The identity of B. Traven was a mystery in the literary world
for many years.
Commonly, he was said to have been born in in Chicago
and his full name was Bruno Traven. His early novels were
first published in Germany, in German but the lead characters
were often American and the setting Mexico. Once Knopf began
to publish him in the U.S., questions and speculation
increased and this reached a height when the wonderful
Humphrey Bogart starring version of THE TREASURE OF THE
SIERRA MADRE was produced in 1948.
The truth seems to be that Traven was born Otto Wienecke in
Schwiebus, Germany in 1882 which after the wars is now
Swiebodzin, Poland. His birth was illigitimate although he is
thought to be the son of Adolph Feige who married his mother
with a few months of his birth. Under this theory he was
raised Otto Feige and was apprenticed to a locksmith but
after service in the Army he dropped from view of his family.
He had become an actor under the name of Ret Marut at least
as early as 1907.
Not everyone accepts Otto Feige as B. Traven although the
family photographs are convincing and after Traven's death,
the brothers and sisters of Otto identified his photograph as
their brother.
There is no disagreement that the actor Ret Marut became B.
Traven. During World War I he published a newspaper that
criticised the war and the government. Although other
opposition newspapers were quickly shut down,
"The Brickburner" or Der Ziegelbrenner survived. Rumors began
that Marut was the illegitimate son of Kaiser Wilhelm II.
This is almost certainly untrue but, as is the case with
almost everything about Traven, it can't be completely
dismissed as the Crown Prince did have a hunting lodge near
where Traven was born and he was known to consort with
locals. For what it is worth, Traven does resemble Wilhelm
(about as much as he resembles Adolph Feige). Decades later,
even before he was identified as Ret Marut, Traven would say
it doesn't matter if I am a peasant or the son of the Crown
Prince, all that matters is my writing.
Marut was in Munich when the German government fell and
during the brief days of the Bavarian Republic in 1918 he
served in that government. When it fell he was sentenced to
death but managed to escape from captivity. From that point
he began to live the life of the stateless person trying to
make his way to safety without official documents. His anger
at passports and governments is reflected often in his
novels. There is a wonderful mugshot of him in British Home
Office records as he attempted to enter England in 1923
claiming to be an American. In those days Traven commonly
gave his birthplace as San Francisco. This was brilliant as
all San Francisco birth records were destroyed in the
earthquake and fire of 1906.
Eventually, Marut/Traven made his way to Mexico where he
first publicly surfaced as a photographer in an expedition to
Chiapas, Mexico, which became the location for many of his
stories.
Late in life he lived in the suburbs of Mexico City and was
confronted by various academics and now and then a reporter.
Even though the death sentence was a relic of the past, he
never revealed his secrets. I like that. I began reading
Traven as a teenager and was very aware that despite his
growing notoriety, he was still alive down in Mexico
maintaining his secrets. It was a sad day when I read his
obituary in the newspaper but while they had a picture of him
in the coffin they didn't really have HIM. As the German
magazine Der Stern noted in 1982, the only certain date in
his life is the date of his death.
I think he likely was Otto Feige but perhaps he was the
illegitimate son of the Kaiser. As he often said, what
matters are the stories.
Let me list two books with more information on Traven. Will
Wyatt was a BBC producer who first "solved" the mystery and
discovered the family of Otto Fiege. The documentary is out
there somewhere (I regret I've never seen it) and his book is
THE MAN WHO WAS B. TRAVEN in the U.K. edition and in the U.S.
THE SECRET OF THE SIERRA MADRE Doubleday 1980.
The second book is B. TRAVEN, THE LIFE BEHIND THE LEGENDS by
Karl S. Guthke published in the U.S. by Lawrence Hill Books
in 1991. This was a reprint of the original German edition
published in 1987. Guthke does not buy Wyatt's theory that
Traven was the peasant Otto Feige.
Whatever his background, he has given me as much enjoyment
over 40 plus years of reading as any author I can recall.
Don't expect the hard brightness of the polished artist.
Traven is the man on the other side of the campfire,
half-hidden by the moving shadows, who weaves a story that
draws you in until the rest of the world melts away.
Richard Moore
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