Erich Fritz Schweinburg (June 11, 1890 – July 7, 1959) was a Jewish-Austrian writer and attorney. He is best known for writing Eine weite Reise, published in Austria, his account of the year he spent as a prisoner in Dachau concentration camp in Nazi Germany.

Biography

Early life

Schweinburg was born on June 11, 1890, in Nikolsburg, Moravia. He was the eldest son of Emanuel and Leontine (née Czinczar). His younger brothers were Erwin and Franz. The family were builders. In Nikolsburg Moravia, there was a residential street named for [1] his relative Emil Schweinburg a benefactor of Jews and Christians alike: Emil Schweinburg Strasse now called Husova Street. It was the hub street in the Jewish Ghetto.^[1]

Attorney

Schweinburg practiced in the law courts of Vienna. In New York, as an attorney, with Henrietta Kierman he compiled a "Bibliography on Political, Economic and Social Backgrounds of Certain European Countries", for the Department of Statistics in 1944 at the Russell Sage foundation.^[2] In 1945 he wrote the book "Law Training in Continental Europe, Its Principles and Public Function".^[2]

Dachau

Immigration

Writing career

Schweinburg was an author of novels, short stories. He also published a public service book entitled Law Training in Continental Europe: Its Principles and Public Function^[3]

He is best known for his autobiographical work Eine Weite Reise, Wien : Löcker, 1988.

New York and Vermont

Schweinburg worked for the Russell Sage Foundation.

Personal life

Born to a wealthy Jewish family, Schweinburg attended the University of Vienna. He became an attorney. He and Rosa Gussman married in Austria and had one child, Raina Schweinburg, married to Philipp Fehl.