- Walter Hasenclever
Infobox Writer
name = Walter Hasenclever
imagesize = 200px
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pseudonym =
birthdate =8 July ,1890
birthplace = Aachen, Germany
deathdate =22 June ,1940
deathplace = Les Milles, France
occupation = Writer
nationality = German
period =
genre =
subject =
movement = Expressionist
influences =
influenced =
website =Walter Hasenclever (
8 July ,1890 inAachen ,Germany -22 June ,1940 inLes Milles (Camp des Milles ) nearAix-en-Provence ) was a German Expressionist writer.The son of the doctor Friedrich Hasenclever and his wife Emma, Walter Hasenclever began studying
law atOxford University in 1908 before changing to theUniversity of Lausanne . From 1909 to 1914 he studied inLeipzig , where he became interested inliterature andphilosophy . In 1910 he published his first volume of poems, "Städte, Nächte und Menschen" (Towns, nights and people). In 1914 his play "Der Sohn" (The Son) was his first successful expressionist drama.At first, Hasenclever was pro-war and volunteered for
military service ; soon, however, he came to reject the war. He simulatedmental illness and was released from duty. That same year he was presented with the Kleist Award for his passionate adaptation ofSophocles ' "Antigone". He was a good friend of the artistOskar Kokoschka who depicted him in his 1918 work "The Friends" withKäthe Richter inDresden , where Hasenclever was recuperating from his "illness" in a sanatorium.In 1924 Hasenclever met
Kurt Tucholsky ; at this time he worked as a French correspondent for the magazine ""8-Uhr-Abendblatt", spending a lot of time inParis , where he also befriended the dramatistJean Giraudoux . In 1926 he produced the successfulcomedy "Ein besserer Herr" (A Better Gentleman) and in 1928 the comedy "Ehen werden im Himmel geschlossen" (Marriages are made in Heaven). In 1930 he wrote scripts forMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer forGreta Garbo : at this time he lived inBerlin in an "artists' colony". When the National Socialists took over power in 1933, his works were banned, burnt during thebook burning then removed from libraries. Hasenclever went intoexile inNice . In 1934 he married Edith Schläfer there.During the
Second World War Hasenclever was imprisoned twice as a "foreign enemy" inFrance . When France fell to Germany, he was in the prison camp atLes Milles . In the early hours of22 June 1940 he took his own life with an overdose of thebarbiturate "Veronal ", so as not to fall into the hands of the Nazis.Since 1996 the Walter Hasenclever Prize has been awarded to a German language writer every two years. Winners have included
Peter Rühmkorf (1996),George Tabori (1998),Oskar Pastior (2000),Marlene Steerewitz (2002) andFriedrich Christian Delius (2004). The funds come from the Walter Hasenclever Society ("Walter-Hasenclever-Gesellschaft") as well as the town ofAachen , theSchiller Society and Hasenclever's old school, the Einhard Gymnasium.:"Much of this article is translated from of 15 June 2005"
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