Robert Breuer
Robert Breuer (actually Lucian Friedlaender ; born June 28, 1878 in Rzeki near Czestochowa , Russian Empire ; † April 30, 1943 in Martinique ) was a German journalist and publicist . As a confidante of Friedrich Ebert , he was deputy press chief of the Reich Chancellery and the Foreign Office in 1919 .
life and work
The studied theologian Breuer was already an art critic of the social democratic Vorwärts when he started working for the weekly magazine Die Schaubühne published by Siegfried Jacobsohn in 1911 . Since the Schaubühne was still exclusively devoted to theatrical topics at that time, Breuer's contributions were limited to the most varied of cultural areas. This changed with the thematic expansion of the Schaubühne in 1913 and the beginning of the First World War . In November 1915, Breuer started a series of editorials under the pseudonym Cunctator (Latin = hesitant) which dealt critically with the politics of the Reich government and the political state of the Reich. The series culminated on December 23 with the contribution "The Crisis of Capitalism", in which he described the world war as an expression of a capitalism crisis and which ended with the statement: "Only the international of the proletariat can overcome the crisis of nationally disguised capitalism."
Because of this article, the Schaubühne was initially banned. However, Jacobsohn was able to ensure a further appearance of the paper by consenting to prior censorship. Converted to Germanicus , however, Breuer returned to the paper as a commentator in January 1916. In the following three years of war, Breuer continued his course aimed at understanding and democratic progress, whereby in 1918 there were increasing differences between Jacobsohn and Germanicus . After the initial successes of the German spring offensive in 1918, Breuer abandoned his strictly anti-annexationist position and left the previous line of the paper in other areas as well. The differences between the MSPD supporter Breuer and Jacobsohn, who was more in favor of the USPD , finally led to the departure of Germanicus on December 5, 1918. Breuer remained connected to the world stage , as the Schaubühne was now called, as a cultural-political journalist until 1931 . Breuer commented on his departure with a drastic assessment of the political situation:
“Dear Jacobsohn,
you tell me that you can no longer answer to your conscience for my weekly considerations. (...) I am nothing short of hysterical and have fought long and loud enough against the megalomania of the German world hegemony. But I can't imagine it when a Germany shattered by Bolshevik fever becomes an English colony controlled by French niggers. "
It therefore seemed logical that Breuer worked for the new Reich government under Ebert from 1919. Ebert, on the other hand, was often described by the world stage as a traitor to the revolution of November 9, 1918.
From 1920 to 1925 Breuer was director of the publishing house for social science. During this time he also edited the socialist weekly Die Glocke . Then, from 1925 to 1932, worked as a department head in the Reichszentrale für Heimatdienst , the forerunner of today's Federal Agency for Civic Education .
In 1933 he fled via the former Czechoslovakia to France, where he also worked as a journalist. There he wrote, among other things, for the Pariser Tageszeitung , the successor of the Pariser Tageblatt , in particular numerous theater reviews; At times he was also a salaried editor of this newspaper. In 1938 he was expatriated from Germany. His escape from the National Socialists finally led him to Martinique via Morocco in 1940 . There he did not succeed in obtaining a visa to the USA. Since the island, which belongs to Vichy France , was blocked by the Allied warships, there was a great shortage of food. Kurt Kersten , who was also stranded in Martinique, reported retrospectively on Breuer's last hours :
“Then I saw in horror an emaciated old man with a pale, sunken face, the emaciated arms lay like dry sticks on the blanket of the cot. All shine had disappeared from the once bright light blue eyes, the nose poking out from the pale, already waxy face seemed to be alive alone. (...) The doctor said: 'We don't have any medication or even the right nutrition for our friend, the disease is so advanced that there is not much that can be done for him.' - ,Which disease?' - A pitying look hit me, as if you weren't looking at the consequences of hunger yourself: 'What disease ?! Hunger!'"
Breuer died on the night of April 30, 1943, completely impoverished and exhausted from the consequences of malaria in a hospital. He left behind his wife and a son.
Fonts
- (Ed.): Germany's spatial art and applied arts at the world exhibition in Brussels 1910. Stuttgart 1910.
- with Hans Landsberg, Ulrich Rauscher: The German Soldier Book. Berlin 1914.
literature
- Johannes Hürter (Red.): Biographical Handbook of the German Foreign Service 1871 - 1945. 5. T - Z, supplements. Published by the Foreign Office, Historical Service. Volume 5: Bernd Isphording, Gerhard Keiper, Martin Kröger: Schöningh, Paderborn et al. 2014, ISBN 978-3-506-71844-0 , p. 415 f.
- Arno Scholz (ed.): Robert Breuer - A master of the pen. Berlin 1954.
- Breuer, Robert. In: Werner Röder, Herbert A. Strauss (Hrsg.): Biographical handbook of German-speaking emigration after 1933. Volume 1: Politics, economy, public life. Saur, Munich 1980, p. 94.
Web links
- Literature by and about Robert Breuer in the catalog of the German National Library
- Works by and about Robert Breuer in the German Digital Library
- Obituary for Robert Breuer In: Structure. May 21, 1943
- Part of Robert Breuer's estate in the German Exile Archive of the German National Library
Individual evidence
- ^ Claude Villard: Theater criticism . In: Hélène Roussel, Lutz Winckler (eds.): Right and left of the Seine. Pariser Tageblatt and Pariser Tageszeitung 1933–1940. Niemeyer, Tübingen 2002, pp. 235-250; see also Michaela Enderle-Ristori: Market and intellectual power field. Literary criticism in the features pages of Pariser Tageblatt and Pariser Tageszeitung (1933–1940). Niemeyer, Tübingen 1997, p. 24.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Breuer, Robert |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Friedlaender, Lucian (real name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German journalist and publicist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 28, 1878 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Rzeki near Czestochowa |
| DATE OF DEATH | April 30, 1943 |
| Place of death | Martinique |