Louis de Wohl

Last updated

Louis de Wohl
Louis de Wohl.jpg
BornLajos Theodor Gaspar Adolf Wohl
24 January 1903
Berlin, German Empire
Died2 June 1961(1961-06-02) (aged 58)
Lucerne, Switzerland
NationalityGerman, British

Louis de Wohl (earlier Ludwig von Wohl, born Lajos Theodor Gaspar Adolf Wohl) was a German-born Catholic author, and had served as an astrologer notable for his work with MI5 from England during World War II. Sixteen of his popular pre-war novels were the basis of movies. His later novels are literary hagiographies of notable Roman Catholic saints and of different periods of the Bible.

Contents

Life

Wohl was born in Berlin to a poor Catholic family, with a Hungarian father and Austrian mother of Jewish descent. [1] When he was only 17 years old, his mother pushed him into an apprenticeship to a banker, from which he was dismissed in 1924, at the age of 21. [2] In 1935, he emigrated to England due to his objections to the Nazi regime. Some sources claim that he there had a wife named Alexandra, who fled to Santiago, Chile, where she claimed to be a Romanian princess and was known as "La Baronessa". [3]

Wohl worked as an astrologer for the British intelligence agency MI5 during World War II. [3] His MI5 file was released in early 2008. He was recruited initially by Sir Charles Hambro, then running the Special Operations Executive, to devise black propaganda for use against Germany, and allegedly as an informant because he was casting horoscopes for people of interest to MI5. In May 1941 he was sent to America to contribute to astrological magazines and newspapers which at the time were using articles by astrologers favourable to Nazi Germany.

In the United States, Wohl published many articles, lectured against Germany and was interviewed several times by the press. He then returned to England in February 1942, claiming that he had been promised a commission in the British Army. Sefton Delmer, a notable purveyor of black propaganda, arranged a fake document certifying de Wohl as a Captain in the British Army, and he took to wearing the uniform (though he refrained when he realized the position was untenable). His main value to Delmer was his contact with Karl Ernst Krafft, the German astrologer working in Berlin for Dr Goebbels. He assisted Delmer in forging copies of Krafft's magazine Zenit, German, and other astrological magazines dropped over Germany, and 'foretelling' the destruction of U-boats. [4] Delmer nevertheless continued to employ him until the end of the war, and considered his contribution valuable.

During the war, Wohl became increasingly religious, and he had a successful postwar career writing novels regarding Roman Catholic Church history and the lives of the saints.

In 1953, Wohl married Ruth Magdalene Lorch, [2] who was a Lady Commander of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre. He himself held the title of Knight Commander of the Order.

Wohl died in Switzerland in 1961, shortly after finishing his final work, Founded on a Rock.

Writing career

He began writing as early as the age of 7. His teachers praised his ability. At the age of 8 he wrote the play "Jesus of Nazareth" because he didn't like how Jesus was portrayed by some books he read. Writing as Ludwig von Wohl, he became quite a successful novelist during his youth in Germany, where sixteen [2] of his novels were turned into films. The best known of these was the 1934 comedy classic Die englische Heirat (The English Marriage). [5]

In an audience with Pope Pius XII he was told to "write about the history and mission of the Church in the World". [2] The Cardinal of Milan, Ildefonso Schuster, said to him after reading some of his writings, "Let your writings be good. For your writings you will one day be judged". [2] From that time, he allegedly believed that he had to write for God, and felt that his earlier novels in the German language were of 'small significance compared to the novels he wrote for the glory of God'.

His novel The Spear brought him international acclaim. Even now Louis de Wohl's books are widely read. His non-fiction work, Founded on a Rock: A History of the Catholic Church is often required reading for RCIA students.[ citation needed ] He has written books on St. Benedict, St. Francis of Assisi, Joan of Arc, and Constantine I among many others.

List of works

Selected filmography

Screenwriter

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vicki Baum</span> Austrian writer

Hedwig "Vicki" Baum was an Austrian writer. She is known for the novel Menschen im Hotel, one of her first international successes. It was made into a 1932 film and a 1989 Broadway musical.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arnold Fanck</span> German film director

Arnold Fanck was a German film director and pioneer of the mountain film genre. He is best known for the extraordinary alpine footage he captured in such films as The Holy Mountain (1926), The White Hell of Pitz Palu (1929), Storm over Mont Blanc (1930), The White Ecstasy (1931), and S.O.S. Eisberg (1933). Fanck was also instrumental in launching the careers of several filmmakers during the Weimar years in Germany, including Leni Riefenstahl, Luis Trenker, and cinematographers Sepp Allgeier, Richard Angst, Hans Schneeberger, and Walter Riml.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carl Zuckmayer</span> German writer and playwright (1896–1977)

