Monty Jacobs

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Montague "Monty" Jacobs (born January 5, 1875 in Stettin , † December 29, 1945 in London ) was a German writer and journalist of English origin.

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Montague Jacobs was the son of the English businessman Henry Jacobs and his wife Laura Salomon. The later writer Dr. med. Paul Jacobsohn was his older brother. Jacobs completed his school days in his hometown and graduated from high school. That same year he began in Berlin to study literature and art history. Later he moved to Munich with the same subjects .

In 1898 Monty Jacobs finished his studies at Heidelberg University with a dissertation on Gerstenberg's tragedy Ugolino . Immediately afterwards he was employed by Ullstein Verlag , in the editorial office of the “ Berliner Zeitung ”. In September of the same year Jacobs advanced to the position of theater critic for the " Berliner Morgenpost " and worked as such until the spring of 1900.

Thanks to his family, Jacobs was financially independent and devoted himself to his work as a freelance writer for the next five years. During this time he married Dora, a daughter of the bookseller Ulrich Levysohn ; with her he had a daughter and two sons.

Between 1905 and 1910 Jacobs was a theater critic for the “ Berliner Tageblatt ”, where he also headed the editorial department of the feature pages after the war. During this time Jacobs made a name for himself as a literary historian. As such he acted u. a. as editor of an edition of Achim von Arnim's and Johann Peter Eckermann's "Eckermann's Conversations with Goethe". When Ullstein-Verlag took over the “ Vossische Zeitung ” in 1914 , Jacobs succeeded Arthur Eloesser there as a theater critic .

At the beginning of the First World War , Jacobs was interned as a British citizen; but very soon he was granted German citizenship . On the same day Jacobs volunteered at the front and was awarded the Iron Cross first and second class during the war .

After the end of the war, Jacobs returned to his former job at the “Vossische Zeitung” and in 1921 was entrusted with the management of the editorial department of the feature pages. In the same year, the Kleist Foundation accepted him as a member of its art council, in this function Jacobs was significantly involved in the publication of a work by Heinrich von Kleist from 1925 . During this time he did nothing new for the writer Erich Maria Remarque and for the publication of his work In the West . The writers Carl Zuckmayer and Norbert Jacques also owed Jacobs favorable reviews and support. On the occasion of the performance of his drama "The Insurmountable" in 1930, however, Karl Kraus declared Jacobs the winner of a stupidity competition among Berlin theater critics.

Immediately after the seizure of power by the National Socialists to give up his position as head of literature had to Jacobs, but in 1934 the newspaper was preserved as a journalist until the ban in March. From this time on, a writing ban was imposed on the journalist Jacobs. From this time onwards, a number of manuscripts such as “Die Berliner Posse”, “Die Verführte” or “ Jonathan Swift ” were created, which no longer found a publisher in National Socialist Germany.

On December 29, 1938, Jacobs and his family were able to emigrate to Great Britain via Switzerland. The first time he earned his living as a teacher at the free German university ; later he got a teaching position at the University of Birmingham . There Jacobs did a lot for their summer school. At the end of the war, the Foreign Office in London hired him for various programs of "re-education".

Jacobs did not get beyond some preliminary work because he died on December 29, 1945 in London at the age of almost 71.

As a representative of civil society in the Weimar Republic, Jacobs was very close to the socialism of his time; literary he was connected to naturalism throughout his life .

Fonts

  • Gerstenbergs Ugolino. A forerunner of the geniedrama . Ebering, Berlin 1898
  • Kleist . In: Heinrich von Kleist : Complete Works . Th. Knaur Nachf., Berlin and Leipzig 1909.
  • Ibsen's stage technology . Sibyllenverlag, Dresden 1920.
  • Jonathan Swift . Wedding-Verlag, Berlin 1948.
  • German acting. Evidence of the stage history of classical roles . Henschel, Berlin 1954.

literature

Web links


personal data
SURNAME Jacobs, Monty
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Jacobs, Montague (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German writer and journalist of English origin
DATE OF BIRTH January 5, 1875
PLACE OF BIRTH Szczecin
DATE OF DEATH December 29, 1945
Place of death London