Jacob Wassermann

Author Code: GJWX

Educated at the Realschule gymnasium, Wassermann then spent a year in military service in Wurzburg. Interested in a writing career, he first spent some time working in an insurance company before becoming an editor with Simplicissimus magazine in Munich. In 1896, he published his first novel, Melusine, and followed in 1897 with one of his better works, The Jews of Zirndorf, chronicling two hundred years of Jewish life. He developed friendships with Thomas Mann and Rainer Maria Rilke while in Munich. In 1901, he married Julie Speyer. Over the next decade he produced a number of moderately successful novels, but it wasn't until 1915 with the publication of Das Gansemannchen (The Goose Man) that he received true commercial success. Following World War I, Wassermann wrote numerous, highly successful novels and became one of Germany's most widely read authors. He also produced many popular biographies, essays and literary criticisms. With the rise of the Nazis, Wassermann's works were ultimately banned because of his Jewish lineage and he died in Austria after suffering a stroke, an impoverished and broken man. His many works include Der Moloch (1902), Alexander of Babylon (1905), Caspar Hauser (1908), Christian Wahnschaffe (1919), Mein Weg als Deutscher und Jude (1921), The Gold of Caxamalca (1928) and his novel trilogy The Maurizius Case (1928), Etzel Andergast (1931) and Joseph Kerkhovens dritte Existenz (1934).