Three Lives: A Biography of Stefan Zweig (55 page)

Koogan saw Zweig one more time, when he returned to Rio on the Friday of the carnival week to give him a sealed package of manuscripts and other papers, which he asked him to lock away in his safe. As Stefan Zweig played chess on the veranda of his house in Petrópolis on the Saturday evening, several of his valedictory letters were already on their way to their recipients. As an additional farewell to Friderike he had made arrangements for the manuscript of Mozart’s song
Das Veilchen
to be sent to her after his death. On the following day, under the Portuguese title
Declaração
, he composed two versions in German of a declaration to posterity and a letter to Friderike. Meanwhile Lotte had also written her final letters.

On the Monday, 23rd February 1942, the housemaid was surprised by the fact that the Zweigs were still in bed at lunchtime. As she listened at the
bedroom door shortly before noon, she heard a snoring or gasping sound, as she later noted in her police statement. By the afternoon she was still on her own in the house, so she finally went for help. Shortly before 4.30 pm she and her husband opened the door to the bedroom, which was unlocked. They found Stefan and Lotte lying motionless and fully clothed in their bed. He lay on his back, his mouth slightly open. Lying beside him, Lotte had reached over and put her arms around him. Both had died from ingesting toxic substances, as the attending physician, Dr Mario M Pinheiro, wrote on their death certificates. All the signs indicated that Lotte had taken the poison some time after Stefan; her body was still warm when they found her.

The police were summoned to the scene and their investigations led them to the same conclusion as the doctor—that this was a joint suicide. Several photos of the deceased were taken, for which purpose the bodies were moved into a different position, and a dentist was called in to make a death mask of Stefan Zweig.

The funeral, organised in great haste by Koogan and others, took place the following day, after the coffins had been placed on public display first. The government had insisted on meeting the costs of the obsequies and the grave. Amidst a great display of public mourning the funeral cortege wound its way to the Catholic cemetery in Petrópolis, where the burial service was conducted by Rabbi Lemle in accordance with Jewish rites, for which a special dispensation had been necessary.

Many leading daily newspapers printed Zweig’s official farewell declaration, the
Declaração
, in which he expressed his gratitude for the hospitality shown to them in Brazil, and described the feelings of helplessness and despondency that had led him to the decision to end his life. While he himself could not muster the patience to wait for better times to come, he hoped that all his friends would live to see the dawn of a new day after the long dark night that the war had brought and would continue to bring.

The following day an official inspection of Zweig’s house took place, and an inventory was drawn up of the papers and possessions he had left behind. Both Lotte and Stefan had made additional provisions in their wills. They wanted their clothes to be distributed among the poor and needy, and the housemaid was to continue to receive her wages for the next two months. The investigating officers also found an envelope addressed to Friderike’s nephew Ferdinand Burger, which contained Stefan Zweig’s wristwatch, ring, pearl tiepin and his collar studs and cufflinks. Another envelope, addressed to Koogan, contained his gold Swan fountain pen and matching propelling
pencil. Zweig had selected a galley proof of Balzac’s to be donated to the National Library in Rio as a thank-you to Brazil. The books he had borrowed were parcelled up together, other cartons contained manuscripts by Zweig. Among the smaller items found in the house were a typewriter, a radio, two used tobacco pipes and a chess set. Hanging on the wall of the bedroom was a framed copy of Stefan’s translation of the poem by Camões, which he had sent to friends the previous year: “Ah! where shall weary man take sanctuary, where live his little span of life secure?”

By the evening of the day on which they died, news of the suicide of Stefan and Lotte Zweig had been picked up by the press and had gone around the world. Friderike’s daughter Suse heard the news, and asked her husband to tell her mother before she heard about it by chance.

