Renate Bob

I am reading the book in its original German and find it fascinating. Zweig mentions his meetings with famous intellectuals, writers, musicians of the time, which he seems to collect as he also collects their autographs. His description of the aftermath of WW1 , the senseless destruction, the devastating effects on the people is heartbreaking. That experience made him dedicate his life to writing against the senselessness of war. Zweig traveled extensively and sensed the dangers of fascism in his beloved Austria but as so many, who felt that the changes they saw were only temporary , he left only after it became apparent that things would get worse. While still in Austria, he collaborated with Richard Strauss in writing the libretto of “Die Schweigsame Frau” ( The Silent Woman.” Strauss was admired by Hitler, but was obviously no anti-Semite. The edicts prohibited any works that had Jewish writers to be performed, but interestingly, Hitler gave permission, and the opera was performed though only for a short time before being banned . The friendship between Strauss and Freud is a fascinating part of this book as are other relationships between famous people , all men, of the time and Zweig. Stefan Zweig was married twice but mentions his wife of 18 years only once in passing and then not by name. His second wife is also not named .Perhaps that illustrates the view at the time that women were secondary, but it still rankled a bit. Given that , I would nevertheless highly recommend reading “ Die Welt von Gestern”. It gives a picture of the events at that time in brilliant detail and it is fascinating reading.