Viola Herms Drath

Drath was born in Düsseldorf, Germany, on February 8, 1920.{{cite news |title=Profile of dead Washington socialite Viola Drath |first=Josh |last=White |author-link=Josh White (journalist) |date=January 1, 2012 |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/profile-of-dead-washington-socialite-viola-drath/2011/12/06/gIQAmYQrUP_story.html |access-date=January 16, 2014 |url-access=subscription |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210114100414/https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/profile-of-dead-washington-socialite-viola-drath/2011/12/06/gIQAmYQrUP_story.html |archive-date=2021-01-14 |url-status=live}} She is reported to have learned English from vacations and boarding school in Scotland. In 1946, during her time working in Munich, Drath met U.S. Army Lt. Col. Francis S. Drath while visiting Lake Constance in Switzerland; he was, at the time, the deputy military governor of Bavaria. Within the year, the couple were married and had moved to Lincoln, Nebraska, his hometown. The Draths had two children together, daughters Connie (born 1948) and Francesca (born 1952).

In 1946, in Germany, she was a playwright, with one of her early productions, Farewell Isabell,{{cite book | title=Location of copy of Farewell Isabell | publisher=WorldCat |oclc = 73447158}} staged in Straubing's Municipal Theater{{cite news |title=Viola Drath's Cultural Legacy: A Look at the Works of a Murdered D.C. Writer |first=Megan |last=Arellano |date=August 25, 2011 |work=Washington City Paper |url=http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/artsdesk/books/2011/08/25/viola-draths-cultural-legacy-a-look-at-the-works-of-a-murdered-d-c-writer/ |access-date=January 16, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201025053614/https://washingtoncitypaper.com/article/423666/viola-draths-cultural-legacy-a-look-at-the-works-of-a-murdered-d-c-writer/ |archive-date=2020-10-25 |url-status=live}} and in Munich.

During the post-World War II period, Drath worked as a German interpreter in Munich, in the office of her soon-to-be husband, who was the deputy military governor of Bavaria.

After moving to Lincoln, Nebraska, with her first husband, she attended the University of Nebraska, where she studied for an advanced degree in literature and philosophy.{{cite news |title=Viola Drath's Cultural Legacy: A Look at the Works of a Murdered D.C. Writer |first=Megan |last=Arellano |date=August 25, 2011 |work=Washington City Paper |url=http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/artsdesk/books/2011/08/25/viola-draths-cultural-legacy-a-look-at-the-works-of-a-murdered-d-c-writer/ |access-date=January 16, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201025053614/https://washingtoncitypaper.com/article/423666/viola-draths-cultural-legacy-a-look-at-the-works-of-a-murdered-d-c-writer/ |archive-date=2020-10-25 |url-status=live}} While in Nebraska, she was an editor of Die Weltpost in Omaha, commentator for KUON-TV, and correspondent for the National Observer. Later she was an American correspondent for the German magazine Madame.

In 1968, Drath became a political correspondent for the German newspaper Handelsblatt.{{cite news |title=D.C. police rule death of former Washington Times columnist a homicide |first=Joseph |last=Weber |work=The Washington Times |date=August 14, 2011 |url=http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/aug/14/dc-police-rule-death-former-washington-times-colum/ |access-date=January 16, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110815034924/https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/aug/14/dc-police-rule-death-former-washington-times-colum/ |archive-date=2011-08-15 |url-status=live}} During this time, Drath and her first husband moved to Washington, DC, where Col. Drath was a legislative liaison with the Selective Service. They bought a house at 3206 Q Street, Northwest, in the Georgetown district in northwest Washington, D.C.

Sonia Adler hired Drath to write for the Washington Dossier, where she wrote about "political gossip, lifestyle advice, and culture, explored a diverse cross-section of the city's fine-art world.

