Lion Feuchtwanger

Who was Lion Feuchtwanger?

Lion Feuchtwanger was a German-Jewish novelist and playwright. A prominent figure in the literary world of Weimar Germany, he influenced contemporaries including playwright Bertolt Brecht.

Feuchtwanger's fierce criticism of the Nazi Party—years before it assumed power— and being Jewish ensured that he would be a target of government-sponsored persecution after Adolf Hitler's appointment as chancellor of Germany in January 1933. Following a brief period of internment in France, and a harrowing escape from Continental Europe, he sought asylum in the United States, where he died in 1958.

Feuchtwanger is often praised for his efforts to expose the brutality of the Nazis and criticized for his failure to acknowledge the brutality of the rule of Joseph Stalin.