I LOVED LIFE TOO DEARLY
Some notes on Stefan Zweig’s “Declaração” on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of his death on 23 February 2022
The letter that Stefan Zweig entitled “Declaração” (or “Declaration” in Portuguese), dated 22 February 1942, is undoubtedly his best-known and most frequently quoted biographical document. It was written under dramatic circumstances, for on the following day attendants found Zweig and his wife Lotte lying lifeless on the bed of their house in Petrópolis. A doctor was summoned, who certified death to have been caused by the ingestion of toxic substances, and the ensuing police investigation ruled out any involvement of third parties, leaving no doubt thatStefan and Lotte Zweig, after years of exile, had decided to take this step on their own.
Dates and postmarks reveal that the couple had already written and posted a series of personal farewell letters to friends and family members when Stefan Zweig penned his official declaration. In the latter, he addressed the public alone, without mentioning his wife, who was determined to end her life together with him. Due to long mail routes, further complicated by conditions of war and censorship, the personal valedictions would not have reached their recipients until long after they had learned of Zweig’s death and his “declaration” over the radio and through the papers.
In keeping with the official character of his message, Zweig begins with a word of thanks to Brazil, the country where he and his wife had spent their last months, before going on to discuss his situation, which, he explains, he has come to view as hopeless. In consideration of the importance of the document, Zweig left behind two copies of his “declaração”. It is perhaps little surprise that this fact has so far attracted little attention, as the two texts appear at first glance to be identical, and publications or quotations usually ignore the corrections and deletions which distinguish the two versions. One of these “declarations” was acquired by the German Literature Archive Marbach in 1976, the other has rested in the National Library of Israel in Jerusalem since 1992. Both are written in Zweig’s own hand, signed, and dated on the same day. Both also share the peculiar spelling of the word “Declaração”, without the cedilha in the second “c” – an idiosyncrasy not unusual for Zweig, who frequently omitted diacritics even in his French handwriting.
An easily noticeable difference is that the Jerusalem letter bears a diagonal paraph in the upper left-hand corner, apparently the initials of one of the investigating Brazilian officers. In the Marbach specimen Zweighimself added the words “Abschrift, Copia” (“copy”) in brackets after the heading. While the addendum correctly indicates the purpose of this precautionary duplicate, it is not entirely accurate, for the Marbach letter was not, in fact, designed as the copy of a text, but rather as its draft. This sequence of composition is evident from several deletions and corrections which were incorporated into the ostensible prototype (actually, the fair copy) in Jerusalem. Although Zweig deleted the relevant passages with close strokes of his fountain pen, the original phrasings underneath remain legible throughout.
The first passage to show clear signs of revision is at the end of the first paragraph. In the final version, this section, which refers to Brazil, reads thus: “Mit jedem Tage habe ich dies Land mehr lieben gelernt und nirgends hätte ich mir mein Leben lieber vom Grunde aus neu aufgebaut, nachdem die Welt meiner eigenen Sprache für mich untergegangen ist und […] meine geistige Heimat Europa sich selber vernichtet” (“Every day I have learned to love this country better, and nowhere would I more gladly have rebuilt my life all over again, now that the world of my native tongue has perished for me and my spiritual home, Europe, is destroying itself”). In his first version, Zweig had concluded the sentence less succinctly: “nachdem die Welt in der ich in meiner eigenen Sprache schaffen konnte für mich untergegangen ist und meine geistige Heimat Europa sich selbst vernichtet” (“now that the world in which I was able to create in my native tongue has perished for me and my spiritual home, Europe, is destroying itself”).
The second passage is concerned with Zweig’s motivation for his suicide. Here, the revision stresses his lack of energy alone: in the sentence, “Aber nach dem sechzigsten Jahr bedürfte es besonderen Mutes und besonderer Kräfte, um noch einmal völlig neu zu beginnen“ (“But one would need special courage and special powers to begin completely afresh when one has passed one’s sixtieth year”), Zweig Zweig struck out the words “special courage and”. Also, to reinforce the statement, the word “völlig” (“completely”) was inserted at the beginning of the line after the sentence was completed in the draft.
The third and most extensive deletion concerns a full sentence and a half. It reads: “Ich habe das Leben zu sehr geliebt. Eine zerstückte und in ihrem Gefühl verstörte” (“I loved life too dearly. A dismembered and emotionally distraught”). In his final version, Zweig chose entirely to drop this passage with its poignant first sentence.
The final deletion concerns the word “Unabhängigkeit” (“independence”), which was replaced by “Freiheit” (“freedom”) – for Zweig, “earth’s most precious possession”.
Apart from a few minor changes such as “dieses Land” becoming “dies Land” (a more literary form of “this land”) or “Rast gewährt” (“granted repose”) becoming “Rast gegeben” (“given” or “afforded repose”) and the transposition of stop and exclamation mark in the two final sentences, the fair copy contains only two more small corrections which necessitated deletions: firstly, Zweig cancelled the beginning of the word “Europa” (“Europe”), which he apparently had prematurely copied from his draft, mistakenly omitting the preceding words “meine geistige Heimat” (“my spiritual home”). Secondly, Zweig struck out the fragment “fast zeh”: he had probably wanted to refer to his “nearly ten” years of homeless wandering, then changed his mind and reverted to the “long years” of his draft.
