Austrian writer Stefan Zweig, who fled Nazis, honoured in London

With its grand facade, the 1930s London mansion block looks like countless others. But flat 71 at 49 Hallam Street once housed one of the most celebrated writers of 20th-century Europe.
Austrian writer Stefan Zweig lived there for three years, from 1936 to 1939, after fleeing his homeland as Adolf Hitler rose to power. Largely forgotten today, Zweig was once the world’s most widely translated author and a major literary figure.
Ninety years after he settled in Hallam Street, the address has finally been officially commemorated. A round blue plaque, recently installed on the building, marks Zweig’s former home as part of English Heritage’s Blue Plaques programme.
“Stefan Zweig 1881-1942, Austrian Writer lived in flat 71, 1936-1939”, reads the plaque.
The writer was among those targeted by the Nazis. His address appeared on the secret Sonder fahndungsliste G B, or “Special Search List Great Britain”, which contained about 2,820 names of people considered enemies of the regime, including politicians, writers, scientists, journalists and refugees. In the event of a Nazi invasion of Britain, SS units were instructed to detain and “neutralise” those listed.

Zweig’s time in London was emotionally complex. English Heritage blue plaques historian Susan Skedd said his letters showed that the city provided comfort, while he was also frustrated by what he saw as Britain’s relative detachment from the war.
His growing sense of cultural loss was reflected in his autobiography, The World of Yesterday, which recalled the vanished world of his former life in Vienna. He had left the city in 1933.
In September 1939, shortly after war broke out in Europe, Zweig delivered the funeral eulogy for fellow exile and psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud at Golders Green Cemetery.
Zweig wrote several notable works while living at Hallam Street, including Beware of Pity, published in 1939. His earlier books, Letter from an Unknown Woman and Twenty-Four Hours in the Life of a Woman, were translated into dozens of languages.
His influence later reached filmmaker Wes Anderson, who said he had drawn inspiration from Zweig’s works for his 2014 film The Grand Budapest Hotel. Anderson said Ralph Fiennes’ character was largely modelled on Zweig.
Despite finding refuge in London, Zweig’s story ended tragically. He left for New York in 1940 before settling in Brazil. As the situation in Europe deteriorated, he became increasingly depressed.
On February 23, 1942, one day after completing his autobiography, Zweig, 60 and his second wife, Lotte, 33, died by suicide after taking fatal doses of barbiturates. — AFP