Bruno Adler
Encyclopedia
Bruno Maria Adler was a German art historian and writer. He taught art history in Weimar
and lectured about it at the Bauhaus
. Adler fled Germany after the Nazis seized power and emigrated to England, where he worked first at a German-Jewish refugee school in Kent
, then as a writer with the German Service of BBC
Radio.
, Bohemia
. His mother was Therese Adler (née Hirsch) and his father was Moritz Adler, editor and critic with the social democratic
newspaper, Volkswille and an elected representative. Adler attended gymnasium
in Carlsbad and Prague
.
From 1910 to 1916, he studied art history, the history of literature, and philosophy at universities in Vienna
, Erlangen and Munich, acquiring his doctorate
in 1917 with a dissertation on the origin and beginning of woodcuts. From 1919 to 1924, Adler lectured on art history at the Bauhaus
and between 1920 and 1930, he taught art history
at the Weimar Saxon-Grand Ducal Art School
. His association with Johannes Itten
, who also taught at the Bauhaus, led to him publishing and editing Utopia: Dokumente der Wirklichkeit ("Utopia: Documents of Reality"). This included translations by Adler from the Rigveda
and work by Nicholas of Cusa
. During this period, Adler also edited writings by Adalbert Stifter
and Matthias Claudius
.
, Adler was forced to flee to Prague
. In 1936, he went to England. Writing under the pseudonym
(and anagram
) Urban Roedl, Adler released a biography of Stifter with the publisher Ernst Rowohlt
, who was afterward prohibited by the Nazis from working, having been charged with disguising Jewish writers. From 1936 to 1938, Adler continued to use the pseudonym during World War II
and occasionally, after the war.
Adler taught at the New Herrlingen School (also known as Bunce Court), a German-Jewish school founded by Anna Essinger
with help from British Quakers. Originally located in Herrlingen, Germany, it was relocated to Kent
, England because of Nazi persecution, where it became a haven for refugees, including both children from the Kindertransport
s and adults, who joined the staff. Adler's nephew was a pupil at Bunce Court, Gerard Hoffnung
.
. Under the guise of literary entertainment, these German-language programs broadcast British propaganda to Germany, using established native-speaking writers in exile, such as Adler and Robert Lucas, and targeted the average German, who was growing weary of endless war. Listening carried severe penalties in Germany, imprisonment and even death, so the programs were short, between three and seven minutes. Characters had to be easily identifiable and they had little time to impress the thought of their target audience.
Adler created the satirical "Frau Wernicke", a program broadcast from summer 1940 to January 1944. The lead role, Frau Gertrud Wernicke, was voiced by the German actress and cabaret artist Annemarie Hase, also in exile. The character was a Berlin woman married to a tradesman and World War I
veteran. She commented on the shortages plaguing the German populace, the state of the war and she launched subversive tirades against the Nazis, turning them into a laughing stock. Frau Wernicke became one of the most popular programs of the BBC's German Service.
Adler wrote the satirical series "Kurt und Willi" with the Scottish poet Norman Cameron
. It featured two characters, a teacher named Kurt Krüger and Willi Schimanski, an official in the German Ministry of Propaganda. So skilled was the character Willi as a propagandist, that he was reputedly much admired within the actual Nazi Ministry
.
Adler later edited the monthly German-language magazine Neue Auslese aus dem Schrifttum der Gegenwart, published by the U.S. Information Services Division, Central Office of Information in London after the war.
Adler's personal papers are archived at the German Literature Archive (Deutsche Literaturarchiv) in Marbach am Neckar
. Included in the papers is correspondence with Willi Baumeister
, Theodor Heuss
, Walter Gropius
, Itten, Hermann Kasack
, Alfred Kubin
, Georg Muche
and Max Stefl.
In 1958, Adler, again writing as Roedl, re-issued his 1936 biography of Stifter and dedicated it to his wife, Ilse Katz. Roedl was also the author of the Adalbert Stifter, monograph
, which Adler dedicated to Erich Heller
.
as Urban Roedl:
Weimar
Weimar is a city in Germany famous for its cultural heritage. It is located in the federal state of Thuringia , north of the Thüringer Wald, east of Erfurt, and southwest of Halle and Leipzig. Its current population is approximately 65,000. The oldest record of the city dates from the year 899...
and lectured about it at the Bauhaus
Bauhaus
', commonly known simply as Bauhaus, was a school in Germany that combined crafts and the fine arts, and was famous for the approach to design that it publicized and taught. It operated from 1919 to 1933. At that time the German term stood for "School of Building".The Bauhaus school was founded by...
