Franz Janowitz

Franz Janowitz in autumn 1914, the only surviving portrait

Franz Janowitz (born July 28, 1892 in Podiebrad , Austria-Hungary ; died November 4, 1917 in Unter-Breth ) was an Austrian poet .

Live and act

Franz Janowitz was the youngest son of the German-Jewish factory owner Gustav Janowitz in Podiebrad on the Elbe and brother of the writer and screenwriter Hans Janowitz (* 1890; † 1954). He spent the first ten years in a typical, wide-open Bohemian landscape, where he also spent all his holidays.

In 1903 his parents sent him to Prague , where he attended the Imperial and Royal State Gymnasium in Prague-Neustadt, Graben. In Prague he met Franz Werfel, Willy Haas, Max Brod and other German-Jewish writers. Soon he took part in the organization of Prague's cultural life. Together with Willy Haas, they invited the famous Viennese satirist Karl Kraus , which caused a sensation. Karl Kraus made friendships with young writers in Prague, including Franz Janowitz. This friendship deepened over the years to a special affection, which co-determined his further life. After passing the school leaving examination in 1911, Janowitz began studying chemistry in Leipzig at the urgent request of his father , which he also finished in 1912.

From then on he wanted to devote himself only to philosophical studies and literary work. In the winter semester of 1912 he enrolled at the Philosophical Faculty of the University of Vienna . His doctoral thesis should be devoted to the philosophy of Otto Weininger.

His first poems appeared in Herder papers and he was valued as a promising talent. Max Brod selected 16 of his poems for his yearbook Arkadia, which was published by Kurt Wolff Verlag. Since then, the name Franz Janowitz has become known to the literary public.

Janowitz was only enrolled in Vienna for three semesters. One-year volunteer service interrupted his studies and the war forced an end to it.

After Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia on July 28, 1914 , Janowitz was mobilized in Bozen and sent to the Galician front. Sick of severe dysentery, he was put on hold for the time being, but later drafted into company services in the hinterland and stationed in Enns . Most of his war poems were written in Enns. But declared fit for military service again, he had to go to the front in Enns.

During an assault on Monte Rombon, he suffered a severe chest wound and died of the consequences of the injury on November 4, 1917 in Feldspital 1301. He was buried in the military cemetery in Central Breth.

Two years after his death, Karl Kraus published a small volume of his poetry from his estate under the title “Auf der Erde” at Kurt Wolff Verlag. Here we also learn that the volume represents that short selection that the poet himself was preparing for publication.

Works

• On earth and other seals . Works, letters and documents / Franz Janowitz. Edited with an appendix by Dieter Sudhoff . Innsbruck Haymon-Verlag, 1992 (Brenner studies; vol. 12)
• The torch . No. 474-483 / xx (May 23, 1918) [p. 69-71]
• Judaica Bohemiae IV , Statni Zidovske Muzeum Praha 1968
• The literary world - memories . Willy Haas , Paul List Verlag, Munich 1980 [p. 257]
• Bo Osdrowski / Tom Riebe (eds.): Franz Janowitz. Versensporn - Booklet for lyrical charms No. 17, Edition POESIE SCHMECKT GUT, Jena 2014, 100 copies.
• Prague German stories , Philipp Reclam jun. Stuttgart 1992, ISBN 3-15-008771-6 , page 466 f.

literature

• Dieter Sudhoff: Janowitz, Franz. In: Andreas B. Kilcher (Hrsg.): Metzler Lexicon of German-Jewish Literature. Jewish authors in the German language from the Enlightenment to the present. 2nd, updated and expanded edition. Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 2012, ISBN 978-3-476-02457-2 , p. 248f.
• Jaromir Czmero: The most famous stranger to German literature in Prague - Franz Janowitz , Innsbruck; Vienna; Bolzano: Studien Verlag, 2015, ISBN 978-3-7065-5427-5
• Franz Janowitz , in: Hans Heinz Hahnl : Forgotten writers. Fifty Austrian life stories . Vienna: Österreichischer Bundesverlag, 1984, ISBN 3-215-05461-2 , pp. 175–178
• Franz Janowitz , in: Jürgen Serke : Bohemian Villages. Wanderings through a deserted literary landscape . Paul Zsolnay, Vienna 1987, ISBN 3-552-03926-0 , pp. 405-408

Web links

• Literature by and about Franz Janowitz in the catalog of the German National Library