H.G. Adler: A Critical Biography

Research project P 14601 H. G. Adler: A Critical Biograghy Wendelin SCHMIDT-DEGLER 26.6.2000 The aim of the project is to produce for the first time a comprehensive study on the life and work of H. 0. Adler, an important member of the circle around Elias and Veza Canetti, Erich Fried etc., whose ground-breaking scholarly work long overshadowed his reputation as a creative writer. Adler, a German-Jewish writer, born in Prague in 1910, was the inmate of various National Socialist concentration camps (Theresienstadt, Auschwitz) during the Second World War and lived in exile in London from 1947 until his death in 1988. In addition to publishing seminal works on the Holocaust, Adler left behind an important and to a large extent unpublished body of work, consisting of narrative prose, poetry and drama as well as scholarly articles and books on history, sociology, politics, psychology, language and literature, music, arts, philosophy, theology and Jewish studies. With the burgeoning of exile studies in recent years, the attention of important scholars and writers has begun to be drawn to Adler`s work. The tenth anniversary of his death saw the appearance of a doctoral dissertation and a catalogue of his literary estate as well as the publication of a number of primary texts, some of which were thus made available for the first time. The German National Literary Archive in Marbach am Neckar has put together an exhibition drawing on Adler`s literary estate, which has already been seen in Marbach, Berlin, Vienna and Prague. As a result, a large number of articles and reviews have been published in reputable newspapers and periodicals. And yet, no attempt has been made to exploit and focus this new interest in the form of a dedicated monograph. Such a work would not only address central contemporary concerns, but also cover a large number of areas of interest (European cultural and intellectual history, 20th century German literature,, exile studies, Holocaust research etc.) and should therefore attract considerable attention. Despite his exile in England, Adler throughout his life remained closely associated with Austrian culture. The above project arises from work on H. G. Adler`s literary estate carried out by the author of this proposal under the aegis of the Austrian Federal Ministry of Science and of Science and research.

The result of this project is the first comprehensive study on the life and work of H. G. Adler, an important member of the circle around Elias and Veza Canetti, Erich Fried etc., whose ground-breaking scholarly work long overshadowed his reputation as a creative writer. Adler, a German-Jewish writer, born in Prague in 1910, was the inmate of various National Socialist concentration camps (Theresienstadt, Auschwitz) during the Second World War and lived in exile in London from 1947 until his death in 1988. Both as a scholar and as a creative writer, this prolific author is one of the most interesting and most versatile personalities in postwar history. In addition to publishing seminal works on the Holocaust, he left behind an important and to a large extent unpublished body of work, consisting of narrative prose, poetry and drama as well as scholarly articles and books on history, sociology, politics, psychology, language and literature, music, arts, philosophy, theology and Jewish studies. The works of H. G. Adler address central contemporary concerns, cover a large number of areas of interest (European cultural and intellectual history, 20th century German literature, exile studies, Holocaust research etc.) and shall thus - so we hope - attract considerably more attention in the future. This monograph attempts to close a major gap in exile studies that has often been complained about in the past. Its most important topical areas are: H. G. Adler`s biography, Theresienstadt (Terezn), exile in England, the development and interdependence of scholarly work and literature, H. G. Adler as Franz Baermann Steiner`s and Grete Fischer`s literary executor, H. G. Adler`s position amongst London émigrés, H. G. Adler and Austria (despite his exile in England, Adler throughout his life remained closely associated with Austrian culture). This study focuses on - Adler`s most important and best known works Theresienstadt 1941-1945 and Auschwitz. Zeugnisse und Berichte; - books like Die verheimlichte Wahrheit and Der Kampf gegen die "Endlösung der Judenfrage", which have hitherto been neglected by academic research; - the voluminous autobiographically structured or autobiographically influenced novels Panorama, Eine Reise and Die unsichtbare Wand; - numerous unpublished texts, documents and photographs from Adler`s literary estate. It is rounded off by a complete bibliography of Adler`s writings and a select bibliography of secondary literature.