Tuesday 16 February 2016

Franz Xaver Kappus (1883 - 1966)

Franz Xaver Kappus was born on 17th May 1883 in Timisoara, Hungary.  AWhen he was an aspiring poet and an Army cadet in the Austro-Hungarian Army, Kappus wrote to the poet Rainer Maria Rilke who wrote back to him.


Kappus served on the Eastern Front during WW1 and was wounded.   He married his nurse in Stuttgart.  In 1917, he edited the Belgrade News.   

Kappus edited Rilke’s letters to him about poetry, writing a book that was published in 1929.   
After fifteen years serving in the Army, Kappus worked as a newspaper editor and wrote poems, short stories, sketches and screen plays.  
After the Second World War, Kappus founded the Free Democratic Party in Berlin.  He died on 9th October 1966.