Editing Karl Wolfskehl

{{Short description|German Jewish writer}}
[[File:Theodor Hilsdorf, Karl Wolfskehl.jpg|thumb|200px|Karl Wolfskehl; photograph by [[Theodor Hilsdorf]]]]
'''Karl Wolfskehl''' (17 September 1869 &ndash; 30 June 1948) was a German Jewish author and translator. He wrote  poetry, prose and drama in German, and translated from French, English, Italian, Hebrew, Latin and Old/Middle High German into German.

==Biography==
Wolfskehl's family had a long history in Germany. During the [[10th century]], one of his ancestors, a rabbi, had emigrated to Germany from Italy with the [[Holy Roman Emperor]]  [[Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor|Otto II]]. Wolfskehl's ancestors then settled in [[Mainz]], where they lived for the next thousand years.<ref>Peter Hoffmann (2008), ''Stauffenberg: A Family History, 1905-1944'', page 65.</ref>

Karl Wolfskehl was born in [[Darmstadt]], Germany, the son of the banker and politician {{ill|Otto Wolfskehl|de}}. He studied [[Germanic languages]] and [[philology]] and a range of humanities courses in [[Giessen]], [[Leipzig]] and Berlin. Under [[Otto Behaghel]], he gained a PhD with a dissertation on a topic in [[German mythology]].

In 1898 he married Hanna de Haan (1878-1946), daughter of the Dutch conductor {{ill|Willem de Haan|de}} at the Grand Ducal court theatre at [[Darmstadt]]. They had two daughters, Judith (born 1899) and Renate (born 1901).

He defined himself by pride in his German Jewish faith and heritage as well as in his roots in [[German literature]] and [[German culture|culture]]. He developed a lasting friendship with the poet [[Stefan George]] and was a leading figure in the poet's circle of friends and followers. With the philosopher [[Ludwig Klages]] and the [[archaeologist]] [[Alfred Schuler]], Wolfskehl formed the short-lived so-called [[Munich Cosmic Circle]] around 1900. His family's wealth allowed Wolfskehl to pursue an independent career devoted to his literary, intellectual, and art related interests. Holding a jour fixe at his house, Wolfskehl became a central personality in the [[Bohemianism|literary bohemia]] in [[Munich]]'s borough of [[Schwabing]] during the last two decades of the [[German Empire]].

Amongst his friends and associates were [[Rainer Maria Rilke]], [[Thomas Mann]], [[Wassily Kandinsky]], [[Franz Marc]], [[Paul Klee]], [[Alfred Kubin]] and [[Martin Buber]].

In 1915, Wolfskehl bought an estate at [[Endingen am Kaiserstuhl|Kiechlinsbergen an der Kaiserstuhl]], in the [[wine country]] of the [[Grand Duchy of Baden]]. He and his family moved there in 1919 after he lost his family fortune due to the First World War and the ensuing inflation. He was forced to earn a living as a tutor in Italy and as an editor, cultural journalist and translator in Munich.

In 1933 appalled by [[Adolf Hitler's rise to power|Hitler's rise to power]], Wolfskehl left Germany for [[Switzerland]] the day after the [[Reichstag fire]]. Following [[Stefan George]]'s death on 3 December 1933, Wolfskehl and fellow Jewish member of the ''George-Kreis'' [[Ernst Morwitz]] were informed and attended the Master's funeral in [[Minusio]], Switzerland.<ref>Peter Hoffmann (2008), ''Stauffenberg: A Family History, 1905-1944'', page 73-74.</ref>

Wolfskehl moved on to Italy in 1934. During his years as a refugee, Karl Wolfskehl became a central figure in the [[anti-Nazi]] [[literary movement]] with [[German literature]] known as ''[[Exilliteratur]]''.

In defiance of what Peter Hoffmann calls the [[Nazi Party|Nazi Party']]s "absurd efforts" to exclude him from the [[German people]], Wolfskehl often said that wherever he was, there was the German ''Geist'' ("Spirit"). Also in 1934, Wolfskehl published a collection of poems titled, ''Die Stimme Spricht'' ("A Voice Speaks"), in which he affirmed his belief in [[Judaism]] and warned of the impending dangers posed by the Nazis. Some fellow members of the ''[[George-Kreis]]'', however, feared that Wolfskehl's denunciations of [[Nazism]] might put every other member of the Circle in very real physical danger.<ref>Peter Hoffmann (2008), ''Stauffenberg: A Family History, 1905-1944'', page 65-66.</ref>