. Adler fled Germany after the Nazis seized power and emigrated to England, where he worked first at a German-Jewish refugee school in Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
, then as a writer with the German Service of BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
Radio.
Early years
Adler was born to Jewish parents in CarlsbadKarlovy Vary
Karlovy Vary is a spa city situated in western Bohemia, Czech Republic, on the confluence of the rivers Ohře and Teplá, approximately west of Prague . It is named after King of Bohemia and Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV, who founded the city in 1370...
, Bohemia
Bohemia
Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...
. His mother was Therese Adler (née Hirsch) and his father was Moritz Adler, editor and critic with the social democratic
Social democracy
Social democracy is a political ideology of the center-left on the political spectrum. Social democracy is officially a form of evolutionary reformist socialism. It supports class collaboration as the course to achieve socialism...
newspaper, Volkswille and an elected representative. Adler attended gymnasium
Gymnasium (school)
A gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual...
in Carlsbad and Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
.
From 1910 to 1916, he studied art history, the history of literature, and philosophy at universities in Vienna
University of Vienna
The University of Vienna is a public university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world...
, Erlangen and Munich, acquiring his doctorate
Doctorate
A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder to teach in a specific field, A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder...
in 1917 with a dissertation on the origin and beginning of woodcuts. From 1919 to 1924, Adler lectured on art history at the Bauhaus
Bauhaus
', commonly known simply as Bauhaus, was a school in Germany that combined crafts and the fine arts, and was famous for the approach to design that it publicized and taught. It operated from 1919 to 1933. At that time the German term stood for "School of Building".The Bauhaus school was founded by...
and between 1920 and 1930, he taught art history
Art history
Art history has historically been understood as the academic study of objects of art in their historical development and stylistic contexts, i.e. genre, design, format, and style...
at the Weimar Saxon-Grand Ducal Art School
Weimar Saxon-Grand Ducal Art School
Weimar Saxon-Grand Ducal Art School was an art school set up by decree by Charles Alexander, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach on 1 October 1860. It existed until 1910. That year it was promoted to a Kunsthochschule as the Großherzoglich Sächsische Hochschule für Bildende Kunst in Weimar...
. His association with Johannes Itten
Johannes Itten
Johannes Itten was a Swiss expressionist painter, designer, teacher, writer and theorist associated with the Bauhaus school...
, who also taught at the Bauhaus, led to him publishing and editing Utopia: Dokumente der Wirklichkeit ("Utopia: Documents of Reality"). This included translations by Adler from the Rigveda
Rigveda
The Rigveda is an ancient Indian sacred collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns...
and work by Nicholas of Cusa
Nicholas of Cusa
Nicholas of Kues , also referred to as Nicolaus Cusanus and Nicholas of Cusa, was a cardinal of the Catholic Church from Germany , a philosopher, theologian, jurist, mathematician, and an astronomer. He is widely considered one of the great geniuses and polymaths of the 15th century...
. During this period, Adler also edited writings by Adalbert Stifter
Adalbert Stifter
Adalbert Stifter was an Austrian writer, poet, painter, and pedagogue. He was especially notable for the vivid natural landscapes depicted in his writing, and has long been popular in the German-speaking world, while almost entirely unknown to English readers.-Life:Born in Oberplan in Bohemia , he...
and Matthias Claudius
Matthias Claudius
Matthias Claudius was a German poet, otherwise known by the penname of “Asmus”.-Life:Claudius was born at Reinfeld, near Lübeck, and studied at Jena...
.
Exile in England
After the Nazis seized powerMachtergreifung
Machtergreifung is a German word meaning "seizure of power". It is normally used specifically to refer to the Nazi takeover of power in the democratic Weimar Republic on 30 January 1933, the day Hitler was sworn in as Chancellor of Germany, turning it into the Nazi German dictatorship.-Term:The...
