 1946. He died in 1952 in Lugano, Switzerland.
In 1925, Neumann published a short story. Der Patriot: Erzählung (The Patriot, 1929); in1927, he adapted the story for a play, Der Patriot: Drama in fünf Akten (The Patriot: A Play in Three Acts, pb. 1928). The play is set in St. Petersburg, Russia, at the beginning of the nineteenth century and is about the patriotic military governor, Count Peter Alekseevich Pahlen, who is determined to dethrone the mad Czar Paul I and replace him with his son, Alexander. The play was met with mixed reviews, with some critics writing positively about its high suspense while others criticized its wooden characters and uninspired dialogue. However, Neumann turned the play into a screenplay in 1926, and the film was produced by Ernst Lubitsch for Paramount Pictures in 1928. The screenplay won an Academy Award, and Neumann went on to write several other screenplays, including None Shall Escape, for which he was nominated for another Academy Award.
Although he is now largely forgotten, in his day Neumann was a highly acclaimed writer. He is remembered for his terse language, sustained excitement, realistic characters, and thematic insights into the negative nature of power and guilt.