Hermann, Georg

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Georg Hermann was born in Berlin-Friedenau on October 7, 1871, and died on November 19, 1943 in the Auschwitz concentration camp, and was an internationally renowned author of numerous novels, essays, and articles.

Born as Georg Borchardt, he was the youngest of six children in a well-established Jewish family in Berlin. Later in life he used his father’s first name Hermann as his surname when writing. Georg Borchardt grew up in western Berlin, his family later moving closer to the Tiergarten. Some time thereafter his family began having financial difficulties when his father’s business failed, an influential event in Hermann's life.

He attended the Askanische and Friedrich-Werdersche Gymnasium (secondary school) in Berlin. Contrary to the expectations for a young man from a reputable family, Hermann did not pursue the Abitur exam, and instead received a one-year certificate in 1890, leaving school to become an apprentice salesman at a tie company. From 1896 until 1899 he worked in the Statistical Office of Berlin, at the same time attending literature and art history lectures at the University of Berlin. Afterwards he worked as a freelance writer and art critic, but met with financial difficulty. His first book, Spielkinder, was published in 1896, but he did not become well-known until 1906, with the publication of Jettchen Gebert, followed by its sequel, Henriette Jacoby . Jettchen Gebert was also rewritten as a play in 1913. These novels told the story of the life of a young woman living in Jewish Berlin during the Biedermeier period of the 1820s and 1830s. Another popular work of Hermann's was Kubinke, published in 1910, depicting life in Berlin at the beginning of the 20th Century. Politically active, Georg Hermann was also a member of the Central-Verein deutscher Staatsbürger jüdischen Glaubens.

Having become known for his pacifist tendencies through his writing, and because of his Jewish heritage, Georg Hermann and his family fled to Holland shortly after the burning of the Reichstag in 1933. Although the rest of his family was saved from the Nazis after their occupation of Holland in 1943, Georg Hermann, by then already 72 years old, was sent to the Dutch concentration camp of Westerbork. On November 16, 1943 he was transported to Auschwitz and either died during transport or shortly after his arrival.

From the guide to the Georg Hermann Collection, 1837-2001, (Leo Baeck Institute)

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Role Title Holding Repository
creatorOf Georg Hermann Collection, 1837-2001 Leo Baeck Institute.
Role Title Holding Repository
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associatedWith Borchardt, George (see Hermann, Georg) person
associatedWith Freud, Sigmund person
Place Name Admin Code Country
Berlin (Germany)
Netherlands
Subject
Authors, Exiled
Occupation
Art critics
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Person

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