Bab, Julius, 1880-1955

German literary critic and author who fled Nazi Germany. Bab and his wife Elisabeth resided in Roslyn Heights, N.Y.

From the guide to the Julius Bab papers, 1942-1955, (The New York Public Library. Manuscripts and Archives Division.)

Julius Bab was born in Berlin in 1880 into a merchant family and studied literature, philosophy, and history both in Berlin and in Zürich . From 1905-1939 he lived and worked in Berlin as a dramatist and freelance writer, and became a noteworthy theater and literary critic with copious contributions to several newspapers, such as the Welt am Montag, the Pester Lloyd (in Budapest ), and the Vossische Zeitung . He also wrote and published some poetry. During the time period from 1915 through the end of his life, he also wrote extensively on the portrayal of Jews in literature and on the stage, as well as on contemporary Jewish life. While in Berlin he was closely tied to the people's theater movement ( Volksbühnenbewegung ) centered around Max Reinhardt and the Berlin Volksbühne, where he was a lecturer, editor, and adviser. His work in the cultural sphere brought him into contact with several important cultural figures, and his theatrical reviews from this time period are considered a key source in the history of German drama.

When National Socialists seized control of the government in 1933, Bab was instrumental the formation of the Jüdischer Kulturbund, whose mission was to maintain German-Jewish cultural life and to provide services and a safety net for Jewish artists who were no longer allowed to work. In 1939 Bab emigrated to New York, where he found employment as the theater critic of the German-language New York Staats-Zeitung . He died in 1955 in Roslyn Heights, New York .

From the guide to the Julius Bab Collection, 1895-1977, (bulk 1895-1955), (Leo Baeck Institute)