Lev Nussimbaum

Essad Bey (actually Lev Abramovich Nussimbaum, also Noussimbaum Russian Лев Абрамович Нуссимбаум or Нусенбаум; born October 20, 1905 in Baku, then Russia, † August 27 1942 in Positano, Italy ) was a German writer of Russian-Jewish descent. His works he published under the pseudonym Kurban Said, Mohammed Essad -Bey, Esad Bey and Qurban Said

Life

In August 1922, Lev Nussimbaum converted to Islam, took the name Essad Bey and began to become increasingly active in the Berlin Islamic community. With the winter semester of 1922, he enrolled at the Friedrich- Wilhelms University in the subjects of Turkish, Arabic and Islamic History. Through his interest in art and literature he used henceforth close contacts with the Berlin literati and journalists scene, where he met Else Lasker-Schüler, Vladimir Nabokov and Boris Leonidovich Pasternak. He worked as a journalist for various German newspapers, such as the German Allgemeine Zeitung, but especially with Willy Haas ' The literary world with the topics of the Orient and Islam. The Austrian political scientist Farid Hafez points to the panislamistische orientation Essad Bey's thinking in an article. 1929 appeared Essad Bey's first book, the autobiographical novel, Blood and Oil in the Orient [ reissue 2008]. Bey's successful debut was translated into six languages. It was followed by two more books on the Caucasus, definitely made ​​the publication of the author to one of the most recognized experts Orient the Weimar Republic.

At the same time Essad Bey began with the publication of some soviet critical works, including a biography of Stalin (whom he had perhaps learned in his youth in Baku ) and a book about the Soviet secret service GPU. During this time he also held some anti-communist lectures. In 1932 he married the daughter of a factory Jewish origins, Erika Loewendahl and took with her an extensive trip to America. In the same year he published Kiepenheuer in Berlin, a biography of the Prophet Mohammed, which is considered a standard work today. With the assumption of power by the National Socialists Beys Jewish roots initially remained unrecognized, his communism critical attitude did another, so Bey still joined about 1934, the Reich Chamber, and could continue to publish in Berlin, among others Hans Heinz Ewers and Wolfgang von Weisl. In1936 Bey finally Germany and moved to his wife to Vienna. This, however, was in 1935 entered into a relationship with one of Bey's closest friends, the writer René Fülöp Miller. The marriage ended in divorce, separation Bey hit very hard, he had to undergo medical treatment. Friends led him to a flight over the Libyan desert.

Essad Bey received 1936 publication ban for Germany. In the same year appeared in a Viennese publishing the novel Ali and Nino. The author of this love story between a Muslim Azeri and Georgian Christian called Kurban Said. This pseudonym used Bey with the help of the Austrian Baroness Elfriede honor of rock Bodmer village woman also converted to Islam Rolf " Omar " Baron of honor rock in order to continue to publish his novels in Germany can. Ali and Nino was in Germany and Austria a great success and is still Beys most famous and successful book (new edition 2000 Ullsteinhaus, 2002 List). Also, the sequence novel The Girl of the Golden Horn could be sold in Germany only in 1938 under a pseudonym. Because of a job in Italy (possibly to write a biography of Mussolini ) traveled Bey 1938, Switzerland to Rome, Milan, Venice and Florence. Severe foot pain accompanied the trip. In Positano, Southern Italy, a doctor diagnosed, finally, the Raynaud's disease. The severe pain forced him to bed, he needed a lot of morphine. Writing it was under these circumstances increasingly impossible, only his former nanny Alice Schulte was with him and provided him. Essad Bey's last work, the autobiographical novel The man who knew nothing of love, which he wrote with waning strength during the time of his illness, is still unpublished.

Essad Bey Azerbaijani contemporary, the writer Yusif Vəzir Çəmənzəminli is also known as the author of Ali and Nino. Çəmənzəminlis authorship appears now, however, more than doubtful. The American journalist Tom Reiss explores the life Lev Nussimbaum - Essad Bey - Kurban Said's detailed and in New York and London published the biography The Orientalist 2005. It was published in 2008, translated by Jutta Bretthauer under the title The Orientalist in Germany.

Works

As Essad Bey

  • Six cities under the earth: new excavations in Palestine. In: German Allgemeine Zeitung, July 25, 1928
  • Blood and Oil in the Orient. DVA, Stuttgart 1929.
  • Twelve Secrets in the Caucasus. German - Swiss publishing house, Berlin 1930.
  • The Caucasus. Its mountains, people and history. German Book Club, Berlin 1931.
  • Stalin. Kiepenheuer, Berlin, 1931.
  • The White Russia. Kiepenheuer, Berlin, 1932.
  • Mohammed. A Biography. Kiepenheuer, Berlin, 1932.
  • G.P.U. The conspiracy against the world. Etthofen, Berlin, 1932.
  • Russia at the Crossroads. Etthofen, Berlin, 1933.
  • Liquid Gold. A struggle for power. Etthofen, Berlin, 1933.
  • Lenin.. Treves, Milan, 1935 ( Italian translation by Emilio Castellani, a German edition there were not )
  • Reza Shah. Commander, Emperor, reformer. Passer, Vienna 1936.
  • With Wolfgang von Weisl: Allah is great. Fall and Rise of the Islamic world by Abdul Hamid Ibn Saud to. Passer, Leipzig 1936.

As Kurban Said

  • Ali and Nino. E. P. Valley, Vienna 1937
  • The Girl of the Golden Horn. Battlements, Vienna 1938

Revisions

  • Essad Bey: Nicholas II Glory and Fall of the last Tsar. Maurer, Frankfurt aM 2011. ISBN 978-3-929345-57-5
  • Essad Bey: Blood and Oil in the Orient. My childhood in Baku and my hair-raising escape through the Caucasus. Maurer, Freiburg, 2008. ISBN 978-3-929345-30-8
  • Essad Bey: 12 Secrets in the Caucasus. Maurer, Freiburg, 2008. ISBN 978-3-929345-33-9
  • Essad Bey: Love and oil and Manuela. Maurer, Freiburg, 2008. ISBN 978-3-929345-35-3
  • Essad Bey Mohammed. Building, Berlin, 2002. ISBN 3-7466-1837-1
  • Essad Bey: Allah is great. Matthes & Seitz, Berlin, 2002. ISBN 3-88221-831-2
  • Kurban Said: Ali and Nino. Paperback. List, Munich 2002. ISBN 3-548-60131-6
  • Kurban Said: The Girl of the Golden Horn. Maurer, Freiburg, 2009. ISBN 978-3-929345-43-8
Caucasus Mountains Batumi Wilmersdorf Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung Baron Omar Rolf von Ehrenfels Wolfgang G. Schwanitz Wahhabi movement Integrated Authority File
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