, Adler was forced to flee to Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
. In 1936, he went to England. Writing under the pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
(and anagram
Anagram
An anagram is a type of word play, the result of rearranging the letters of a word or phrase to produce a new word or phrase, using all the original letters exactly once; e.g., orchestra = carthorse, A decimal point = I'm a dot in place, Tom Marvolo Riddle = I am Lord Voldemort. Someone who...
) Urban Roedl, Adler released a biography of Stifter with the publisher Ernst Rowohlt
Ernst Rowohlt
Ernst R. Rowohlt was a German publisher who founded the Rowohlt publishing house in 1908 and headed it and its successors until his death...
, who was afterward prohibited by the Nazis from working, having been charged with disguising Jewish writers. From 1936 to 1938, Adler continued to use the pseudonym during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and occasionally, after the war.
Adler taught at the New Herrlingen School (also known as Bunce Court), a German-Jewish school founded by Anna Essinger
Anna Essinger
Anna Essinger was a German-Jewish educator. At the age of 20, she went to finish her education in the United States, where she encountered Quakers and was greatly influenced by their attitudes, adopting them for her own...
with help from British Quakers. Originally located in Herrlingen, Germany, it was relocated to Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
, England because of Nazi persecution, where it became a haven for refugees, including both children from the Kindertransport
Kindertransport
Kindertransport is the name given to the rescue mission that took place nine months prior to the outbreak of the Second World War. The United Kingdom took in nearly 10,000 predominantly Jewish children from Nazi Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Poland and the Free City of Danzig...
s and adults, who joined the staff. Adler's nephew was a pupil at Bunce Court, Gerard Hoffnung
Gerard Hoffnung
Gerard Hoffnung was an artist and musician, best known for his humorous works.- Early years :Born in Berlin, and named Gerhard, he was the only child of a well-to-do Jewish couple, Hildegard and Ludwig Hoffnung...
.
German Service of the BBC
During the war, Adler worked in the German Service of the BBCBBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
. Under the guise of literary entertainment, these German-language programs broadcast British propaganda to Germany, using established native-speaking writers in exile, such as Adler and Robert Lucas, and targeted the average German, who was growing weary of endless war. Listening carried severe penalties in Germany, imprisonment and even death, so the programs were short, between three and seven minutes. Characters had to be easily identifiable and they had little time to impress the thought of their target audience.
Adler created the satirical "Frau Wernicke", a program broadcast from summer 1940 to January 1944. The lead role, Frau Gertrud Wernicke, was voiced by the German actress and cabaret artist Annemarie Hase, also in exile. The character was a Berlin woman married to a tradesman and World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
veteran. She commented on the shortages plaguing the German populace, the state of the war and she launched subversive tirades against the Nazis, turning them into a laughing stock. Frau Wernicke became one of the most popular programs of the BBC's German Service.
Adler wrote the satirical series "Kurt und Willi" with the Scottish poet Norman Cameron
Norman Cameron
Norman Cameron was a Scottish poet, distantly related to Thomas Babington, Lord Macaulay who, between the two world wars, associated on Majorca with Robert Graves and Laura Riding. Later, as a part-time Fitzrovian, he was a colleague of Dylan Thomas, Geoffrey Grigson, Len Lye, John Aldridge RA,...
. It featured two characters, a teacher named Kurt Krüger and Willi Schimanski, an official in the German Ministry of Propaganda. So skilled was the character Willi as a propagandist, that he was reputedly much admired within the actual Nazi Ministry
Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda
The Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda was Nazi Germany's ministry that enforced Nazi Party ideology in Germany and regulated its culture and society. Founded on March 13, 1933, by Adolf Hitler's new National Socialist government, the Ministry was headed by Dr...
.
Adler later edited the monthly German-language magazine Neue Auslese aus dem Schrifttum der Gegenwart, published by the U.S. Information Services Division, Central Office of Information in London after the war.
Personal and legacy
Adler's first wife was Margit, née Téry (1892–1977), a painter, graphic designer and student of Johannes Itten. They were married in 1918 and had one son, Florian (1921–1998), an architect and editor. Adler married his second wife, Ilse, née Katz (1890–1974) in 1928.Adler's personal papers are archived at the German Literature Archive (Deutsche Literaturarchiv) in Marbach am Neckar
Marbach am Neckar
Marbach am Neckar is a town on the river Neckar in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The nearest larger cities are Ludwigsburg and Stuttgart ....
