He was born in Gross-Glogau, Germany (now Glogow in Poland), and in World War I volunteered for the German army. After the war, he lived in Bavaria and from 1923 in Berlin where for a time he edited the Zionist newspaper Juedische Rundschau.

His war novel "The Case of Sergeant Grischa", which appeared, in 1927, was an international success. His play "Die Sendung Samaels" dealt with the Tiszla-Eszlar blood libel.

Exiled from Germany by the Nazis he lived in Haifa from 1933 and coedited the weekly "Orient" (1942-43). After the war he returned to East Germany where he became president of the Academy of Arts and received the international Lenin Peace Prize. He was the author of a number of prose epics set in 20th century Germany as well as books on Jewish subjects.

Bibliography:

Arnold ZWEIG: The Case of Sergeant Grischa. Pp. VI, 449. Penguin Books, 1986

Arnold ZWEIG: Die Sendung Semaels. Pp. 120. Muenchen: K. Wolff, 1920

Arnold ZWEIG: Juedischer Ausdruckswille. Pp. 334. Berlin: Aufbau Taschenbuch Verlag, 1991

Arnold ZWEIG: Junge Frau von 1914. Pp. 283. Frankfurt/Main: Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, 1973

Links:

Biography of Arnold Zweig (in German)