Ernst Weiss

Weiss, Ernst, (Brünn, now Brno, 1884-1940, Paris), a doctor of Jewish descent, served in the 1914-18 War and in 1934 emigrated to France. He committed suicide before the German entry into Paris. He is the author of three plays, including the Expressionistic Tanja (1919), and of fiction showing Expressionistic and surrealist tendencies, owing something to Kafka whom he knew. His work frequently expresses violent perverted sexual impulses. His later narrative work is more realistic, in keeping with Neue Sachlichkeit. His novels include Die Galeere (1913), Der Kampf (1916), Tiere in Ketten (1918), Mensch gegen Mensch (1919), Stern der Dämonen (1920), Nahar (1922), Männer in der Nacht (1925), Boetius von Orlamünde (1928, retitled Der Aristokrat in 1966), Georg Letham. Arzt und Mörder (1931), Der Geisterseher (1934), Der Gefängnisarzt (1934, reprinted 1969), Der arme Verschwender (1936, reprinted 1965), and Der Verführer (1937). His best-known work, Der Augenzeuge, a novel dealing with the Hitler period, was published posthumously in 1963. His collected prose, Gesammelte Werke, ed. P. Engel and V. Michels, appeared in 1982.