Carl Zuckmayer was a German writer and playwright. His older brother was the pedagogue, composer, conductor, and pianist Eduard Zuckmayer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexander Lernet-Holenia</span> Austrian writer

Alexander Lernet-Holenia was an Austrian poet, novelist, dramaturgist and writer of screenplays and historical studies who produced a heterogeneous literary opus that included poetry, psychological novels describing the intrusion of otherworldly or unreal experiences into reality, and recreational films. He was born and died in Vienna.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Johannes Mario Simmel</span> Austrian writer (1924–2009)

Johannes Mario Simmel, also known as J. M. Simmel, was an Austrian writer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Georg Kaiser</span> German dramatist

Friedrich Carl Georg Kaiser, called Georg Kaiser, was a German dramatist.

Julius von Borsody was an Austrian film architect and one of the most employed set designers in the Austrian and German cinemas of the late silent and early sound film periods. His younger brother, Eduard von Borsody, was a film director in Austria and Germany. He is also the great-uncle of German actress Suzanne von Borsody.

Egon Eis, born Egon Eisler was an Austrian screenwriter. He wrote for nearly 50 films between 1930 and 1983. Eis was forced into exile during the Nazi era, but returned to work in the German film industry after the Second World War where he worked on the popular series of Edgar Wallace films as well as other projects. He was born in Vienna, Austria and died in Munich, Germany. His brother Otto Eis was also a screenwriter.

Robert Adolf Stemmle was a German screenwriter and film director. He wrote for more than 80 films between 1932 and 1967. He also directed 46 films between 1934 and 1970. His 1959 film Die unvollkommene Ehe was entered into the 1st Moscow International Film Festival. He was born in Magdeburg, Germany and died in Baden-Baden, West Germany.

Ernst Marischka was an Austrian screenwriter and film director. He wrote for more than 90 films between 1913 and 1962. He also directed 29 films between 1915 and 1962. He wrote and directed the Sissi trilogy - Sissi (1955), Sissi – The Young Empress (1956) and Sissi – Fateful Years of an Empress (1957). The films were based on the life of Empress Elisabeth of Austria. He was the brother of Hubert Marischka. He was named for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay in 1946, for A Song to Remember (1945).

Emil Stepanek was an Austrian set designer and film architect.

Michael Kehlmann was an Austrian television film director and theatre director, screenwriter and actor.

Max Colpet was an American writer, scriptwriter and lyricist of Russian-German descent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hans Steinhoff</span> German film director

Hans Steinhoff was a German film director, best known for the propaganda films he made in the Nazi era.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Hörbiger</span> Austrian actor (1894–1981)

Paul Hörbiger was an Austrian theatre and film actor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Benno Vigny</span> French-German novelist and screenwriter (1889–1965)

Benno Vigny was a French-German novelist and screenwriter.

<i>The English Marriage</i> 1934 film

The English Marriage is a 1934 German comedy film directed by Reinhold Schünzel and starring Renate Müller, Anton Walbrook and Adele Sandrock. It was based on a novel of the same title by Ludwig von Wohl who also wrote the screenplay. The film's sets were designed by the art director Otto Hunte. Location shooting took place at Berlin's Tempelhof Airport and on Heligoland. It was made by Cine-Allianz and a number of those involved including its director, producers, screenwriter and star Anton Walbrook soon left Nazi Germany due to their Jewish backgrounds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lien Deyers</span> Dutch film actress

Lien Deyers was a Dutch actress based in Germany.

Rudolf Österreicher, also Rudolf Oesterreicher, was an Austrian writer, librettist, comedy author, author of cabaret texts and biographer. From 1945 to 1947 he was director of the Wiener Stadttheater.

References

  1. ↑ "my mother, herself a hereditary Baroness of Dreifus." Ludwig de Wohl, I Follow my Stars, An Autobiography, London, 1937, p. 18
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Brief autobiography by de Wohl
  3. 1 2 "Britain Used Astrologer in Fight Against Hitler". Associated Press. 3 March 2008. Retrieved 18 September 2009.
  4. ↑ Milmo, Cahal (4 March 2008). "Revealed: How MI5 recruited an astrologer in plot to outwit Hitler". Independent. Retrieved 4 March 2013. One memo said: "I have never liked Louis De Wohl; he strikes me as a charlatan and an impostor. He at one time exercised influence on highly placed British intelligence officers through his star-gazing profession." A more dyspeptic MI5 officer said most De Wohl forecasts had been "useless", adding: "The danger is that this sort of pseudo-science is most insidious and unless you have a complete sceptic or a very strong-minded man dealing with it quite the wrong point of view may be indulged in."
  5. ↑ Die englische Heirat on IMDb
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.