Alexander Moszkowski, German Jewish humorist, author, journalist, philosopher and playwright, died here today. He was eighty-three years old.
Herr Moszkowski was born on January 15, 1851, in the little town of Pilicia in Russian Poland. When the boy was only fifteen months old, the family moved to Breslau, where he was educated in the German public schools. Later he matriculated in the University of Berlin and did postgraduate work in the humanities in the University of Heidelberg.
He began journalistic work in 1877, when Julius Stettenheim, editor of the Berlin humorist journal, Die Wespen, recognized the ability of the young writer and invited him to become a contributor.
For nine years Herr Moszkowski was a steady contributor to the paper, signing his articles “Wippchen (“little seesaw”). His sharply written and highly stylized articles attracted a great deal of attention, but angry because he was compelled to remain anonymous, Herr Moszkowski transferred in 1886 to the humorist journal Lustige Blaetter as editor-in-chief, a post which he held until his retirement in 1928.
A versatile writer, Herr Moszkowski soon became famous, not only as a humorist but also as a philosopher and a writer on music, history and philological subjects.
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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.
