Alfred Neumann

Neumann, Alfred (Lautenburg, West Prussia, now Poland, 1895-1952, Lugano), was active as a dramatic adviser (Dramaturg) in Munich and Fiesole. In 1933 he emigrated to Florence and in 1941 to the USA and became an American citizen, returning to Florence in 1949. He is the author of a number of historical novels concerned with the problems of power and dictatorship and ruthlessly analysing the motives of action.

Neumann's outstanding works are the story Der Patriot (1925, made into a play and a film), the novels Der Teufel (1926) and Die Rebellen (1927, the Italian revolt against Austrian hegemony in the north), Der Held (1930), on the murder of W. Rathenau, and the trilogy of novels about Napoleon III (Neuer Caesar, 1934; Kaiserreich, 1936; Die Volksfreunde, 1941). (The last of these was retitled Das Kind von Paris in 1952) Others include Es waren ihrer sechs (1945), on the student group ‘Weiße Rose’ (see Resistance Movements, 2), and Der Pakt (1949). One of his plays, Abel (1948) was turned into the story Viele heißen Kain (film version as Haus des Schweigens). He wrote poetry of his own (Die Lieder vom Lächeln und der Not, 1918; Neue Gedichte, 1920) and translated that of A. de Musset, A. Lamartine, and A. de Vigny, among others (Alt- und neufranzösische Nachdichtungen, 2 vols., 1922). An edition of Werke (2 vols.) appeared 1949-50; correspondence with Th. Mann in 1977.