Uriel Birnbaum (November 13, 1894, in Vienna − December 9, 1956, in Amersfoort, Netherlands) was an Austrian painter, caricaturist, writer and poet.

Portrait of Uriel Birnbaum taken in 1947
Uriel Birnbaum, 1947

Biography edit

Birnbaum was the youngest son of Nathan Birnbaum, a Jewish philosopher, and Rosa Korngut. Reportedly, his art education consisted of only one month at a Berlin art school in 1913.[1] He served in the Austro-Hungarian Common Army during World War I as a lieutenant in the k.u.k. Feldjäger Battalion No. 17,[2] and was severely injured during the Eleventh Battle of the Isonzo[3][4] where he completely lost one foot, and "shattered" the other;[3] he was confined to a wheelchair thereafter.

He illustrated a number of books, including works of Edgar Allan Poe, Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass (Alice im Spiegelglass, Vienna, 1923), and his own Weltuntergang[5] (1921).

Birnbaum survived the Nazi period at first due to the special status conferred to him by his non-Jewish wife (the Nazi concept of geschützte Mischehe, "protected mix-race marriage"; German article here), and then by going into hiding from 1943 until the end of the war in 1945.

References edit

  1. ^ Timothy O. Benson et al., Expressionist Utopias, Berkeley, University of California Press, 2001; p. 193.
  2. ^ "AT-OeStA/KA NL 1078 (B,C) 1078 (B,C) BIRNBAUM, Uriel, 1894.11.13-1956.12.09 (Bestand)". www.archivinformationssystem.at. Retrieved 2023-11-27.
  3. ^ a b Weixlgärtner, Arpad. "Der Maler-Dichter Uriel Birnbaum". Heidelberg University Library. Die Graphischen Künste #50, 1927.
  4. ^ Birnbaum, Uriel. "In der Kaverne - Isonzo Front".
  5. ^ "The End of the World."