Villa Aurora and USC's Feuchtwanger Memorial Library co-hosted a 125th-birthday celebration for German exile writer Lion Feuchtwanger at his former home in the Pacific Palisades on Sept. 16. A large audience -- including the new German consul general Wolfgang Drautz, acclaimed actor and producer Norman Lloyd, and novelist Klaus Modick -- gathered to remember Feuchtwanger and his legacy.

One of the highlights of the evening was a reading in German and English of passages from Feuchtwanger's Die Jüdin von Toledo by Villa Aurora writer-in-residence and acclaimed novelist Klaus Modick. Norman Lloyd read the same excerpts for a celebration of Feuchtwanger's life 50 years ago. Another was a screening of Al Joseph's documentary film, which showed Lion and Marta walking through their home, which later became Villa Aurora.

Novelist Klaus Modick, Feuchtwanger Memorial Library curator Michaela Ullmann, Senior Associate Dean and Feuchtwanger Librarian Marje Schuetze-Coburn, Villa Aurora director Carola Donnerhak, and German Consul General Wolfgang Drautz

Modick read from Die Jüdin von Toledo (or Raquel). He wrote his doctoral dissertation on Feuchtwanger.

Modick and Schuetze-Coburn with Norman Lloyd

Claudia Birkner and Berenike Söllner of Villa Aurora curated an exhibition of birthday greetings from Feuchtwanger's friends on his sixtieth birthday. The materials were selected from the Feuchtwanger Memorial Library.

Schuetze-Coburn shared her remarks, reflecting on the legacy of Lion Feuchtwanger and the other German exiles who settled in Los Angeles during World War II. She also discussed Feuchtwanger's inspiration for writing Die Jüdin von Toledo, as well as the historical parallels he saw between 12th century Spain and 20th century Europe.

 

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