. Included in the papers is correspondence with Willi Baumeister
Willi Baumeister
Willi Baumeister was a German painter, scenic designer, art professor, and typographer.-Life:Willi Baumeister, born in Stuttgart in 1889, completed an apprenticeship as a decorative painter in his native city from 1905 to 1907, followed by military service...
, Theodor Heuss
Theodor Heuss
Theodor Heuss was a liberal German politician who served as the first President of the Federal Republic of Germany after World War II from 1949 to 1959...
, Walter Gropius
Walter Gropius
Walter Adolph Georg Gropius was a German architect and founder of the Bauhaus School who, along with Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Le Corbusier, is widely regarded as one of the pioneering masters of modern architecture....
, Itten, Hermann Kasack
Hermann Kasack
Hermann Robert Richard Eugen Kasack was a German writer. He is best known for his novel Die Stadt hinter dem Strom . Kasack was a pioneer of using the medium broadcast for literature...
, Alfred Kubin
Alfred Kubin
Alfred Leopold Isidor Kubin was an Austrian printmaker, illustrator and occasional writer. Kubin is considered an important representative of Symbolism and Expressionism.-Biography:...
, Georg Muche
Georg Muche
Georg Muche was a German painter, printmaker, architect, author, and teacher.-Early life and education:Georg Muche was born on 8 May 1895 in Querfurt, in the south of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany and grew up in the Rhön area...
and Max Stefl.
In 1958, Adler, again writing as Roedl, re-issued his 1936 biography of Stifter and dedicated it to his wife, Ilse Katz. Roedl was also the author of the Adalbert Stifter, monograph
Monograph
A monograph is a work of writing upon a single subject, usually by a single author.It is often a scholarly essay or learned treatise, and may be released in the manner of a book or journal article. It is by definition a single document that forms a complete text in itself...
, which Adler dedicated to Erich Heller
Erich Heller
Erich Heller was a British essayist, known particularly for his critical studies in German-language philosophy and literature of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.- Biography :...
.
Publications (selected)
as Bruno Adler:- Translation of Gustave FlaubertGustave FlaubertGustave Flaubert was a French writer who is counted among the greatest Western novelists. He is known especially for his first published novel, Madame Bovary , and for his scrupulous devotion to his art and style.-Early life and education:Flaubert was born on December 12, 1821, in Rouen,...
, Die Sage von St. Julian, dem Gastfreien, (Original title: La légende de Saint Julien l'hospitalier) M. Biewald, Weimar(1923) - Matthias Claudius. Werke, Utopia-Verlag, Weimar (1924)
- Das Weimarer Bauhaus, Bauhaus Archive, Darmstadt (1965)
- (Editor) Utopia: Dokumente der Wirklichkeit, Martin Biewald, Weimar (1921); Kraus reprint, Munich (1980)
as Urban Roedl:
- Matthias Claudius: sein Weg und seine Welt, Wolff, Berlin (1934)
- Kampf um Polna (novel), Kacha, Prague (1934), reprinted Polná (1999)
- Adalbert Stifter in Selbstzeugnissen und Bilddokumenten, Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg (1965)
- Jodel-Franz, (with Billy Dongen). Munich: Ed. Insel-Ton, (1955)
- Adalbert Stifter: Geschichte seines Lebens, Francke, Bern (1958)
- Frau Wernicke: Kommentare einer "Volksjenossin, Uwe Naumann (Ed.), persona verlag, Mannheim (1990)
External links
- Detlef Färber, Ein Weltstar kam aus Halle Mitteldeutsche Zeitung (November 14, 2007). Retrieved October 28, 2011
- W. Bernhard, Für Urban Roedl Die Zeit, (October 11, 1963), No. 41. Retrieved October 28, 2011
- Roedl, Urban 1889?–1968 at worldcat
- Werner Eugen Mosse (ed.), Second Chance: Two Centuries of German-speaking Jews in the United Kingdom J.C.B. Mohr, Tübingen, Germany (1991), p. 149. Retrieved October 20, 2011