HOCHWAELDER, FRITZ

HOCHWAELDER, FRITZ (1911–1986), Austrian dramatist. Hochwälder was born in Vienna. Being only a mediocre pupil, he left school to join his father in the upholsterer's trade and began to write in his off hours. Two of his early plays were performed in small theaters in Vienna. Unable to obtain an exit visa after the Anschluss, he crossed the border into Switzerland illegally in August 1938. His parents, who remained behind, were victims of the concentration camps. As an illegal immigrant in Switzerland he was forbidden to work and this gave him the time to devote to writing. In the summer of 1942 he wrote Das heilige Experiment (The Strong Are Lonely), published in 1947, which was his greatest commercial success as well as being considered a modern European classic. It dealt with the utopian Jesuit community in Paraguay during the 18th century and its ideological conflicts. First performed in 1943, it was only after the war that the play received international recognition. He also wrote Der Flüchtling (The Fugitive; 1955), which was made into a motion picture, Der oeffentliche Anklaeger (1954), and 1003 (1964), an experimental play in the spirit of Pirandello. He wrote for radio and television; his television play Der Befehl (The Order; 1967) was commissioned by Austrian television to be shown by Eurovision. His work was significantly influenced by the Viennese Volkstheater, and the themes which are found throughout his work are the conflict between conscience and power, guilt and responsibility, and humanitarianism and selfishness. Although he was granted the highest honors by the Austrian government, he chose to remain in Switzerland. -ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: W. Bortenschlager, Der Dramatiker Fritz Hochwaelder (1979); F.N. Mennemeier and F. Trapp, Deutsche Exildramatik 1933–1945 (1980); A.J. Harper, "Tradition and Experiment in the Drama of. Fritz Hochwaelde," in: idem, Time and Change. Essays on German and European Literature (1982); H. Wuertz (ed.), Fritz Hochwaelder (exhibition catalog of the Wiener Stadt- und Landesbibliothek and of the oesterreichisches Kulturzentrum im Palais Palffy, 1991); R.P. Baker, A Question of Conscience. The Dramas of Fritz Hochwaelder (2001).