Franz Werfel (Werfel Franz)

(1890-1945)
Born September 10, 1890 in Prague. During the First World War he served in the Austrian army. When in 1938 Germany annexed Austria, Werfel moved to France, where in 1940 he left for the U.S.. Werfel died in Beverly Hills (pc. California) August 26, 1945.
First attracted attention as a lyrical poet and playwright. After the miracle man of the mirrors (Spiegelmensch, 1920) over the following decade, wrote four dramas, varying the theme of spiritual redemption, which is reflected in the later comedies Iakobovski and Colonel (Jacobowsky und der Oberst, 1944). Perhaps his best novel - Forty Days of Musa Dagh (Die Vierzieg Tage des Musa Dagh, 1933), and the struggle against the Turkish genocide of Armenians. Bernadette Anthem (Das Lied von Bernadett, 1941) - story about the sanctity of humility. Posthumously (1946) was published the most significant piece of his Star of the unborn (Der Stern der Ungeborenen) - vision of the world in a thousand years, when all human problems have been solved by material means. Also in 1946 published an anthology of poems Werfel. Among other works - a collection of anti-materialistic articles between Heaven and Earth (1944) and three volumes of short prose works and excerpts from the stories of two worlds (Erzhlungen aus Zwei Welten, 1948-1952).