As a member of the executive committee of the National Committee on American Foreign Policy, she was described as a "notable figure in German-American relations for over thirty years."{{Citation needed|date=April 2021}} Her 1988 article for the National Committee, The Reemergence of the German Question, proposed negotiations on German unification between the two German states and the four Allied Powers.{{Citation needed|date=April 2023}}

Drath was a foreign policy adviser during the 1988 Bush campaign{{Citation needed|date=April 2023}} , where she helped "lay the groundwork which led to the "2+4" process towards German unification in 1990".{{Citation needed|date=April 2023}} In 1989, Drath met President George H. W. Bush.{{Citation needed|date=April 2023}}

During her life, she authored eight textbooks read in over 150 colleges and universities.{{Citation needed|date=April 2023}} She taught at American University{{Citation needed|date=April 2023}} and lectured at the University of Southern California.{{Citation needed|date=April 2023}} Her articles and commentaries were published in American Foreign Policy Interests, The Washington Times, Commentary, Businessweek,{{Citation needed|date=April 2023}} The Chicago Tribune, Strategic Review,{{Citation needed|date=April 2023}} The National Observer, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Das Parlament, and Der Spiegel.{{Citation needed|date=April 2023}}

She was a member of the White House Commission on Remembrance,{{Citation needed|date=April 2023}} co-chair of the Berlin Air Lift Diamond Jubilee Committee,{{Citation needed|date=April 2023}} coordinator of the International Consultative Mechanism on Remembrance,{{Citation needed|date=April 2023}} and National Coordinator of National Observance to Mark Iraq Liberation Day.{{Citation needed|date=April 2023}}

During Drath's life, she was:

• Advisor and member of the Delegation of the Republic of Cyprus to the First Committee, 51st United Nations General Assembly,{{Citation needed|date=April 2023}}
• Advisor, Member of the Delegation of the Republic of Cyprus to the 2001 UN Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons, in All Its Aspects,{{Citation needed|date=April 2023}}
• Advisor, Member of the Delegation of the Republic of Cyprus to the 2006 Conference to Review Implementation of the 2001 Programme of Action to Eradicate the Illicit Proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons, in All Its Aspects,{{Citation needed|date=April 2023}}
• Observer, Bamako Convocation of the Eminent Persons Group in Bamako, Mali,{{Citation needed|date=April 2023}}
• Special Advisor, Delegation of the United States to the 17th Organization of America States General Assembly,{{Citation needed|date=April 2023}}
• Observer, 4th United Nations Meeting of the International Commission on Verification and Security,{{Citation needed|date=April 2023}} and
• Observer, Esquipulas II.{{Citation needed|date=April 2023}}

Drath's first husband, Francis Drath, died on January 11, 1986. In the early 1980s, Viola met Albrecht Gero Muth, 44 years her junior, then an unpaid intern from Germany.

Four years after the death of her husband, Drath, then 70 years old, married the 26-year-old Muth.{{cite news |title=Albrecht Muth, 49, convicted of murder in death of socialite wife Viola Drath, 91 |first=Keith L. |last=Alexander |date=January 16, 2014 |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/crime/muth-found-guilty-of-murder-in-death-of-socialite-wife/2014/01/16/5a942d9e-7ecd-11e3-93c1-0e888170b723_story.html |access-date=January 16, 2014 |url-access=subscription |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140117150121/https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/crime/muth-found-guilty-of-murder-in-death-of-socialite-wife/2014/01/16/5a942d9e-7ecd-11e3-93c1-0e888170b723_story.html |archive-date=2014-01-17 |url-status=live}} The April 1990 marriage was performed by a Virginia Supreme Court judge.

After their marriage, Muth fabricated a story that an elderly German Count had fallen from an elephant in India and needed to appoint a successor before dying—from that point forward, Muth insisted on being called Count Albrecht. Following the 2003 completion of the Iraq War, Muth suddenly adopted the rank, and wore the uniform, of a brigadier general in the Iraqi Army, organizing diplomatic events in DC that he claimed were for the new Iraqi regime. In April 2011, Muth somehow arranged a ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery to honor fallen American soldiers in Iraq, supposedly on behalf of the Iraqi regime.