Several days passed before Friderike received the last letter from her deceased husband. The English is Zweig’s own:
²²

Petropolis, 34 rua Gonçalves Dias, 22.II.1942

Dear Friderike,

When you get this letter I shall feel much better than before. You have seen me in Ossining and after a good and quiet time my depression became much more acute—I suffered so much that I could not concentrate any more. And then, the security—the only one we had—that this war will take years, that it would take ages before we in our special position could settle again in our home was too depressing. I liked Petropolis very much, but I had not the books I wanted and the solitude which first had such a soothing effect began to become oppressive—the idea that my central work, the Balzac, could never get finished without two years of quiet life and all books was very hard and then this war, this eternal war, which is yet not at his hight. I was too tired for all that and poor Lotte had not a good time with me, especially as her health was not the best. You have your children and with them a duty to keep up, you have large interests and an unbroken activity. I am sure you will see still the better time and will give me right, that I with my “black liver” did not wait any longer. I send you these lines in the last hours, you cannot imagine how glad I feel since I have taken the decision. Give my love to your children and do not complain me—remember the good Josef Roth and Rieger, how glad I always was for them, that they had not to go through those ordeals.

Love and friendship and cheer up, knowing me quiet and happy

                                                                                             Stefan

NOTES

1
Zweig GW Verhaeren, p 12.

2
Klaus Mann 2005, p 604.

3
27th September 1935, Zweig GW Tagebücher, p 383.

4
Lotte Zweig to Hannah and Manfred Altmann, 23rd October 1940, in private ownership, Great Britain; quoted here in the original English.

5
Reichs- und Staatsanzeiger, No 286, 5th December 1940. Reproduced in: Zweig 2005, p 131.

6
Arens 1968, p 273 (facsimile of Zweig’s handwritten text).

7
Zweig F 1947, p 402 f.

8
Blick auf mein Leben, manuscript with numerous deletions and additions, LOC Washington, MMC 1604.

9
Zweig GW Welt von Gestern, p 491 f.

10
Lotte Zweig to Hannah Altmann, 21st July 1941, in private ownership, Great Britain, quoted here in the original English.

11
Stefan Zweig to Heinrich Eisemann, 22nd July 1941, LBI New York, quoted here in the original English.

12
Maass 1968, p 168 ff.

13
Stefan Zweig to Heinrich Eisemann, undated, probably September 1941, LBI New York, quoted here in the original English.

14
Stefan Zweig to Felix Braun, 21st November 1941, copy: Zweig Estate, London.

15
Lotte Zweig to Hannah Altmann, 7th November 1941, in private ownership, Great Britain, quoted here in the original English.

16
Zweig GW Gedichte, p 232.

17
Stefan Zweig to Joachim Maass, 25th December 1941. In: Briefe IV, p 333 ff.

18
Lotte and Stefan Zweig to Stefanie Zweig, undated, postmark illegible, around 18th December 1941, Zweig Estate, London.

19
Stefan to Friderike Zweig, 20th January 1942. In: Briefwechsel Friderike Zweig 2006, p 389.

20
Ivan Heilbut to Stefan Zweig, 11th February 1942 and postal tracking request dated 9th March 1942, DNB Frankfurt.

21
Heilbut 1942.

22
Stefan to Friderike Zweig, 22nd February 1942. SUNY, Fredonia/NY; quoted here in the original English.

Sources and Literature

Unfortunately, in this unfriendly world of ours, there is a spiteful and snooping enmity between dry documents and the flourishing legends that surround writers.
^*

I. UNPUBLISHED SOURCES (WITH ABBREVIATED TITLES USED IN THE NOTES AND REFERENCES)

BBC Reading: BBC Written Archives Centre, Reading

— Transcript of a television interview with Stefan Zweig, plus associated correspondence.

BL London: The British Library, London

— Stefan Zweig:
Lebensreliquien Beethovens,
typescript with handwritten emendations, undated [1939/1940].

— Correspondence between Stefan Zweig and Heinrich Hinterberger.

— Letters from Heinrich Eisemann to Stefan Zweig.

DLA Marbach: Deutsches Literaturarchiv, Marbach am Neckar

— Letters from Stefan Zweig to Anton Kippenberg.

