Walter Benjamin

Walter Benjamin was born on July 15, 1892 in Berlin as the oldest of three children and died by suicide on September 26, 1940 in Portbou, Spain. After graduating secondary school in 1912 he studied Philosophy, German Literature and Psychology in Freiburg im Breisgau, Munich and Berlin. In 1915, he met Gershom Scholem, a student of mathematics five years his junior, with whom he remained friends until his death. In 1917, Benjamin married Dora Kellner and became father to a son, Stefan Rafael (1918-1972). The marriage lasted for 13 years. Also in 1917, Benjamin relocated to Bern, Switzerland, where he obtained his PhD two years later with his thesis entitled »Der Begriff der Kunstkritik in der deutschen Romantik bei Richard Herbertz«. In 1923/24 he met Theodor W. Adorno and Siegfried Kracauer in Frankfurt am Main. His attempt to qualify as a professor with his postdoctoral dissertation on »The Origin of German Tragic Drama« was unsuccessful. Benjamin was advised to withdraw his submission, which he did in 1925. His interest in communism took Benjamin to Moscow for several months. In the early 1930s, Benjamin pursued journalistic endeavours with Bertolt Brecht and worked for broadcasting companies. When the National Socialsts assumed power, Benjamin was forced to go into exile in September 1933. He was subsequently detained at a camp for German refugees for three months in Nevers, France, in 1939. On September 25, 1940 his attempt to cross the border into Spain failed. He took his own life in order to escape his impending extradition to Germany.