Ernst Morwitz (September 13, 1887 – September 20, 1971) was a German-American poet, literary historian, and judge. Born in Danzig in 1887, after studying law at

Freiburg Freiburg im Breisgau (; abbreviated as Freiburg i. Br. or Freiburg i. B.; Low Alemannic: ''Friburg im Brisgau''), commonly referred to as Freiburg, is an independent city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. With a population of about 230,000 (as o ...

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

, and

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

, Morwitz served as a judge in

Fürstenwalde Fürstenwalde/Spree (; Lower Sorbian: ''Pśibor pśi Sprjewje'') is the most populous town in the Oder-Spree District of Brandenburg, Germany. Geography The town is situated in the glacial valley (''Urstromtal'') of the Spree river north of the R ...

from 1910 to 1930, then in

from 1930 until his compulsory retirement due to his Jewish ancestry under the

Nazi regime Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

in 1935. He emigrated to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

in 1938, where he served as a German teacher for the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

and, after the end of the war, lecturer in German literature at the

University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...

. He was naturalized as an American citizen in 1948. In 1952

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

restored Morwitz to an honorary judicial position, but he decided against returning there. He died in Muralto, Switzerland, in 1971. Besides his judicial career, from 1905 Morwitz was a friend of the poet

Stefan George Stefan Anton George (; 12 July 18684 December 1933) was a German symbolist poet and a translator of Dante Alighieri, William Shakespeare, Hesiod, and Charles Baudelaire. He is also known for his role as leader of the highly influential literar ...

and member of his

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, publishing poetry in George's journal, the ''Blätter für die Kunst''. Following George's death in 1933 and his own subsequent emigration to the United States, he played an important role in promoting George's work in the

Anglosphere The Anglosphere is a group of English-speaking world, English-speaking nations that share historical and cultural ties with England, and which today maintain close political, diplomatic and military co-operation. While the nations included in d ...

through translations of his poems. A posthumous collection of Morwitz's own poems was published in 1974.

References

1887 births 1971 deaths 20th-century American historians 20th-century American male writers 20th-century German historians 20th-century German judges 20th-century German male writers 20th-century German poets German male poets German–English translators Germanists Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United States Language teachers Literary historians Humboldt University of Berlin alumni University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill faculty 20th-century translators American male non-fiction writers {{US-academic-bio-stub