Ernst Schwarz (sinologist)


Ernst Schwarz was an Austrian sinologist and translator.

Life

Ernst Schwarz came from a Jewish merchant family from Vienna. His father, Desiderius Schwarz, and his mother, Bertha Schwarz had a shop in Mariahilfer Straße. He had a brother, and two sisters. He studied Egyptology and medicine at the University of Vienna. After the annexation of Austria to the German Reich in March 1938, he was forced to leave the country. He traveled to Shanghai by sea with his brother Egon. There he learned Chinese through self-study, while he worked as a physical education teacher. Occasionally he stayed in Buddhist monasteries. In 1945, he worked in Nanjing as a translator; in 1946–47 he taught English literature at the university there. From 1947 to 1950, he was secretary at the Austrian embassy in Nanjing. Subsequently, he worked again as a translator, this time for the Foreign Languages Press in Beijing. From 1958 to 1960, he taught English at the University of Hangzhou, however, due to political problems during the time of the Great Leap Forward, he was forced to leave the People's Republic of China.
After staying in Great Britain and Belgium, he finally arrived in the GDR. Between 1961 and 1970, he taught Chinese language and literature as a research assistant and later as a lecturer at the East Asian Institute of the Humboldt University in East Berlin. In 1965, he received a doctorate in philosophy. After he retired from the University, he worked as a freelance translator and held occasional lectures at the Diplomatic Academy in Vienna. Chancellor Bruno Kreisky arranged him a teaching position at the Diplomatic Academy. He was personally acquainted with Trade Minister Fritz Bock, a childhood friend, Foreign Minister Rudolf Kirchschläger, Science Minister Hertha Firnberg, Health Minister Ingrid Leodolter, Friedrich Hoess diplomat, and Chief Magistrate Josef Bandion, among others.
In 1993, he returned from Berlin to Vienna. In 1994, it came to light that he worked for the State Security Service of the GDR ; he admitted his espionage activities without publicly repenting it. He retired to Münichreith in the Waldviertel, Lower Austria, where he spent his latter years.
Ernst Schwarz was best known for his translations of classical poems and philosophical texts from Chinese, which proved to be very popular with the reading public and they set high standards concerning Tao Yuan-Ming, Confucius and Lao Tse in the German-speaking world.
His autobiography, Tausend Tore hat die Wahrheit,, published in Berlin in 2001, is no longer in print.
In 1981, Ernst Schwarz received the F.-C.-Weiskopf Prize and in 1992 the Golden Medal of Honour of Vienna
.
He is the father of actress Melan Schwarz aka Marijam Agischewa.

Selected works