Maximilian Hugo Bettauer was born on August 18, 1872, and died on March 26, 1925. He was an Austrian writer and journalist who wrote many books. He was murdered by a member of the Nazi Party because he opposed antisemitism. During his lifetime, Bettauer was well known. Many of his books were bestsellers, and several were made into films in the 1920s. One film was Die freudlose Gasse (The Joyless Street), directed by Georg Wilhelm Pabst in 1925. This film focused on the topic of prostitution. Another film was Die Stadt ohne Juden (The City Without Jews), directed by Hans Karl Breslauer in 1924. This film was a satire that criticized antisemitism.
Life
Hugo Bettauer was born on August 18, 1872, in Baden bei Wien. He was the son of Arnold Bettauer, a stockbroker from Lemberg (now Lviv), and Anna Bettauer, whose family name was Wecker. He had two older sisters, Hermine and Mathilde. Between 1887 and 1888, he studied at the Franz-Joseph-Gymnasium in Vienna with Karl Kraus, who later became his strongest critic.
At age 16, Bettauer ran away from home and traveled to Alexandria. The Austrian Consul sent him back to Austria. In 1890, Bettauer changed his religion from Judaism to the Evangelical (Lutheran) Church. That same year, he joined the Kaiserjäger, an army unit, as a volunteer. Changing to the Evangelical Church likely helped him avoid the challenges Jewish soldiers faced in the military.
After five months in Tyrol, Bettauer left the army because of conflicts with his superiors. He moved to Zürich with his mother and received his father’s inheritance in 1896, when he was 24. In Zürich, he married Olga Steiner, a woman he had known since childhood. After his mother’s death, he and Olga moved to the United States. During the trip, Bettauer lost all his money in a failed business deal.
In New York, Olga worked as an actress, and Bettauer became a citizen but struggled to find work. They moved to Berlin, where their son, Heinrich Gustav Hellmuth Bettauer (known as Helmut), was born. Helmut was sent to Auschwitz in 1942 and likely died there.
In Berlin, Bettauer worked as a journalist and wrote about scandals. He wrote the book Bobbie in 1921, which told the story of a powerful child abductor. In 1901, after a director of the Berliner Hoftheater committed suicide, Bettauer was expelled from the Kingdom of Prussia. He moved to Munich, worked in a cabaret, and later became a newspaper editor in Hamburg.
After his first marriage ended, Bettauer met Helene Müller in Hamburg when she was 16. They eloped to America in 1904, married during the trip, and had a son, Reginald Parker Bettauer. In New York, Bettauer worked as a journalist and began writing serial novels for newspapers.
In 1910, Bettauer returned to Vienna and worked for the Neue Freie Presse. When World War I began, he tried to join the army but was denied because of his American citizenship. In 1918, he was fired from the newspaper after an argument involving a broken typewriter.
After the war, Bettauer worked for New York newspapers and started a program to help people in Vienna. From 1920, he wrote many novels, often about crime and social issues. His books were popular because they were set in Vienna, Berlin, and New York. His most famous novel, Die Stadt ohne Juden (The City Without Jews), imagined a future where all Jews were forced to leave Vienna. The story showed how the city suffered economically and how people later wanted the Jews to return.
The book sold 250,000 copies in its first year and caused strong reactions. Nazis criticized Bettauer, calling him a “Red poet” and a “corruptor of youth.” He also published a weekly newspaper, Bettauer’s Wochenschrift, which often caused controversy with its progressive ideas.
Bettauer’s books were adapted into films, including Die freudlose Gasse, in which Greta Garbo made her film debut. His work led to public debates, and he was accused of promoting immorality. In 1925, a man named Otto Rothstock shot Bettauer. Bettauer died from his injuries on March 26, 1925. He was cremated in Vienna, and his ashes remain there.
Before his death, there were arguments about why Rothstock attacked Bettauer. Rothstock claimed he acted against Bettauer’s “immoral” writing, but he had been a member of the Nazi Party. Many believe Bettauer’s criticism of antisemitism, especially in The City Without Jews, led to his murder.