JOSEPH ROTH

Joseph Roth was born and grew up in Brody, a small town near Lemberg (now Lviv) in East Galicia, on 2 September 1894. He was an Austrian-Jewish journalist and novelist.

Shortly after Hitler's rise to power, in February 1933, Roth wrote in a prophetic letter to his friend, the Austrian writer Stefan Zweig:

You will have realized by now that we are drifting towards great catastrophes. Apart from the private — our literary and financial existence is destroyed — it all leads to a new war. I won't bet a penny on our lives. They have succeeded in establishing a reign of barbarity. Do not fool yourself. Hell reigns

 Roth's last years were difficult. He moved from hotel to hotel, drinking heavily, and becoming increasingly anxious about money and the future. Despite suffering from chronic alcoholism, he remained prolific until his premature death in Paris in 27 May 1939. His novella The Legend of the Holy Drinker (1939) chronicles the attempts made by an alcoholic vagrant to regain his dignity and honor a debt.

Joseph Roth (1894-1939)

.

The Silent Prophet (1929)

Hotel Savoy (1924)

The Legend of the Holy Drinker (1939)

Die Kapuzinergruft

The Spider's Web (1923)