Jenny Weleminsky Explained

Jenny Weleminsky
Birth Name:Jenny Elbogen
Birth Date:12 June 1882
Death Place:London, England
Nationality:Austrian
Movement:Budapeŝto skolo, the Budapest school of Esperanto literature
Known For:Translations of works by Franz Grillparzer and other Austrian writers
Children:Three daughters and one son: Marianne; Anton; Eliesabeth (Jardenah); Dorothea (Leah)
Parents:Guido Elbogen and Rosalie Schwabacher

Jenny Weleminsky (née Elbogen; 12 June 1882 4 February 1957)[1] [2] was a German-speaking Esperantist and translator who was born in Thalheim, Lower Austria and brought up there and in Vienna. Some of her translations of works by Franz Grillparzer and other notable Austrian writers were published in the literary magazine Literatura Mondo (Literary World), which became home to an influential group of authors collectively known as Budapeŝto skolo, the Budapest school of Esperanto literature.[3]

Early life and education

Jenny Elbogen was born into a Jewish family on 12 June 1882 at Schloss Thalheim,[4] Lower Austria, the youngest child of Guido Elbogen (1845, Jungbrunzlau1918, Schloss Thalheim) who became President of the Anglo-Austrian Bank in Vienna,[5] [6] and his wife Rosalie (Ali) (née Schwabacher; 1850, Paris 1940, Sartrouville, Île-de-France),[7] whom he married in 1868 in Paris. She had two sisters (Antoinette (1871–1901) and Helene (1878–1882), who died in infancy); and a brother (Heinrich, also known as Henri; 1872–1927).[2]

Jenny Elbogen was educated at home by a Miss Allen, a governess from Devon, England. She became sufficiently fluent in English to translate Axel Munthe's memoir The Story of San Michele from English to Esperanto for publication in 1935.

Political views

Politically she had very determinate and fixed views, many inherited from her father. Jenny Elbogen was an ardent Habsburg monarchist and wished to see the Habsburg heir, Otto von Habsburg, restored to the Austrian throne after the Second World War. However, she was also an internationalist, as demonstrated by her enthusiasm for Esperanto. She opposed the Zionist movement's call for the establishment of a homeland for the Jewish people and ceased all contact with two of her daughters after they left Austria to live in Mandatory Palestine.

Her father Guido Elbogen had donated money towards the construction of a new synagogue (built in 1913) in Sankt Pölten.[8]

Marriage and family life

After Guido Elbogen died in 1918 Jenny inherited Schloss Thalheim; her father had bought it in 1882 just before she was born.[9] She lived there and in Prague[10] (which until 1918 was part of Austria-Hungary) with her husband Friedrich ("Fritz") Weleminsky[2] (1868, Golčův Jeníkov1945, London); they married at Schloss Thalheim on 4 December 1905. He was a lecturer in Hygiene (now called Microbiology) at the German University, Prague[11] and developed tuberculomucin Weleminsky, a treatment for tuberculosis.[12] The couple ran Schloss Thalheim as model dairy farm.

Facing Nazi persecution for being Jewish, they found sanctuary in 1939 in the United Kingdom[11] where she continued to translate books into Esperanto, wrote poetry and taught English to other refugees.[13]

After the Second World War and the death of her husband, Jenny Weleminsky spent several years in Vienna, returning eventually to London, where she died of breast cancer on 4 February 1957, aged 74.[2]

She and her husband had four children together. Two of their daughters emigrated in the early 1930s to Mandatory Palestine where they took new names – Eliesabeth (born 1909) became Jardenah, and Dorothea (born 1912) was known as Leah. Their eldest daughter, Marianne (born 1906), and their son, Anton[14] (born 1908), moved to Britain just before the Second World War.

Publications

Translations from German

Novel

Play

Poetry

"La majstro kaj lia verko", translated by Jenny Weleminsky . 1936 . Austriaj Poetoj . . 94. [16]

Translations from English

Novel

Notes

  1. Reference: HO 294/558/6122B.
  2. Web site: Jenny Welleminsky (Elbogen) (1882–1957). Geni.com. Fürth, Thomas. 18 February 2015.
  3. Book: Concise Encyclopedia of the Original Literature of Esperanto: 1887–2007. Mondial. Sutton, Geoffrey . 2008. New York. 11. 978-1-59569-090-6.
  4. Schloss Thalheim is in the village of Thalheim (Kapelln), today a part of Kapelln, Sankt Pölten-Land District; See, Jakob Prandtauer. After restoration it reopened in 2016 as a luxury hotel.
  5. Book: Kanner, Siegmund . Das Lotto in Österreich. Ein Beitrag zur Finanzgeschictite Österreichs (The Lotto in Austria, a contribution to the financial history of Austria) . 10.4 Guido Elbogen . . 1898 . . 86.
  6. Book: Nationale Konflikte und monetäre Einheit: ein Plädoyer für die Währungsunion . Nagel. Bernhard. Nautz . Jürgen P. . 1999 . 92 . German. Vienna.
  7. Web site: Rosalie Elbogen (Schwabacher). Geni.com. 22 February 2015. Fürth, Thomas.
  8. Web site: New synagogue: Donation list of the Temple-Construction-Association . Memorbuch: Juden in St Polten . . 31 August 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170831130204/http://www.juden-in-st-poelten.at/english/synagogues-und-cemeteries/new-synagogue/new-synagogue.html . 31 August 2017 . dead .
  9. Web site: Thalheim . 17 September 2005 . Burgen-Austria.com ("Castles in Austria"). 28 August 2017.
  10. Book: Romano de San Michele. Eldonis: Literatura Mondo. Budapest (Association of Esperanto Book Friends (AELA)). . Translated from the original English text by Jenny Weleminsky. 1935. The Story of San Michele.
  11. Web site: Tuberculomucin – a forgotten treatment for tuberculosis. Carole Reeves. Reeves, Carole. 4 April 2012. 6 May 2024.
  12. Beitrag zur Tuberkulosetherapie mit Tuberculomucin (Contribution to tuberculosis therapy with tuberculomucin). Zemmin, H . Wille, K . Beiträge zur Klinik der Tuberkulose und Spezifischen Tuberkulose-Forschung (Contributions to Clinical Tuberculosis and Tuberculosis Specific Research). October 1926. 64. 5–6. 679 682. 10.1007/BF02093958. 841950 . 0341-2040.
  13. My grandfather: A kind and modest man. Jones, Charlotte. AJR Journal. July 2011. 11. 7. 5. https://web.archive.org/web/20160305014358/http://www.ajr.org.uk/journalpdf/2011_July.pdf. 5 March 2016. dead.
  14. Anton was referred to as "Antonin" in official Czech documents.
  15. Web site: Enhavlisto de Literatura Mondo . Meszaros . Istvan . egalite.hu . 50 . 25 August 2017.
  16. Web site: Enhavlisto de Literatura Mondo . Meszaros . Istvan . egalite.hu . 51. 6 January 2018.
  17. Web site: Axel Munthe: Romano de San Michele el la Angla originalo tradukis: Jenny Weleminsky . 19 January 2021 . Google Books. Munthe. Axel. Axel Munthe. 1935.