Episode Details

Stefan Zweig was the most translated author in the world during the 1930s. When the Nazis rose to power, he lost his homeland, his audience, and his reason to live. He and his wife took their own lives in Brazil in 1942, leaving behind a farewell note of devastating calm.

This episode traces Zweig's rise as a literary celebrity in Vienna, his exile across three continents, and the despair that led to his final act, a story Wes Anderson later drew on for The Grand Budapest Hotel.

• How he became the most popular living author in the interwar period
• The loss of Austria and the psychological toll of permanent exile
• His friendship with Freud, Rilke, and Romain Rolland
• The connection between his memoir The World of Yesterday and Anderson's film