Siegfried Trebitsch

Siegfried Trebitsch
Portrait from 1902.
Born	(1868-12-22)22 December 1868 Vienna
Died	3 June 1956(1956-06-03) (aged 87)
Resting place	Zürich
Nationality	Austrian; French; Czechoslovakian
Occupation	Translator; playwright; poet
Years active	c.1900–1956
Notable work	Jitta's Atonement

Siegfried Trebitsch (1868–1956) was an Austrian playwright, translator, novelist and poet. Though prolific as a writer in various genres, he was best known for his German translations, especially of the works of the Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw, with whom he kept up a long and detailed correspondence. He is also known for translations of French writers, especially Georges Courteline.

Trebitsch was born on 22 December 1868, into a wealthy secular Jewish family, who "taught him nothing of Judaism of Christianity". His brother Arthur Trebitsch, despite his Jewish origin, became a noted Antisemite and early supporter of the Nazis. Siegfried identified himself as a Lutheran when he registered for military service. He entered the silk trade business of his stepfather Leopold, where he remained until 1903 when he took a year out for personal study and for travels across Europe and North Africa.

While in England he personally sought out Bernard Shaw, offering to translate his works and help build the playwright's reputation in Europe. This initiated a lengthy correspondence with Shaw that lasted until the Irish writer's death, and has since been published. Trebitsch became the sole German translator of Shaw during his lifetime. Three of Shaw's plays had their world premieres in Trebitsch's German translations. Pygmalion and The Millionairess were both first performed in Vienna. His last full-length play Buoyant Billions was first performed Zürich, to which Trebitsch had moved during World War II. In 1923 Shaw rewarded Trebitsch for his efforts by translating and adapting his play Frau Gitta's Sühne into English, as Jitta's Atonement. Trebitsch also cultivated links with French writers.

He took up his residence in Vienna, where he built the prestigious "Villa Trebitsch" designed by Ernst Gotthilf. He married in 1907 to the Hungarian Princess Antoinette Engalitscheff, the widow of a Russian Grand Duke who had been killed in 1904 fighting the Japanese. In the same year he was given honorary citizenship of the Municipality Wigstadtl in Austrian Silesia Kronlande. After World War I this became part of Czechoslovakia, so in 1920 he acquired Czech citizenship.