Dr. Richard Beer-Hofmann, Austrian Jewish poet and dramatist, died at his home yesterday at the age of 79. Funeral services will be held tomorrow morning in the Free Synagogue with Dr. Stephen S. Wise officiating.
Prominent in Austrian literary circles from pre-World War I days until the Anschluss, Dr. Beer-Hofmann fled to Switzerland in 1938 after the Nazis confiscated his home and property. He remained there until 1939, when he emigrated to the United States following the death of his wife.
A painstaking worker, Dr. Beer-Hofmann was known to write only six words a day on an average. Several of his works dealt with Jewish themes. His poem Schlaflied fur Mirjam gives expression to the ties of common blood and purpose which, he said, bind all Jews, while his verse play, the Count of Charolais has a Jewish character who voices the protest of persecuted Jews.
Since coming to this country he had produced two books–“Poems” in 1942 and “Paula,” a tribute in prose to his wife, published in 1944. Last March. he became an American citizen, and a month later he received a $1,000 award for distinguished achievement from the National Institute of Arts and Letters.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
