Three Lives: A Biography of Stefan Zweig Read Online Free PDF Page B

completed collection of poems and an attached prospectus, announcing that the poems were soon to be published in a book entitled Meine Wanderungen, with a preface by Stefan Zweig. In the letter he asked Zweig if he could now send him the brief text he had promised to write. For a long time Heilbut remained uncertain whether his letter had ever reached its intended recipient. Weeks later he submitted a tracking request, and finally learnt on 4th June that his letter had been delivered to Zweig on 21st February. 20 But Heilbut never received a reply to his letter; his book was published later that year in New York, with a foreword containing a dedication to Stefan Zweig. 21
    On 21st February 1942 Alfred Zweig received a letter from his brother. The letter had taken more than a week to get from Brazil to New York. The most important piece of news Stefan had to report was that he was pleased to be able to rent the house in Petrópolis for another six months, since the present rental agreement was due to expire in a few weeks. But in the time between the dispatch of the letter and its arrival, dramatic events had taken place. On the very day that Alfred was reading the letter, a Saturday, Stefan posted carbon copies of the completed manuscript of his Schachnovelle [ Chess Novella ] to his publishers Huebsch and Bermann Fischer, sending another copy to his Argentinian translator Cahn. He also took a number of smaller envelopes to the post office, addressed to friends and relatives. He had come to a decision—the envelopes contained his valedictory letters.
    At the beginning of this week he and Lotte had travelled to Rio at the invitation of the Koogans to see the famous carnival. On the Tuesday morning the press was filled with reports that Singapore had fallen to the Japanese, whereupon Stefan and Lotte left immediately to return to Petrópolis, much earlier than planned. This latest Allied defeat appears to have been seen as a sign by Stefan. Over the next few days he worked through a list of things to do that included putting all his papers and publishing affairs in order. His study of Amerigo Vespucci was already with the publisher and due to come out soon, Die Welt von Gestern , his major autobiographical work, was also ready for publication, and the book went on sale later that same year. His novel Clarissa , the book on Montaigne and the major biography of Balzac remained fragments only, bequeathed to us as part of Zweig’s literary estate, and later published as separate volumes in the collected edition of his works.
    Koogan saw Zweig one more time, when he returned to Rio on the Friday of the carnival week to give him a sealed package of manuscripts and other papers, which he asked him to lock away in his safe. As Stefan Zweig played chess on the veranda of his house in Petrópolis on the Saturday evening, several of his valedictory letters were already on their way to their recipients. As an additional farewell to Friderike he had made arrangements for the manuscript of Mozart’s song Das Veilchen to be sent to her after his death. On the following day, under the Portuguese title Declaração , he composed two versions in German of a declaration to posterity and a letter to Friderike. Meanwhile Lotte had also written her final letters.
    On the Monday, 23rd February 1942, the housemaid was surprised by the fact that the Zweigs were still in bed at lunchtime. As she listened at thebedroom door shortly before noon, she heard a snoring or gasping sound, as she later noted in her police statement. By the afternoon she was still on her own in the house, so she finally went for help. Shortly before 4.30 pm she and her husband opened the door to the bedroom, which was unlocked. They found Stefan and Lotte lying motionless and fully clothed in their bed. He lay on his back, his mouth slightly open. Lying beside him, Lotte had reached over and put her arms around him. Both had died from ingesting toxic substances, as the