Alexander Granach

Lviv en stad som nämns i krigsrapporter och nyhetsinslag. Men Lviv är lika mycket en stad mitt i Europa och dess historia. Och mitt i Europas kulturarv. I Lviv en resa till Europa möter vi resenärer, skönlitterära författare, vetenskapsmän, modernister och småborgare, lyriker och offer för omänsklig förföljelse. De vittnar om det habsburgska Lemberg, om det polska Lwów, om det judiska Lemberik, om det ryska Lvov och det ukrainska Lviv. Och om staden med många namn under nazistisk ockupation. I Lvivs intellektuella liv uppstod banbrytande matematiska resonemang, modernism på jiddisch och livräddande tyfusforskning. Från mångnationella Lviv kommer nydanande europeiska författarskap. Matematikern Stanislav Ulam och författarna Alfred Döblin och Joseph Roth är bara några av många. Lviv är inte en stad i periferin. Den som förbigår staden förbigår också delar av Europas gemensamma historia, vetenskapsarv och kultur.

Alexander Granach, who died while he was acting on Broadway in 1945, brilliantly relates the remarkable story of his unlikely path from a poverty-stricken, rough-and-tumble childhood to success on the German stage. This is the account of a daring, curiosity-filled, and perceptive Jewish child from poor towns in Galicia who was seized with a passion for the theater when he saw his first show at the age of 14. He overcame great odds to become a leading stage and film actor in Weimar Germany - and he had to have both legs broken to do it! Born in what is now southern Ukraine, Granach began working at the age of six in his father's bakery, where his heavy tasks left him visibly knock-kneed. With very little formal education but open for adventure and willing to work hard, Alexander ran away several times, the last time to Berlin, at the age of 16, where his talent and charm won him a place in Max Reinhardt's theater school. His career was abruptly interrupted by World War I and his time as a prisoner of war in Italy, but after a daring escape and the end of the war he resumed his rise to prominence in German artistic life. A natural storyteller, Granach's autobiography captures equally the charms, adventures, and trials of his shtetl days, the horrors of trench warfare, and the glamour and excitement of the German theater before Hitler came to power.

Alexander Granach, who died while he was acting on Broadway in 1945, brilliantly relates the remarkable story of his unlikely path from a poverty-stricken, rough-and-tumble childhood to success on the German stage. This is the account of a daring, curiosity-filled, and perceptive Jewish child from poor towns in Galicia who was seized with a passion for the theater when he saw his first show at the age of 14. He overcame great odds to become a leading stage and film actor in Weimar Germany - and he had to have both legs broken to do it! Born in what is now southern Ukraine, Granach began working at the age of six in his father's bakery, where his heavy tasks left him visibly knock-kneed. With very little formal education but open for adventure and willing to work hard, Alexander ran away several times, the last time to Berlin, at the age of 16, where his talent and charm won him a place in Max Reinhardt's theater school. His career was abruptly interrupted by World War I and his time as a prisoner of war in Italy, but after a daring escape and the end of the war he resumed his rise to prominence in German artistic life. A natural storyteller, Granach's autobiography captures equally the charms, adventures, and trials of his shtetl days, the horrors of trench warfare, and the glamour and excitement of the German theater before Hitler came to power.

Vom Bäckergesellen zum gefeierten Theaterstar - der unglaubliche Lebensweg des Alexander Granach. Alexander Granachs Lebensweg ist beispiellos. Das neunte Kind einer jüdischen Bauersfamilie kämpft sich mit atemberaubender Vitalität und großem Improvisationstalent aus der galizischen Provinz bis nach Berlin, wo es ihm gelingt, an Max Reinhardts Schauspielschule zugelassen zu werden. Der erste Weltkrieg, an dem er als Soldat teilnimmt, kann die glänzende Karriere Granachs zum gefeierten Theater- und Stummfilmstar nur aufschieben, nicht verhindern. In der Emigration in den USA schreibt er seine mitreißenden und anrührenden Erinnerungen. "Dieses Schicksal lässt niemanden unberührt und zeigt Granach auch als großen Erzähler." Spiegel "Ein erzählerisches Naturtalent. Ebenso anrühren wie amüsant." FAZ "Voll melancholischer Anmut. Eine Bereicherung für die deutsche Literatur." Die Zeit