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Elsa Brod (née Taussig, Prague 1883 - Tel Aviv 1942) was a literary translator active in Prague (until 1939). She mostly translated Russian and Italian short prosa for German newspapers and journals. Having been married to Max Brod, she was in direct contact with other members of the "Prague Circle" like Franz Kafka, Felix Weltsch, and Oskar Baum.
The Archives Collection of the National Library of Israel
| Title |
Elsa Brod Archive. |
|---|---|
| Additional Titles |
כותרת בעברית: ארכיון אלזה ברוד. |
| Citation Note |
ARC. 4* 2058, Elsa Brod Archive, Archives department, National Library of Israel, Jerusalem |
| Host Item |
Elsa Brod Archive |
| Level of Description |
Fonds Record |
| Biographical summary |
Elsa Brod was born 1883 in Prag, as the second of six children of the Jewish merchant Eduard Taussig and Hermine, nee Wahle. Not much is known about her young years. From her notes and letters we see that she studied at the German university in Pag, with Christian von Ehrenfels and Heinrich Rauchberg. According to the earliest correspondence kept in this archive she and her sister Ada spent summers with their relatives in Vienna and in several vacation towns in Austria. She met Max Brod before or in 1908, they got engaged in 1912 and married in February 1913. In 1914 her sister Ada went for health reasons to a special clinic in Berlin where she was found to be terminally ill. Elsa Brod spent nearly 2 months of her early marriage with Ada in Berlin, a fact that Max Brod seems to have found difficult. In this time she met Felice Bauer, the fiancee of Franz Kafka. Elsa Brod wrote a few articles in the newspaper Selbstwehr in 1917, and developed a career of writing short articles (some under the pseudonym Mimi) and translations, especially from French and Russian. Many of these are works by contemporary Russian authors. From the mid-1920s she translated in cooperation with Mary von Pruss-Glowatzky (later Mary Bondy), Mary Schachowskaja and Peter Koschewnikow. She also spent much of her time in spas in several countries, to treat her weak health but probably also because it was socially acceptable.The correspondence hints at her having been a passionate contract bridge player as well, to the extent that her husband and friends warned her not to play so much. Max and Elsa Brod left Prag in the last moments before the Nazi occupation in 1939 and ímmigrated to Palestine. Her failing health forced her to spend the next years in clinics and treatments. She died in August 1942. The material in this archive was found with that of Max Brod's archive after it had been transferred to the National Library of Israel. |
| Ownership history |
The archive was discovered among Max Brod's papers in 2018 and 2019, when Max Brod's archive was taken from the private apartment of the Hoffe family in Tel Aviv following the ruling of the Israeli Supreme Court from December 2016. |
| Language Note |
The materials are mostly in German, parts in Czech, French, Russian, and Italian. |
| National Library system number |
990052791380205171 |
תנאי השימוש:
The terms of use appear on the archival file page on the National Library website.
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