Alfred Kerr
| Alfred Kerr | |
|---|---|
Alfred Kerr
Lovis Corinth (1907)
|
|
| Born |
Alfred Kempner 25 December 1867 Breslau, Silesia, Prussia |
| Died | 12 October 1948 (aged 80) Hamburg, Germany |
| Occupation | Author and theatre critic |
| Spouse(s) |
Ingeborg Thormählen (m. 1917; d. 1918) Julia Weismann (m. 1920) |
| Children |
Michael Kerr Judith Kerr (second marriage) |
| Relatives |
Matthew Kneale (grandson) Tacy Kneale (granddaughter) |
Alfred Kerr (né Kempner; 25 December 1867 – 12 October 1948, surname: German pronunciation: [kɛʁ]) was an influential German theatre critic and essayist of Jewish descent, nicknamed the Kulturpapst ("Culture Pope").
Kerr was one of two recorded children born into a prosperous family in Breslau, Silesia. His father, Meyer Emanuel Kempner, was a wine trader and factory owner. Alfred Kerr took the surname Kerr in 1887, making the change officially in 1909. He studied literature in Berlin with Erich Schmidt. He was also taught by Theodor Fontane. Alfred Kerr subsequently worked as a reviewer for numerous newspapers and magazines. With the publisher Paul Cassirer he founded the artistic review Pan in 1910.
Kerr changed his surname to avoid association with Friederike Kempner. Kerr was noted for his treatment of drama criticism as another branch of literary criticism. As his fame grew he engaged in polemics, with the critics Maximilian Harden, Herbert Ihering and Karl Kraus in particular. In the 1920s he was hostile to Bertolt Brecht, and assailed him with accusations of plagiarism.
In 1933 Kerr, his wife, Julia, and their children fled Germany for France via Czechoslovakia and Switzerland. They moved on to London in 1935. These years of exile were described, from a child's perspective, by Kerr's daughter in her books When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit and The Other Way Round. His books were amongst those burnt in May 1933 by the Nazis when they came to power; Kerr had attacked the Nazi Party publicly, and he had already gone into exile with his family. After visiting Prague, Vienna, Switzerland, and France, he came to London in 1935 where he settled, in penury. He was a founder of the Freier Deutschen Kulturbund, and worked for the German PEN club. An old feud with Karl Kraus worked against him at the BBC.
...
Wikipedia