Franz Werfel, Austrian-Bohemian writer
Sep. 09, 1980 - Franz Werfel was born in Prague on Sept. 10th 1890 as the son of a wealthy Jewish manufacturer. From 1911 to 1914 he was lecturer in the Kurt-Wolff-Verlag in Leipzig. During World War I he fought in east Galicia. Afterwards he mainly lived in Vienna, where he married Alma Mahler, the widow of Gustav Mahler. When Hitler marched in Austria, Werfel emigrated to France, later he fled to the USA. In gratitude for his escape he wrote the book Das Lied der Bernadette (The Song of Bernadette); his adventurous escape is also the content of Jakobowsky und der Oberst, which came out 1944. Franz Werfel died on August 26th, 1945 in Beverly Hills. Further successful works of his are; Nicht der Morder, der Ermordete ist schuldig (1915), Die 40 Tage des Musa Dagh (1933), and Der veruntreute Himmel (1939). He was a playwright, novelist and poet
