Felix Hollaender

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Felix Hollaender (1 November 1867 – 29 May 1931) was a German writer, critic and theatre man who also directed and produced plays. He worked for a time with his friend Max Reinhardt.

He was born in Leobschütz (now Głubczyce) in Lower Silesia. His father, Siegmund Hollaender, was a physician. When Felix was young, the family moved to Berlin for a better education. The family was musical: his two older brothers, Gustav (a conductor) and Victor (a composer), were well known. In Berlin he finished school in 1886 and studied at Berlin University. His father’s broad cultural interests gave him a love of literature, and he met important critics and theatre people, including Otto Brahm.

While a student, Hollaender published his first novel, Jesus und Judas, in 1891. The success of this and other early works let him travel and write, though he returned to Berlin in 1894 to improve his finances. From 1896 to 1898 he co-produced and wrote theatre criticism for the Berlin weekly Die Welt am Montag. In 1902 he began working as a dramaturge, and from 1904 he also produced theatre with Max Reinhardt, developing a strong friendship with him.

From 1920 to 1923 he headed the Deutsches Theater in Berlin. He continued writing and critiquing for various publications, and after 1923 was the theatre critic for the 8-Uhr-Abendblatt. He was part of the Friedrichshagener Dichterkreis, a literary circle.

Hollaender married twice. His first marriage, to Johanna, began in 1894 and ended in divorce in 1913. In 1913/14 he married actress Gina Meyer. The first marriage produced three sons and a daughter; the second produced one son. One of his sons, Ulrich Hollaender (1915–1995), studied at Tübingen, later moved to England, changed his name to Michael Thomas, and became a British army officer.

Felix Hollaender died in Berlin on 29 May 1931 and was buried at Friedhof Heerstraße. His novel Der Eid des Stephan Huller was filmed several times, with the best-known version released in 1925.