Gustav Regler (25 May 1898 – 14 January 1963) was a German writer and journalist.

Background

Gustav Regler was born on 25 May 1898 in

Merzig Merzig (, french: Mercy, ''Moselle Franconian:'' ''Meerzisch''/''Miërzësch'') is a town in Saarland, Germany. It is the capital of the district Merzig-Wadern, with about 30,000 inhabitants in 17 municipalities on 108 km². It is situated ...

, in the

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an ...

n Rhine Province (now

Saarland The Saarland (, ; french: Sarre ) is a state of Germany in the south west of the country. With an area of and population of 990,509 in 2018, it is the smallest German state in area apart from the city-states of Berlin, Bremen, and Hamburg, and ...

Career

Regler served in the German Infantry during the First World War and was seriously injured. He joined the Communist Party and spent time in the USSR. He later served as political commissar of the

XII International Brigade The XII International Brigade was mustered on 7 November 1936 at Albacete, Spain. It was formerly named the Garibaldi Brigade, after the most famous and inspiring leader in the Italian Independence Wars, General Giuseppe Garibaldi. Structure Its ...

during the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, link ...

. Whilst in Spain he befriended

Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. His economical and understated style—which he termed the iceberg theory—had a strong influence on 20th-century f ...

and was wounded at the

Battle of Guadalajara The Battle of Guadalajara (March 8–23, 1937) saw the victory of the People's Republican Army (''Ejército Popular Republicano'', or EPR) and of the International Brigades over the Italian and Nationalist forces attempting to encircle Madrid d ...

. As a Communist, he was long-time friend of

Arthur Koestler Arthur Koestler, (, ; ; hu, Kösztler Artúr; 5 September 1905 – 1 March 1983) was a Hungarian-born author and journalist. Koestler was born in Budapest and, apart from his early school years, was educated in Austria. In 1931, Koestler join ...

, first in Berlin, then Paris and during the Spanish Civil War. Regler's books were banned in the Third Reich. While in Spain, he wrote articles as a special correspondent for the ''

Deutsche Zentral Zeitung The ''Deutsche Zentral-Zeitung'' (DZZ; ''German Central Newspaper'') was the German-language newspaper published in Moscow by the German-speaking section of the Communist International. The newspaper's type was set in Fraktur (see image) and co ...

''. He accompanied

Lillian Hellman Lillian Florence Hellman (June 20, 1905 – June 30, 1984) was an American playwright, prose writer, memoirist and screenwriter known for her success on Broadway, as well as her communist sympathies and political activism. She was blacklisted aft ...

on a visit to a Benicàssim hospital in October 1937.

Works

Regler wrote about his Spanish experiences in his novel ''Das große Beispiel'' he great example translated as ''The Great Crusade'' (New York, 1940), introduced by

, translated by

Whittaker Chambers Whittaker Chambers (born Jay Vivian Chambers; April 1, 1901 – July 9, 1961) was an American writer-editor, who, after early years as a Communist Party member (1925) and Soviet spy (1932–1938), defected from the Soviet underground (1938) ...

. His memoirs were published as ''The Owl of Minerva'' in London in 1959. ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...

'' magazine called him the German " Malraux."

Personal life and death

Regler eventually broke with the Soviet Communist Party and took refuge in Mexico where he lived the last years of his life in

Tepoztlán Tepoztlán () is a town in the central Mexican state of Morelos. It is located at in the heart of the Tepoztlán Valley. The town serves as the seat of government for the municipality of the same name. The town had a population of 14,130 inhabit ...

with his second wife Margaret (Peggy). He died while traveling in India to receive a prize at age 69 and his body was burned on the ghats of the Benares river.

References

Sources

* Hugh Thomas ''The Spanish Civil War'' 2003. 4th Rev ed. *Gustav Regler, ''The Owl of Minerva'', Hart-Davis, London, 1959. *"A Ghost Walks," ''

'', March 7, 1960 (review of ''The Owl of Minerva'')

External link

1898 births 1963 deaths People from Merzig-Wadern People from the Rhine Province Communist Party of Germany members Writers from Saarland German male writers German Army personnel of World War I International Brigades personnel German people of the Spanish Civil War {{spain-hist-stub