Julius Elias

In his studio, Matthäikirchstr. 4, Berlin, around 1905

Julius Elias (born July 12, 1861 in Hoya , Kingdom of Hanover , † July 2, 1927 in Berlin ) was a German writer, art collector and translator, literary and art historian, lecturer in art history at the Technical University of Charlottenburg and, as an art critic, a pioneer of impressionism in Germany.

Life

Elias was co-editor of the German Ibsen edition (14 volumes, 1898–1909) and Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson's works (four volumes, 1911) at S. Fischer Verlag . He later acted as Ibsen's executor.

Together with Erich Schmidt, Elias was the founder and director of the “Annual Reports for Modern German Literary History” (1892–1925). He also worked as a journalist and translator from French.

Elias was also a founding member of the Freie Bühne .

He also wrote a biography of Max Liebermann and published books with his graphics.

Elias lived at the same time as Carl Zuckmayer and Annemarie Seidel in the same house on Matthäikirchstrasse in Berlin, without Zuckmayer, who needed Elias' help at the time, knowing about it. He only met him later, when Elias had read the manuscript of The Merry Vineyard :

“Small, with a Chaplin corridor, bushy brows and eyes flashing with eagerness, he shot at you like a rocket when you entered his office [...]. “Do you need money?” Was the greeting he yelled at me on my first visit, and he answered it immediately himself: “Of course you need money! All young playwrights need money! But calm down! ”He shouted, although I hadn't said anything and stood still with astonishment. "Chill out! Your piece will bring in millions! Millions!". He threw his hands to heaven like a biblical prophet, and then let them fall on my shoulder, which he shook vigorously, looking up at me in a fatherly way. "

Zuckmayer reports on the first encounter in As if it's a piece of me . In fact, Elias had correctly foreseen that the young author would make his breakthrough with this play (Der Fröhliche Weinberg) set in Rheinhessen .

In 1927 Julius Elias developed a severe otitis media . After an operation that became necessary, his condition worsened. He died on July 2, 1927, ten days before his 66th birthday, in a Berlin hospital, where he had undergone a follow-up operation the day before. At the funeral service in the Wilmersdorf crematorium on July 5, 1927, Franz Ullstein , Carl Zuckmayer and Leopold Jessner, among others, spoke . The urn was buried in the Heerstrasse cemetery in Berlin-Westend , but the grave site has been closed.

literature

• Hermann Uhde-Bernays:  Elias, Julius. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 4, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1959, ISBN 3-428-00185-0 , p. 439 f. ( Digitized version ).
• Elias, Julius. In: Lexicon of German-Jewish Authors . Volume 6: Dore – Fein. Edited by the Bibliographia Judaica archive. Saur, Munich 1998, ISBN 3-598-22686-1 , pp. 285-291.

Web links

• Literature by and about Julius Elias in the catalog of the German National Library
• Works by and about Julius Elias  in the German Digital Library
• List of outstanding historical personalities in the eastern Tiergarten district (Berlin) before 1940 - serial no.82

Individual evidence

1. ^ Max Osborn : Julius Elias † . In: Vossische Zeitung . Saturday, July 2, 1927. Evening edition. P. 2.
2. ↑ The funeral service for Julius Elias . In: Berliner Tageblatt . Wednesday, July 6, 1927. Morning edition. P. 4.