Walter Benjamin's Would-Be Rescuers
Walter Benjamin, a prominent intellectual, died by suicide in 1940 while attempting to escape Nazi-occupied France. Despite efforts from friends like Gershom Scholem and Bertolt Brecht to rescue him, Benjamin faced insurmountable challenges as a refugee. His death occurred just as the Spanish authorities reopened the border to refugees, highlighting the tragic timing of his fate.
- ▪Walter Benjamin died by suicide on September 26, 1940, while trying to flee to Spain.
- ▪He was a significant intellectual figure who became an isolated exile after Hitler's rise to power.
- ▪Friends Gershom Scholem and Bertolt Brecht attempted to help him escape but were ultimately unsuccessful.
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12 May 2026Walter Benjamin’s Would-Be RescuersEli ZaretskyShare on BlueskyShare on FacebookShareEmailPrint 6 To understand Walter Benjamin’s life, it is best to begin with his death. Attempting to flee Nazi-occupied France, he died by suicide on 26 September 1940, in the village of Portbou, Catalonia. Born into a wealthy Berlin family in 1892, he had been a prodigious intellectual force as a student, anti-war activist and journalist. After Hitler came to power in 1933, however, he became an impoverished and isolated exile in Paris, writing and researching at the Bibliothèque Nationale. His friend Gershom Scholem later wrote of him:He had nothing of the bohemian about him.
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Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at LRB Blog.
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