Arthur Ernst Rutra (18 September 1892 – 9 October 1942), born Samuely (and using this surname until 1919), was a leading Austrian

Expressionist Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...

playwright and author. He was also a publisher and journalist. He was born on 18 September 1892 in

Lemberg Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in Western Ukraine, western Ukraine, and the List of cities in Ukraine, seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is o ...

in Austria-Hungary now

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

and was murdered on 9 October 1942 in the

Maly Trostinets extermination camp Maly Trostenets (Maly Trascianiec, , "Little Trostenets") is a village near Minsk in Belarus, formerly the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic. During Nazi Germany's occupation of the area during World War II (when the Germans referred to it as ...

near

Minsk Minsk ( be, Мінск ; russian: Минск) is the capital and the largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach and the now subterranean Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the admi ...

Early life and education

Rutra was born on 18 September 1892 in

in Austria-Hungary, now

. He was the son of a merchant and his mother came from a family of Jewish scholars. He spent his youth in Vienna and then studied at the University of Vienna 1911–13, Jurisprudence, 1913–15 Philosophy (majoring in German and Slavic studies) and was a member of the ''Akademischer Verbandes für Literatur und Musik'', to which his friend Robert Müller ((1887–1924)) also belonged. In 1917 he earned his Doctor of Philosophy degree.

Career

After the First World War he lived in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

as a freelance translator, writer and publicist. From 1918 he was a publisher (including at Georg Müller Verlag & Kurt Wolff Verlag). He translated into German some works by

Adam Mickiewicz Adam Bernard Mickiewicz (; 24 December 179826 November 1855) was a Polish poet, dramatist, essayist, publicist, translator and political activist. He is regarded as national poet in Poland, Lithuania and Belarus. A principal figure in Polish Ro ...

(from Polish) and by

Emile Zola Emil or Emile may refer to: Literature *''Emile, or On Education'' (1762), a treatise on education by Jean-Jacques Rousseau * ''Émile'' (novel) (1827), an autobiographical novel based on Émile de Girardin's early life *''Emil and the Detective ...

(from French). He was a member of the ''Schutzverband freier Schriftsteller'' (Association of Freelance Writers) and worked for the literary magazine ''Moment''. The Kohut-Rutra collection at

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...

University consists, in part, of Rutra's library of French versions of the works of

Heinrich Heine Christian Johann Heinrich Heine (; born Harry Heine; 13 December 1797 – 17 February 1856) was a German poet, writer and literary critic. He is best known outside Germany for his early lyric poetry, which was set to music in the form of '' Lied ...

and his contemporaries.

Nazi Era and Fate

After the National Socialists seized power in Germany, Rutra emigrated to

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

, where from 1934 he defended the independence of the Austrian state against German propaganda seeking annexation. After the

Anschluss The (, or , ), also known as the (, en, Annexation of Austria), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into the German Reich on 13 March 1938. The idea of an (a united Austria and Germany that would form a " Greater Germany ...

of Austria in 1938, he was arrested and was placed in the

Dachau , , commandant = List of commandants , known for = , location = Upper Bavaria, Southern Germany , built by = Germany , operated by = ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) , original use = Political prison , construction ...

concentration camp from 2 April 1938 and imprisoned in

Buchenwald Buchenwald (; literally 'beech forest') was a Nazi concentration camp established on hill near Weimar, Germany, in July 1937. It was one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps within Germany's 1937 borders. Many actual or su ...

from 9 October 1939.

Ilse Braun Ilse Braun (18 June 1909 – 28 June 1979) was one of two sisters of Eva Braun. Born in Munich, Ilse was the oldest daughter of school teacher Friedrich "Fritz" Braun and seamstress Franziska "Fanny" Kronberger. She became the sister-in-law of Naz ...

, a sister of

Eva Braun Eva Anna Paula Hitler (; 6 February 1912 – 30 April 1945) was a German photographer who was the longtime companion and briefly the wife of Adolf Hitler. Braun met Hitler in Munich when she was a 17-year-old assistant and model for his ...

, claimed to have interceded on his behalf with

Martin Bormann Martin Ludwig Bormann (17 June 1900 – 2 May 1945) was a German Nazi Party official and head of the Nazi Party Chancellery. He gained immense power by using his position as Adolf Hitler's private secretary to control the flow of information ...

to try and get him freed, to no avail. In 1941 he was sentenced to 15 years in prison by the People's Court. On 5 October 1942 he was transported by the Gestapo in Vienna to Minsk, where he was murdered on 9 October 1942 in the nearby Maly Trostinez extermination camp.

Works

* ''Golgatha. Ein Spiel in neun Bildern.'' Munich: Georg Müller Verlag, 1918 * Arthur Ernst Rutra u. Otto Schneider (Hrg.): ''Der Anbruch. Ein Jahrbuch neuer Jugend.'' München-Pasing: Roland Verlag 1920 * ''Der fremde Mann.'' Wolff, Munich, um 1926. * ''Robert Müller. Denkrede.'' Hans von Weber Verlag, Munich 1925. * ''Der Kronprinz.'' Tragödie. DVA, Stuttgart u. a. 1928. * ''Zoo – Menschliche Geschichten.'' Hans von Weber Verlag, Munich 1927. * ''Spiel am Abgrund. Eine Streitschrift um das Theater.'' Bachmair, Munich 1931. * ''Das fünfte Rad. Episode aus dem Leben eines Niemands in 4 Akten.'' Zsolnay, Vienna, 1941. 119 Bl. 4° The Münchner Stadtbibliothek's Monacensia Library contains a number of letters of Arthur Rutra and signed manuscripts in its collection.

Early life and education

Career

Nazi Era and Fate

Works

References

Further reading