Kurt Mühsam

Writer and journalist Kurt Muehsam was born on May 3, 1882 in Graz, Austria as the second youngest of nine children of Rabbi Samuel Muehsam and Marianne née Loewenstein. He studied law and philosophy at the University of Vienna and in Graz and undertook several trips to Italy, Greece, and Asia Minor to explore artistic monuments. Kurt Muhsam received his law degree in 1909.

From 1909-1912 he became the Berlin correspondent for the Austrian liberal daily Die Neue Freie Presse. Kurt Muehsam married Alice Freymark, daughter of Isidor Freymark, the director of the Deutsche Bank and Disconto-Gesellschaft, in 1911.

From 1912-1921 he worked as the director of the National-Zeitung and was editor of the Berliner Zeitung am Mittag. During the First World War Kurt Muehsam was a war reporter (Kriegsberichterstatter) at the Western front. At the beginning of the war he published a two-volume book, Deutsche Heerführer im Weltkriege (German Commanders in the World War) in 1914. From 1922-1923 he led the Press Department of the Ufa (Universum-Film AG), at this time privatized and no longer under state control, and after 1924 was the head of the film section of the Berliner Zeitung am Mittag. From 1924-1927 he was also the chief editor of the Lichtbildbühne.

In addition to journalism Kurt Muehsam was involved in the arts, particularly in theatre and later in film. In 1912 Kurt Muehsam became the artistic director (Dramaturg) of the theater on Königgrätzer Street, the Komödienhaus, and the Berlin Theater. His contacts in the world of theatre and film certainly had an effect on his daughter Ruth, who became an actress and in 1937 moved to Hollywood. He also had a special interest in art, especially the collecting of old paintings and drawings.

Kurt Muehsam died in Berlin on November 17, 1931.

Kurt Muehsam published several books, brochures, and plays. He wrote Berufsführer für Film und Kino (1927), Deutsche Heerführer im Weltkriege (2 volumes, 1914), Germania und Austria (1913), Hindenburg, der Befreier Ostpreußens (1914), Hippolyt (1913, performed 1924), Internationales Preislexikon für Gemälde aller Zeiten und Schulen (1925), Die Kunstauktion (1923), Lexikon des Films (1924), Salonmenschen (1911), Der Sonnenbursch (1911), Tiere im Filme (1922), Unsere Flieger über Feindesland (1914), Wie wir belogen wurden (1918).