Alfred Neumann (15 October 1895 – 3 October 1952) was a German writer of novels, stories, poems, plays, and films, as well as a

translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''trans ...

into German.

Biography

Neumann was born in Lautenburg, Germany (now Poland). He was a recipient of the Kleist Prize in 1926 and his writings were banned during the Third Reich. His novel ''Der Patriot'' was turned into a play and filmed in 1928, directed by

Ernst Lubitsch Ernst Lubitsch (; ; January 29, 1892November 30, 1947) was a German-born American film director, producer, writer, and actor. His urbane comedies of manners gave him the reputation of being Hollywood's most elegant and sophisticated director; a ...

. The film was remade in France in 1938 directed by

Maurice Tourneur Maurice Félix Thomas (; 2 February 1876 – 4 August 1961), known as Maurice Tourneur (), was a French film director and screenwriter. Life Born Maurice Félix Thomas in the Épinettes district (17th arrondissement of Paris), his father was a w ...

. He was working in Italy when

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

came to power in 1933. The

Nazi party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor ...

seized all his property due to his Jewish heritage. He remained in Italy until 1938 when he moved to France. The French film '' La Tragédie impériale'' (1938), was based on his novel. He moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

in 1941 and became a US citizen, where he stayed until 1949. His work as a screenwriter included '' None Shall Escape'' (1944), '' Conflict'' (1945), and '' The Return of Monte Cristo'' (1946). Neumann produced the first successful stage adaptation of ''

War and Peace ''War and Peace'' (; pre-reform Russian: ; ) is a literary work by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy. Set during the Napoleonic Wars, the work comprises both a fictional narrative and chapters in which Tolstoy discusses history and philosophy. An ...

'' in 1942. His novels included ''King Haber'' and ''The Devil''. Neumann was married to a Swiss dancer. They divorced and he then married the daughter of Georg Müller, the publisher, who published Neumann's first book of verse. He died in

Lugano, Switzerland Lugano ( , , ; ) is a city and municipality within the Lugano District in the canton of Ticino, Switzerland. It is the largest city in both Ticino and the Italian-speaking region of southern Switzerland. Lugano has a population () of , and an u ...

, aged 56. Books published (incomplete list): * Life of Christina of Sweden * Man of December * Mirror of fools * New Caesar * The friends of the people * Six of them * The Devil

References

External links

* 1895 births 1952 deaths American male screenwriters Kleist Prize winners People from Lugano 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American screenwriters German emigrants Immigrants to Italy Immigrants to the United States German people of Jewish descent {{US-screen-writer-1890s-stub