Jenny Weleminsky

{{Short description|Austrian translator and Esperantist (1882–1957)}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Jenny Weleminsky

| image = Jenny_Weleminsky_n%C3%A9e_Elbogen.jpg

| image_upright =

| alt =

| caption =

| birth_name = Jenny Elbogen

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1882|6|12|df=y}}

| birth_place = Schloss Thalheim, Lower Austria

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1957|02|04|1882|06|12|df=y}}

| death_place = London, England

| burial_place =

| burial_coordinates =

| nationality = Austrian

| education =

| alma_mater =

| occupation = Esperantist and translator

| movement = Budapeŝto skolo, the Budapest school of Esperanto literature

|known for = Translations of works by Franz Grillparzer and other Austrian writers

| spouse = Friedrich ("Fritz") Weleminsky

| children = Three daughters and one son

| father = Guido Elbogen

}}

File:Friedrich & Jenny Weleminsky.jpg c. 1905–1910]]

File:Thalheim Schloss01.jpg]]

File:Schloss Thalheim 05.jpg

File: Grillparzer.jpg (1791–1872) – pictured here in an 1841 lithograph by Josef Kriehuber – who was regarded as the national poet of Austria.]]

Jenny Weleminsky (née Elbogen; 12 June 1882 {{ndash}} 4 February 1957){{UK National Archives ID | id= C18356557 | name= Name: Jenny Weleminsky . Year of birth: 1882 . Case paper number: 6122B | access-date= 2024-02-25 }} Reference: HO 294/558/6122B. was a German-speaking Esperantist and translator who was born in Thalheim, Lower Austria, and brought up there and in Vienna. Some of her translations of works by Franz Grillparzer and other notable Austrian writers were published in the literary magazine Literatura Mondo (Literary World), which became home to an influential group of authors collectively known as Budapeŝto skolo, the Budapest school of Esperanto literature.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-Z_8CG9g2jIC&q=budapest+school+esperanto&pg=PA11|title=Concise Encyclopedia of the Original Literature of Esperanto: 1887–2007|publisher=Mondial|author=Sutton, Geoffrey |year=2008|location=New York|page=11|isbn=978-1-59569-090-6}}

Early life and education

Jenny Elbogen was born into a Jewish family on 12 June 1882 at Schloss Thalheim,Schloss Thalheim is in the village of Thalheim (Kapelln), today a part of Kapelln, Sankt Pölten-Land District; See :de:Liste der denkmalgeschützten Objekte in Kapelln#Denkmäler, Jakob Prandtauer. After restoration [http://www.schlossthalheim.at/en/historical-walls-history-manor-house.html it reopened in 2016 as a luxury hotel.] Lower Austria, the youngest child of Guido Elbogen, who became President of the Anglo-Austrian Bank in Vienna,{{Cite book |url=https://translate.google.co.uk/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=http://othes.univie.ac.at/730/1/06-13-2008_0109874.pdf&prev=search |id=10.4 Guido Elbogen |last=Kanner |first=Siegmund |title=Das Lotto in Österreich. Ein Beitrag zur Finanzgeschictite Österreichs (The Lotto in Austria, a contribution to the financial history of Austria) |publisher=Kaiser Wilhelm University of Strasbourg |year=1898 |location=Strasbourg |page=86}}{{Cite book |title=Nationale Konflikte und monetäre Einheit: ein Plädoyer für die Währungsunion |last1=Nagel|first1=Bernhard|last2=Nautz |first2=Jürgen P|publisher=Passagen Verlag |year=1999 |page=92 |language=German|location= Vienna}} and his wife Rosalie (Ali) (née Schwabacher), whom he married in 1868 in Paris. She had two sisters and a brother (Heinrich).

Jenny Elbogen was educated at home by a Miss Allen, a governess from Devon, England. She became sufficiently fluent in English to translate Axel Munthe's memoir The Story of San Michele from English to Esperanto for publication in 1935.

Political views

Politically she had very determinate and fixed views, many inherited from her father. Jenny Elbogen was an ardent Habsburg monarchist and wished to see the Habsburg heir, Otto von Habsburg, restored to the Austrian throne after the Second World War. However, she was also an internationalist, as demonstrated by her enthusiasm for Esperanto. She opposed the Zionist movement's call for the establishment of a homeland for the Jewish people and ceased all contact with two of her daughters after they left Austria to live in Mandatory Palestine.

Her father, Guido Elbogen, had donated money towards the construction of a new synagogue (built in 1913) in Sankt Pölten.{{Cite web |url=http://www.juden-in-st-poelten.at/english/synagogues-und-cemeteries/new-synagogue/new-synagogue.html |title=New synagogue: Donation list of the Temple-Construction-Association |publisher=Memorbuch: Juden in St Polten |location=St Polten, Lower Austria |access-date=31 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170831130204/http://www.juden-in-st-poelten.at/english/synagogues-und-cemeteries/new-synagogue/new-synagogue.html |archive-date=31 August 2017 |url-status=dead }}