In 1938, due to the rapprochement between Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, he moved to New Zealand with his partner Margot Ruben (1908–1980). There he became a staunch friend of the conductor [[Georg Tintner]], also a refugee from [[Nazi Austria]]. He was granted New Zealand citizenship after World War II and remained there until his death in 1948.<ref>Tanya Buchdahl Tintner, ''Out of Time: The Vexed Life of Georg Tintner'', p. 63</ref>

== Works (selection)==
{{cols}}
* ''Ulais.'' 1897.
* ''Gesammelte Dichtungen.'' 1903.
* ''Maskenzug.'' 1904.
* ''Saul.'' 1905.
* (with Friedrich von der Leyen) ''Älteste Deutsche Dichtungen.'' 1908 (translations).
* ''Sanctus.'' 1909.
* ''Gedichte des Archipoeta an Kaiser Friedrich Barbarossa und seinen Kanzler: nach Jakob Grimms Ausgabe.'' 1921 (translation). 
* ''de Coster, Charles: Die Geschichte von Ulenspiegel und Lamme Goedzak und ihren heldenmäßigen, fröhlichen und glorreichen Abenteueren im Lande Flandern und anderwärts.'' München 1926 (translation).
*  (with Curt Sigmar Gutkind) ''Das Buch vom Wein.'' 1927 (translations). 
* ''Der Umkreis.'' 1927. 
* ''Bild und Gesetz. Gesammelte Abhandlungen'' 1930. 
* ''Die Stimme spricht.'' 1934/1936. 
* ''An die Deutschen.'' 1947.

posthumously published:
* ''Hiob oder Die vier Spiegel.'' 1950. 
* ''Sang aus dem Exil.'' 1950. 
* ''Gesammelte Werke. 2 Vol.'' 1960.
* ''Briefwechsel aus Neuseeland 1938-1948. 2 Vol.'' Ed. C. Blasberg'' 1988.
* ''Briefwechsel aus Italien 1933–1938.'' Ed. C. Blasberg'' 1993.
* ''Von Menschen und Mächten. Stefan George, Karl und Hanna Wolfskehl. Der Briefwechsel 1892-1933.'' Ed. B. Wägenbaur and U. Oelmann, 2015 
* ''Three Worlds / Drei Welten. Selected Poems. German and English.'' Transl. and ed. by A. P. Wood and F. Voit. 2016
* ''Poetry and Exile. Letters from New Zealand 1938-1948.'' Ed. and transl. By N. Wattie. 2017
{{colend}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
* Norman Franke, ‘''Jüdisch, römisch, deutsch zugleich…’? Eine Untersuchung der literarischen Selbstkonstruktion Karl Wolfskehls unter besonderer Berücksichtigung seiner Exillyrik.'' Universitätsverlag Winter, Heidelberg 2006, {{ISBN|3-8253-5106-8}} (German)
* Norman Franke, ’"Mirobuk!"Karl Wolfskehl als satirische Romangestalt'. In: ''Studia Niemcoznawcze, Studien zur Deutschkunde.'' (Vol. XXXI., Warsaw, 2005), pp. 339 - 360 (German)
* Norman Franke, 'The last European and the first New Zealander'. In: ''SPAN'', Brisbane, Hamilton 1998/99, pp. 57 – 71
* Manfred Schlösser, ''Karl Wolfskehl 1869-1948. Leben und Werk in Dokumenten'', Darmstadt: Agora Verlag, 1969 (German)
* Manfred Schlösser, ''Karl Wolfskehl – Bibliographie'', Darmstadt: Erato-Presso (AGORA Verlag), 1971, {{ISBN|978-3-87008-021-1}} (German)
* Elke-Vera Kotowski, Gert Mattenklott: ''"O dürft ich Stimme sein, das Volk zu rütteln!" Leben und Werk von Karl Wolfskehl'' Olms, Hildesheim 2007, {{ISBN|978-3-487-13303-4}} (German)
* Friedrich Voit: ''Karl Wolfskehl. A Poet in Exile.'' Cold Hub Press, Lyttelton / Christchurch 2019, {{ISBN|978-0-473-47669-4}}

==External links==
{{commons category-inline|Karl Wolfskehl}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Wolfskehl, Karl}}
[[Category:1869 births]]
[[Category:1948 deaths]]
[[Category:Writers from Darmstadt]]
[[Category:Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to Italy]]
[[Category:German poets]]
[[Category:German translators]]
[[Category:English–German translators]]
[[Category:French–German translators]]
[[Category:Hebrew–German translators]]
[[Category:Italian–German translators]]
[[Category:Latin–German translators]]
[[Category:German male poets]]
[[Category:German male dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:20th-century German dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:German male non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to New Zealand]]


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