I.

The purpose of this essay is to discuss Stefan Zweig's characterization of the zeitgeist in Europe in the 1930s and early 1940s, and especially the still controversial issue regarding whether or not he had an ethical and personal obligation to voice his opinions regarding political matters before and after he willingly became an émigré in Great Britain. This context also prompts consideration of the socio-political and literary- historical position advanced during these turbulent times by other prominent Austrian and German intellectual émigrés, including Hannah Arendt, Klaus Mann, Thomas Mann, Joseph Roth, Felix Salten, Ernst Toller, Arnold Zweig, and Ernst Weiss. What is most interesting about these and other German-speaking émigrés is their often differing attitudes toward the same set of circumstances. Nevertheless, they all denounced or rejected Zweig's professed reluctance to express his viewpoints publicly regarding the worsening situation in face of Hitler's rise to power and the dire situation caused by the outbreak of the Second World War.

The current investigation concerns equally important related matters: Zweig's thought and activities from 1933 to 1940, a period in which Zweig spent most of his time residing on British soil. The positions and posture displayed by Great Britain's senior officials concerning political, social, and economic matters greatly affected him. The following discussion of several of the most salient incidents he witnessed and the manner in which he responded to them expands our understanding of the significance of Zweig's career.