Marriage and family life

After her father died in 1918 she inherited Schloss Thalheim; her father had bought it in 1882 just before she was born.{{Cite web |url=https://translate.google.co.uk/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=http://www.burgen-austria.com/archive.php%3Fid%3D616&prev=search |title=Thalheim |date=17 September 2005 |publisher=Burgen-Austria.com ("Castles in Austria")|access-date= 28 August 2017}} She lived there and in Prague{{cite book|title=Romano de San Michele|publisher=Eldonis: Literatura Mondo|location=Budapest (Association of Esperanto Book Friends (AELA))|author=Munthe, Axel |others=Translated from the original English text by Jenny Weleminsky|year=1935|title-link=The Story of San Michele}} (which until 1918 was part of Austria-Hungary) with her husband Friedrich ("Fritz") Weleminsky; they married at Schloss Thalheim on 4 December 1905. He was a lecturer in Hygiene (now called Microbiology) at the German University, Prague{{cite web|url= http://tuberculomucin.blogspot.co.uk/|title= Tuberculomucin – a forgotten treatment for tuberculosis|publisher=Carole Reeves|author= Reeves, Carole|date= 4 April 2012|access-date = 6 May 2024}} and developed tuberculomucin Weleminsky, a treatment for tuberculosis.{{cite journal|title=Beitrag zur Tuberkulosetherapie mit Tuberculomucin (Contribution to tuberculosis therapy with tuberculomucin)|author1=Zemmin, H |author2=Wille, K |journal=Beiträge zur Klinik der Tuberkulose und Spezifischen Tuberkulose-Forschung (Contributions to Clinical Tuberculosis and Tuberculosis {{ndash}} Specific Research)|date=October 1926|volume= 64|issue= 5–6|pages= 679 {{ndash}} 682|doi= 10.1007/BF02093958|s2cid=841950 |issn= 0341-2040}} The couple ran Schloss Thalheim as model dairy farm.

Facing Nazi persecution for being Jewish, they found sanctuary in 1939 in the United Kingdom where she continued to translate books into Esperanto, wrote poetry and taught English to other refugees.{{cite journal|url=http://www.ajr.org.uk/journalpdf/2011_July.pdf|title=My grandfather: A kind and modest man|author=Jones, Charlotte|journal=AJR Journal|date=July 2011|volume=11|issue=7|pages=5|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305014358/http://www.ajr.org.uk/journalpdf/2011_July.pdf|archive-date=5 March 2016|url-status=dead}}

After the Second World War and the death of her husband, Jenny Weleminsky spent several years in Vienna, returning eventually to London, where she died of breast cancer on 4 February 1957, aged 74.

She and her husband had four children together. Two of their daughters emigrated in the early 1930s to Mandatory Palestine where they took new names – Eliesabeth (born 1909) became Jardenah, and Dorothea (born 1912) was known as Leah. Their eldest daughter, Marianne (born 1906), and their son, AntonAnton was referred to as "Antonin" in official Czech documents. (born 1908), moved to Britain just before the Second World War.

Publications

=Translations from German=

==Novel==

Alexander Roda Roda, {{Cite journal |author=translated by Jenny Weleminsky |date=1936 |title=La ŝtona gasto |url=http://bibliotekoj.org/literaturamondo/PDF/1936/LM%201936-Jarkolektoc.pdf |journal=Literatura Mondo |pages= 91–95}}{{Cite web |url=http://egalite.hu/vinye/literaturamondoenhavo.pdf |title=Enhavlisto de Literatura Mondo |last=Meszaros |first=Istvan |publisher=egalite.hu |page=50 |access-date=25 August 2017}}

==Play==

Franz Grillparzer, translated by Jenny Weleminsky. Sappho: tragedio en kvin aktoj, Vienna

==Poetry==

Franz Grillparzer, translated by Jenny Weleminsky. Poemoj de Grillparzer (Poems of Grillparzer)
Franz Grillparzer, translated by Jenny Weleminsky. "La ora felo: drama poemo en tri partoj"
Franz Grillparzer, translated by Jenny Weleminsky. "La praavino: kvinakta tragedio", Vienna
Franz Grillparzer, translated by Jenny Weleminsky. "La sonĝo kiel vivo: drama fabelo en kvar aktoj", Vienna
Franz Grillparzer, translated by Jenny Weleminsky. "Hanibalo: fragmento el nefinita dramo", Vienna
Franz Grillparzer: "Respondo", {{Cite journal |author=translated by Jenny Weleminsky |date=1936 |title=Austriaj Poetoj |url=http://bibliotekoj.org/literaturamondo/PDF/1936/LM%201936-Jarkolektoc.pdf |journal=Literatura Mondo |pages= 94}}{{Cite web |url=http://egalite.hu/vinye/literaturamondoenhavo.pdf |title=Enhavlisto de Literatura Mondo |last=Meszaros |first=Istvan |publisher=egalite.hu |page= 51|access-date= 6 January 2018}}
Anastasius Grün: "La epitafo", translated {{Cite journal |last=by Jenny Weleminsky |date=1936 |title=Austriaj Poetoj |url=http://bibliotekoj.org/literaturamondo/PDF/1936/LM%201936-Jarkolektoc.pdf |journal=Literatura Mondo |page= 94 }}
Friedrich Halm: "Kio estas amo?", translated {{Cite journal |last=by Jenny Weleminsky |date=1936 |title=Austriaj Poetoj |url=http://bibliotekoj.org/literaturamondo/PDF/1936/LM%201936-Jarkolektoc.pdf |journal=Literatura Mondo |page= 94}}
Johann Gabriel Seidl: "La majstro kaj lia verko", translated {{Cite journal |last=by Jenny Weleminsky |date=1936 |title=Austriaj Poetoj |url=http://bibliotekoj.org/literaturamondo/PDF/1936/LM%201936-Jarkolektoc.pdf |journal=Literatura Mondo |page= 94}}

=Translations from English=

==Novel==

Axel Munthe: Romano de San Michele (The Story of San Michele), translated by Jenny Weleminsky. Literatura Mondo, Budapest, 1935, 511pp.{{Cite web |title=Axel Munthe: Romano de San Michele el la Angla originalo tradukis: Jenny Weleminsky |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PiM3ngEACAAJ |access-date=19 January 2021 |website=Google Books|last1 = Munthe|first1 = Axel|author-link= Axel Munthe|year = 1935}}