Theodor Kramer

Kramer, Theodor 

Born Jan. 1, 1897, in Niederhollabrunn, Lower Austria; died Apr. 3, 1958, in Vienna. Austrian poet. Participant in World War I.

After the annexation of Austria by fascist Germany, Kramer went into hiding; he lived in England between 1939 and 1957. While he sympathetically portrayed the lives of poor people, his lyric verse was imbued with life-affirming spirit—for example, the collections The Lower Depths (1928) and The Calendar (1930). His antiwar work, We Lay in a Swamp in Volynia (1931), recreated the horrors of life during the war. His books Exiled From Austria (1943) and Vienna 1938: The Green Cadres (1946) expressed his indignation at fascism. Kramer’s later lyrics dealt chiefly with the theme of loneliness.

WORKS

Einer bezeut es. Selected and edited by E. Chwojka. Graz-Vienna, 1960.

REFERENCES

Tschulik, W. Die osterreichische Dichtung im Rahmen der Weltliteratur, 3rd ed. Vienna, 1955.
Schmied, W. “Theodor Kramer.” Wort in der Zeit, 1958, no. 5, pp. 54–55.