Arnold Zweig was a German writer and anti-war activist, born in Glogau (Glogow, Poland) on Nov. 10, 1887. Zweig volunteered to serve in the German army during World War I, and as a result he became a pacifist. In 1920, he worked with Hermann Struck to publish "Das ostjüdische Antlitz". Zweig also supported Zionism and was interested in psychoanalysis, corresponding with Sigmund Freud for many years. In 1933, he went from Czechoslovakia, to Switzerland, and then to France before settling in Haifa. Zweig returned to Germany in 1948 and served as a member of the East-German parliament, a delegate to the World Peace Council, and president of the GDR Academy of Arts in Berlin from 1950 to 1953. Arnold Zweig died in East Berlin on Nov. 26, 1968.
Hermann (Chaim Aaron ben David) Struck was born in 1876 in Germany. He is best known as a master etcher, lithographer and early Zionist. He studied for five years at the Berlin Academy and in 1908 wrote "Die Kunst des Radierens" (The Art of Etching), while mentoring artists such as Marc Chagall, Max Liebermann and Lesser Ury. His art was included in an exhibition at the Fifth Zionist Congress and he helped establish the religious Zionist movement called Mizrachi. Struck was an Orthodox Jew but believed that culture and religion could thrive cooperatively in the Land of Israel. He emigrated to Haifa where he created an artistic community and participated in the development of the Tel Aviv Museum and the Bezalel art school in Jerusalem. Hermann Struck died in 1944.
Reproductions and Permissions
We welcome fair use of this content. Please credit the Leo Baeck Institute in your citation. For usage policies and to request higher resolution images, see Reproductions and Permissions.
Struck, Hermann: Portrait of the writer Arnold Zweig (1887-1968), Leo Baeck Institute, 78.472.