Kurt Bauchwitz papers,
- Author:
- Bauchwitz, Kurt, 1890-1974.
- Call Number:
- MSS GER-011 local
- Abstract:
- Emphasis on the legal career of Bates. The materials document his early years in Germany (1890-1938), the years of flight from Hitler's Germany via Japan to the United States (1938-1941), and his U.S. years (1941-1974). The biographical materials contain many early documents, including school and university diplomas, birth and marriage certificates, German military record, and documents pertaining to Bauchwitz=s dismissal from his legal position by the Hitler regime. The correspondence consists of nearly 5,000 letters and the manuscripts and typescripts have been divided between poetry and prose. The poetry section, dating from ca. 1926, is primarily written in German, with the exception of his later epigrammatic verse collections Ego and Echo and Monogrips, which are in English. The prose sub-series includes short prose pieces (the majority written in English) and his loosely autobiographical collections of daily observations, which span nearly three decades, 1950-1966, which he entitled Pebbles (later Question Marks).
- Historical Note:
- Kurt Israel Bauchwitz was born in Halle (Saale), Germany on July 12, 1890. Kurt exhibited a talent for writing at an early age and published his first serious writing piece at the age of fourteen. From 1921 to 1938 Bauchwitz practiced law in Berlin. In 1926 he received the appointment of Notar (notary), the appointment later terminated by Hitler in 1936. His right to practice law was terminated and was forced to close his Berlin law office in November 1938. On December 16, 1938 Bauchwitz married Hilde Michaelis. Just prior to his departure from Hitler's Germany in 1939, Bauchwitz was baptized as a Catholic. After several months, Bauchwitz, his new wife, and two sons arrived in Japan, where they remained for nearly eighteen months before their eventual departure for the United States in 1940. During this time, he collected many of his earlier poems and epigrammatic verse to form the collection he called the Abzieh-Bilderbuch. In addition, he wrote over 200 poems, later entitled his Tokyo poems, which would also be the last significant collection of poetry in German he would write. After arriving in the United States Bauchwitz legally changed his name to Roy C. Bates. Bates continued to write during the 1950s and 1960s, however, his writing took the form of semi-autobiographical observations, which he recorded on a regular basis. Three series of these collections of observations, the first series entitled Pebbles and the later two entitled Quotation Marks, make up the bulk of his writing activity during this time. Bates also became interested in the legal aspects of psychedelic drugs during the 1960s, which resulted in his participation in the M.I.T.-based Neurobiological and Psychedelic Study Group, as well as publication of an article on Psychedelics and the Law. Bates died in Milton, Massachusetts on July 18, 1974.
- Physical Description:
- 19 cu. ft
- Access Terms:
- Access to the collection is unrestricted.
- Notes:
- Special Collections' copy is part of the German and Jewish Intellectual E´migre´ Collection. local
- Subjects:
- Epigrams, German, Haiku, German, German literature 20th century, German literature Japanese influences, Protest poetry, German, Authors, Exiled, Exiles' writings, German, German poetry, German American poetry, Lawyers, Foreign, Lawyers Germany Berlin, Lawyers New York (State) New York, Lawyers Massachusetts Medford, Germans United States, Authors, Exiled, Emigration and immigration, Epigrams, German, Exiles' writings, German, German American poetry, German literature, German literature Japanese influences, German poetry, Germans, Haiku, German, Intellectual life, Lawyers, Lawyers, Foreign, and Protest poetry, German
- Genres/Forms:
- Poems. ftamc, Correspondence. ftamc, Diaries. ftamc, and Manuscripts. ftamc
- Names:
- Bauchwitz, Kurt, 1890-1974, Bodmershof, Imma, 1895-1982, Bry, Ilse, Harding, Douglas, Mann, Erika, 1905-1969, Ehrenfels, Omar Rolf Leopold Werner, Freiherr von, 1901-, Bauchwitz, Kurt, 1890-1974, Bodmershof, Imma, 1895-1982, Bry, Ilse, and Mann, Erika, 1905-1969
- Chronological Terms:
- 1900-1999 fast
- Geographic Terms:
- Germany Emigration and immigration, Japan Intellectual life, Germany, Germany Berlin, Japan, Massachusetts Medford, New York (State) New York, and United States
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