- Ernst Fischer (writer)
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Ernst Fischer (July 3, 1899 – July 31, 1972), also known under the pseudonyms: "Peter Wieden", "Pierre Vidal", and "Der Miesmacher", was a Bohemia-born Austrian journalist, writer and politician.
Contents
Life
Ernst Fischer was born in Komotau, Bohemia in 1899. He studied philosophy in Graz. In 1932, he was married to Ruth von Mayenburg. Initially a social democrat, Fischer became a member of the Communist Party of Austria (Kommunistischen Partei Österreichs or KPÖ) member in 1934 after being disillusioned in democracy for not being able to withstand fascism.
In 1934, after Fischer and his wife were involved in the Austrian Civil War, they had to leave Austria.[1] The went to Czechoslovakia, where he began working for the Comintern as an editor.[2] In 1938, they went to Moscow, where Fischer continued to work for the Comintern. They lived at Hotel Lux,[3] a luxury hotel that had been built in 1911,[4] and was taken over by the Communist Party after the October Revolution. Following Adolf Hitler's seizure of power, the hotel became a refuge for communist exiles, especially Germans.[5] The Fishers lived there from 1938 until 1945.[4]
When Fischer and his wife arrived at Hotel Lux, the Stalinist purges were still taking place and the exiles living at the hotel were living in a climate of fear and terror. The autumn after their arrival, Fischer came home from work one evening, looking terrified. Gustl Deutsch, an Austrian who had been arrested and had imprisoned, had managed to smuggle him a note to alert him to the danger facing Fischer. Under torture, Deutsch had named Fischer as being involved in a plot against Stalin's life. Although the charges were completely false, by being accused, Fischer was in grave danger and he immediately sought help from Georgi Dimitrov, one of the leaders of the Comintern. Dimitrov replied, "I will be able to save you, but the others...?"[6]
After the war, Fischer remained an important figure in the KPÖ until 1969. He served as Communist Minister of Information in the first post-war government of Renner (April 27, 1945 - December 20, 1945).
Fischer and his wife were divorced in 1954.[1]
His book, Erinnerungen und Reflexionen ("Memories and Reflections"), was released around the same time his ex-wife's book came out, Blaues Blut und rote Fahnen. Revolutionäres Frauenleben zwischen Wien, Berlin und Moskau ("Blue Blood and Red Flags. Revolutionary Female Life Between Vienna, Berlin and Moscow"). The two books covered the same period.[1]
Fischer died on July 31, 1972 in Deutschfeistritz.
References
- ^ a b c "Köstliche Entdeckung" Der Spiegel (November 3, 1969). Retrieved November 14, 2011 (German)
- ^ "Nachts kamen Stalins Häscher" Der Spiegel (October 16, 1978), p. 98. Note: The html file is from a low-quality OCR scan and is full of typos. There URL has a link to a PDF version, but it's low-quality too. Retrieved November 15, 2011 (German)
- ^ "Nachts kamen Stalins Häscher", p. 94
- ^ a b Peter Dittmar, "Der steinerne Zeuge des stalinistischen Terrors" Die Welt (October 30, 2007). Retrieved November 11, 2011 (German)
- ^ Hermann Weber, Hotel Lux - Die deutsche kommunistische Emigration in Moskau (PDF) Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung No. 443 (October 2006), p. 58. Retrieved November 12, 2011 (German)
- ^ "Nachts kamen Stalins Häscher", p. 102
Literary works
- Krise der Jugend. 1931
- Freiheit und Diktatur. 1934
- Die Entstehung des österreichischen Volkscharakters. 1944
- Franz Grillparzer. 1948
- Roman in Dialogen. 1955 (Zusammen with Louise Eisler)
- Kunst und Koexistenz: Beitrag zu einer modernen marxistischen Ästhetik. 1967
- Was Marx wirklich sagte. 1968
- Erinnerungen und Reflexionen. 1969
- Das Ende einer Illusion. 1973
- Von Grillparzer zu Kafka. 1975
External links
- Seite zu Ernst Fischer der Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek
- Ernst Fischer (writer) in the Aeiou Encyclopedia (German)
- Ernst Fischer (writer) in the German National Library catalogue (German)
Categories:- Austrian writers
- Austrian journalists
- Austrian politicians
- 1899 births
- 1972 deaths
- People from Chomutov
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