Otto Koischwitz
Max Otto Koischwitz (born February 19, 1902 in Jauer ; † August 31, 1944 in Berlin ) was a German- American literary scholar in New York and radio host of Großdeutscher Rundfunk .
Life
Otto Koischwitz studied in Berlin and joined the Wingolf there . In 1925 he received his doctorate with a thesis on "The Theater Herald in German Drama of the Middle Ages and the Reformation Era". He then worked in the United States as a professor of drama and literature at Hunter College of the City University of New York and at Columbia University .
In the United States he published several books on learning and understanding the German language , such as the German Primer (1932), a picture reading book (1933) and an introduction to scientific German. His textbooks were often used as vocabulary and grammatical constructions were just explained and the reader of the context -related, deductive enabled learning.
Koischwitz was increasingly drawn into the ideological disputes of his time. On December 20, 1933, he wrote to Friedrich Possekel (director of the German Book Association in Berlin) about the life of German emigrants in the United States: “I am now often with George Grosz ”, who “from class on was rich idlers and their wives and Daughters “lives. He wrote of Heinrich Mann , who “became a professor of literature at Princeton , where the sons of American big business, heavy industry, etc. Studying high finance ”and Albert Einstein 's“ Violin Concerts (there) ($ 25 the cheapest place) ”and concludes with“ There is a lot of involuntary comedy in the whole tragedy ”.
In 1938 Koischwitz received American citizenship, but propagated racial ideas of National Socialism in his courses , so that Hunter College released him in autumn 1939 because of anti-Semitism ("leave of absence").
Second World War
Koischwitz resigned in January 1940, renounced his US citizenship and moved to Berlin. From the spring of 1940 he broadcast as Mister OK and Doctor Anders in English-language propaganda programs on the German broadcaster Bremen . According to statements by Mildred Gillars in her post-war trial, he promoted her against resistance in the Propaganda Ministry as a broadcaster. Both had an affair at Hunter College in New York and lived together in Berlin. Together they spoke to the Allied soldiers during the Africa campaign with the series The Home Sweet Home Hour about Tunis . The broadcasts could be heard over shortwave across Europe, North Africa and the United States .
In 1943 Otto Koischwitz was charged with high treason in the United States . According to FBI records, relatives of him (Stella, Renata and Helen Koischwitz) lived in the United States with the literary scholar Harry Eisenbrown ( The use of animal names in the language of English technology ). They have been under surveillance for "Alien Property Custodian Matters".
Otto Koischwitz worked for the Reichsrundfunk until his death. In 1944 he died of tuberculosis in a Berlin hospital .
Fonts
- German fibula . New York. Crofts & Co. 1932.
- Picture reading book . New York. Crofts & Co. 1933.
- Introduction to scientific German , FS Crofts & Co., New York 1935.
- Farmer Hildebrand. A Pennsylvania short story , Die Brücke zur Heimat, Berlin 1936.
- (Ed.): German Spiritual Life of the Present. An Introduction to Contemporary German Literature , FS Crofts & Co., New York 1938 [recte 1928]. (According to the foreword, the first anthology of German literature on a scientific basis in the USA.)
- Paul and Purifax . JB Lippincott, 1938.
- Zs. M. Friedrich Schönemann a. a .: Culture in USA. The reality of a mass madness , Junker and Dünnhaupt, Berlin 1943.
- O'Neill . New German Research, American Dept. Lit.- u. Kulturgesch., 5, Bd. 169. Berlin Junker and Dunnhaupt Verlag, 1938. pp. 136-145
literature
- John Carver Edwards: Berlin Calling. American Broadcasters In Service To The Third Reich . Embossers. 1991
Web links
- Literature by and about Otto Koischwitz in the catalog of the German National Library
Individual evidence
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Koischwitz, Otto |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Koischwitz, Max Otto (full name); Mister OK (pseudonym); Doctor Anders (pseudonym) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German-American literary scholar in New York and radio host of Großdeutscher Rundfunk |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 19, 1902 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Yeah |
| DATE OF DEATH | August 31, 1944 |
| Place of death | Berlin |