The original documents show clearly that Zweig did not write down his last words to the public in one fell swoop, but rather made numerous changes and honed individual phrases, a process he had practised and refined over decades in the composition of his literary works. It was not uncommon for Zweig to produce as many as four or five revisions when working his way from first idea to final version, and considering the importance of his “Declaração”, it is quite conceivable that further drafts of this text may once have existed as well.
Marbach Declaração
Declaracão (Abschrift, Copia)
Ehe ich aus freiem Willen und mit klaren Sinnen
aus dem Leben
scheide, drängt es mich eine letzte
Pflicht zu erfüllen: diesem wundervollen Lande
Bra-
silien innig zu danken, das mir und meiner Arbeit
so gute und gastliche
Rast gewährt. Mit jedem Tage
habe ich dieses Land mehr lieben gelernt und nir-
gends hätte ich mir lieber mein Leben vom Grunde aus
neu aufgebaut, nachdem
die Welt in der ich in meiner
eigenen Sprache schaffen konnte für mich untergegangen
ist und meine
geistige Heimat Europa sich selbst vernich-
tet.
Aber nach dem sechzigsten Jahr bedürfte es beson-
deren Mutes und besonderer Kräfte, um noch einmal
völlig neu zu beginnen. Und die meinen sind durch die
langen Jahre
heimatlosen Wanderns erschöpft. Ich
habe das Leben zu sehr geliebt. Eine zerstückte und
in ihrem Gefühl verstörte So halte ich es für
besser,
rechtzeitig und in aufrechter Haltung ein Leben
abzuschliessen, dem
geistige Arbeit die lauterste Freude
und persönliche Unabhängigkeit Freiheit das höchste Gut dieser
Erde war gewesen.
Ich grüsse alle meine Freunde! Mögen sie die Morgen
röte noch sehen nach der
langen Nacht. Ich, allzu
Ungeduldiger, gehe ihnen voraus!
Petropolis 22. II 1942 Stefan Zweig
English approximation
Declaracão (copy)
Before I depart from this life, of my own free will and with a clear mind,
I want urgently to fulfil one last duty: I want to give heartfelt thanks to this wonderful country
of Brazil which has granted me and my work such kind and hospitable repose. Every day I have learned
to love this country better, and nowhere would I more gladly have rebuilt my life all over again,
now that the world in which I was able to create in of my native tongue
has perished for me and my spiritual home, Europe, is destroying itself.
But one would need special courage and
special powers to begin completely afresh when one has passed one’s sixtieth year.
And mine have been exhausted by long years of homeless wandering.
I loved life too dearly. A dismembered and emotionally distraught
It seems to me therefore better to put an end, in good time and without humiliation,
to a life in which intellectual work was has always been an unmixed joy and personal independence
freedom earth’s most precious possession.
I greet all my friends! May they live to see the dawn after the long night is over. I, all too impatient, am going on alone!
Petropolis 22. II 1942 Stefan Zweig
Jerusalem Declaração
Declaracão
Ehe ich aus freiem Willen und mit klaren Sinnen
aus dem Leben scheide, drängt es
mich eine letzte Pflicht
zu erfüllen: diesem wundervollen Lande Brasilien
innig zu danken, das mir und meiner Arbeit so gute
und gastliche Rast gegeben.
Mit jedem Tage habe ich dies
Land mehr lieben gelernt und nirgends hätte ich mir
mein Leben lieber vom Grunde aus neu aufgebaut,
nachdem die Welt meiner
eigenen Sprache für mich
untergegangen ist und Euro
meine geistige Heimat Europa
sich selber vernichtet.
Aber nach dem sechzigsten Jahre bedürfte es besonderer
Kräfte um noch einmal
völlig neu zu beginnen. Und
die meinen sind durch die fast zeh langen Jahre heimat-
losen Wanderns erschöpft. So halte ich es
für besser,
rechtzeitig und in aufrechter Haltung ein Leben abzu-
schliessen,
dem geistige Arbeit immer die lauterste Freude
und persönliche Freiheit das höchste
Gut dieser Erde
gewesen.
Ich grüsse alle meine Freunde! Mögen sie die Morgen-
röte noch sehen nach der
langen Nacht! Ich, allzu
Ungeduldiger, gehe ihnen voraus.
Stefan Zweig
----
Petropolis 22. II 1942
English approximation
Declaracão
Before I depart from this life, of my own free will and with a clear mind,
I want urgently to fulfil one last duty: I want to give heartfelt thanks to this wonderful
country of Brazil which has afforded me and my work such kind and hospitable repose.
Every day I have learned to love this country better, and nowhere would I more gladly
have rebuilt my life all over again, now that the world of my native tongue has perished for me and
Euro my spiritual home, Europe, is destroying itself.
But one would need special powers to begin completely afresh when one has passed one’s sixtieth year.
And mine have been exhausted by nearly te long years of homeless wandering.
It seems to me therefore better to put an end, in good time and without humiliation, to a life in which intellectual
work has always been an unmixed joy and personal freedom earth’s most precious possession.
I greet all my friends! May they live to see the dawn after the long night is over! I, all too impatient, am going on alone.
Stefan Zweig
----
Petropolis 22. II 1942
Note: Stefan Zweig’s farewell letter has been variously translated into English. The version given here is largely based on that published in: Elizabeth Allday, Stefan Zweig: A Critical Biography. Chicago: J. Philip O’Hara, 1972, p. 238.