— Letters from Stefan Zweig to Karl Geigy-Hagenbach.

DNB Frankfurt: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek, Deutsches Exilarchiv, Frankfurt am Main

— Alfredo Cahn Archive (in part on permanent loan from the Adolf und Luisa Haeuser-Stiftung für Kunst und Kulturpflege, Frankfurt am Main).

— Correspondence between Stefan Zweig and Ivan Heilbut.

FBN Rio: Fundação Biblioteca Nacional, Rio de Janeiro

— Letters from Stefan Zweig to the Director of Brazil’s National Library.

Fondation Bodmer, Cologny-Geneva

— Letters from Stefan Zweig to Ludwig Schwerin.

 GSA Weimar: Goethe- und Schiller-Archiv, Weimar

— Insel Verlag, correspondence with Stefan Zweig.

— Fritz Adolf Hünich, business papers, private business correspondences.

— Fritz Adolf Hünich, letters received from Stefan Zweig.

— Correspondence relating to general business matters.

Inge und Erich Fitzbauer, Eichgraben

— Letters from Alfred Zweig to Erich Fitzbauer.

NLI Jerusalem: National Library of Israel, Jerusalem

— A letter from Theodor Herzl to Stefan Zweig of 2nd November 1903.

— A letter from Stefan Zweig to Lavinia Mazzucchetti of 23rd May 1930.

LBI New York: Leo Baeck Institute, New York

— Letters from Stefan Zweig to Heinrich Eisemann, Stefan Zweig Collection.

LLB Detmold: Lippische Landesbibliothek (Lippisches Literaturarchiv), Detmold

— Correspondence between Stefan Zweig and Alfred Bergmann.

— Notes made by Alfred Bergmann for lecture presentations on Stefan Zweig.

LOC Washington: Library of Congress, Washington DC

— Stefan Zweig:
Blick auf mein Leben
(early manuscript draft of
Die Welt von Gestern
).

ÖNB/ÖLA Vienna: Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Österreichisches Literaturarchiv, Vienna

— Letters from Stefan Zweig to Eugen Wolbe, literary estate of Eugen Wolbe.

Österreichisches Theatermuseum, Vienna

— Stefan Zweig: list of selected manuscripts from his collection donated to the theatre collection at the National Library in Vienna.

ÖUB Basle: Öffentliche Bibliothek der Universität Basel, Basle

— Correspondence between Stefan Zweig and Karl Geigy-Hagenbach, Geigy-Hagenbach literary estate.

— Correspondence between Stefan Zweig and Franz Zinkernagel, Zinkernagel literary estate.

In private ownership, Great Britain

— Letters from Lotte Zweig to Hannah and Manfred Altmann.

 In private ownership, Switzerland

— A letter from Stefan Zweig to Richard Specht of 21st January 1927.

PRO Kew: The National Archives (Public Record Office), Kew

— Stefan Zweig and Lotte Zweig, née Altmann: formal applications and other documents relating to the attainment of British citizenship.

S Fischer Verlag, Archiv, Frankfurt am Main

— Stefan Zweig, sketches for
Autographennovelle
(photocopy, original in private ownership).

— Ernst Benedikt: Erinnerungen an Stefan Zweig (photocopy of the typescript, untitled) [Ernst Benedikt:
Erinnerungen
].

— Ludwig Schwerin:
Begegnung mit Stefan Zweig
(photocopy of the typescript).

— Photocopy of a letter from Stefan Zweig to a wedding guest (best man?).

— Photocopies of the personal files of Stefan Zweig and other documents relating to his period of military service.

— Photocopies of pre-printed correspondence cards used by Stefan Zweig.

SBA Bern: Schweizerisches Bundesarchiv, Bern

— Official request to compile a report on Stefan Zweig, and the text of the report prepared during his stay at the Hotel Belvoir in Rüschlikon, dated 27th July and 1st August 1918 respectively.