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The Jewish playwright who inspired Tom Stoppard to write his Holocaust history

JL;DR SUMMARY Tom Stoppard's play "Leopoldstadt" is notably influenced by the Jewish playwright Arthur Schnitzler, a significant figure in German-speaking theater from the early 20th century. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.

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Tags

HolocaustJewish IdentityViennaTom StoppardLeopoldstadtAssimilationTheaterArthur SchnitzlerJewish Playwrights

Places mentioned

Vienna, Austria
"Where better than Vienna? And, Dowd wrote, Stoppard had visited Vienna in other plays a slapstick affair called On the Razzle and, far more relevant, his two adaptations of Schnitzler."
Austria
"Schnitzler was witnessing a change in Austria, which Stoppard dramatizes."
Russian Federation
"The immigration of Yiddish-speaking, Orthodox Jews from Tsarist Russia rendered even Austrian Jews of long standing suspect."
Czechia
"But before he did, he had a preview of what was to come in Stoppards native Czechoslovakia."
Hungary
"Yet he boosted not just Schnitzler but also the Jewish Hungarian playwright Ferenc Molnar, in 1984s Rough Crossing."

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Cairo Item ID 69065
Cairo Source ID 35
Retrieved 2025-12-04 05:30:46 UTC
Curated 2025-12-04 08:31:48 UTC