Early in the marriage, Muth started a pattern of domestic violence against Drath, inducing repeated police visits to the Q Street home. On August 11, 2011, Drath was found dead in the bathroom of her Q Street home. Muth was held at St. Elizabeths Hospital, where he was initially found incompetent to stand trial after being diagnosed with schizotypal personality disorder and a delusional disorder.{{cite news |title=Viola Drath murder case judge intent on October trial for Albrecht Muth |first=Mihir |last=Zaveri |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=June 21, 2012 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/crime/viola-drath-murder-case-judge-intent-on-october-trial-for-albrecht-muth/2012/06/21/gJQA1VnCtV_story.html

|access-date=November 2, 2022 |url-access=subscription}} In a report submitted to the court, forensic psychologist Mitchell Hugonnet concluded that Muth had narcissistic personality disorder but was not mentally ill.{{cite magazine |title=Two Court-Appointed Experts Say Albrecht Muth Is Competent to Stand Trial for Murder |first=Carol |last=Ross Joynt |magazine=Washingtonian |date=September 4, 2012 |url=https://www.washingtonian.com/2012/09/04/two-court-appointed-experts-say-albrecht-muth-is-competent-to-stand-trial-for-murder/ |access-date=November 2, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210419042359/https://www.washingtonian.com/2012/09/04/two-court-appointed-experts-say-albrecht-muth-is-competent-to-stand-trial-for-murder/ |archive-date=2021-04-19}} In 2014, Muth was convicted of murdering his wife and was sentenced to 50 years in prison.{{Cite news |title=Albrecht Muth sentenced to 50 years in 2011 slaying of his socialite wife, Viola Drath |first=Keith L. |last=Alexander |date=2014-04-30 |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/crime/albrecht-muth-sentence-to-50-years-in-2011-slaying-of-georgetown-wife-viola-drath/2014/04/30/2c358b1e-d06c-11e3-b812-0c92213941f4_story.html |access-date= |url-access=subscription |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140430172921/https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/crime/albrecht-muth-sentence-to-50-years-in-2011-slaying-of-georgetown-wife-viola-drath/2014/04/30/2c358b1e-d06c-11e3-b812-0c92213941f4_story.html |archive-date=2014-04-30 |url-status=live}} Judge Russell F. Canan's remarks before sentencing described Muth as "a common serial domestic violence abuser, made worse when he drinks, who subjected Ms. Drath to many years of abuse."

Author Warren Adler acknowledged Drath in his novel The War of the Roses.

In 2015, it was announced that Christoph Waltz would direct and star in the film The Worst Marriage in Georgetown (retitled Georgetown before its release), based on the true crime story of the murder of Viola Drath.{{cite news |title=Actor Christoph Waltz will direct and star in 'The Worst Marriage in Georgetown' |first=Helena |last=Andrews-Dyer |date=May 6, 2015 |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/reliable-source/wp/2015/05/06/actor-christoph-waltz-will-direct-and-star-in-the-worst-marriage-in-georgetown/ |access-date=May 7, 2015 |url-access=subscription |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151013120744/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/reliable-source/wp/2015/05/06/actor-christoph-waltz-will-direct-and-star-in-the-worst-marriage-in-georgetown/ |archive-date=2015-10-13 |url-status=live}} The film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 27, 2019, and was released theatrically in the United States on May 14, 2021.

• William J. Flynn Initiative for Peace Award from the National Committee on American Foreign Policy (2005) for promoting German reunification
• Recipient of the Iraqi Minister of Defense Commendation Medal{{Citation needed|date=April 2023}}
• Honorary Member, Berlin Air Lift Veterans Association {{Citation needed|date=April 2023}}
• ranking among the 700 Great Nebraskans {{Citation needed|date=April 2023}}
• inducted into the Nebraska Journalism Hall of Fame {{Citation needed|date=April 2023}}
• Honorable Mention for Writing by the Association of American University Women {{Citation needed|date=April 2023}}
• Honorary Citizen of Dallas, Texas {{Citation needed|date=April 2023}}

• A Thoroughly Muddled Marriage: Report of an Inmate, an unpublished and previously undisclosed memoir
• The German State in Historical Perspective, Germany in World Politics by Viola Herms Drath (ed.), New York, 1979
• Willy Brandt: Prisoner Of His Past by Viola Helms Drath (which Dr. Henry A. Kissinger said was "a must read for those interested in fully appreciating an important statesman both within his own times and beyond.")
• Farewell Isabell, a comedy play
• No Reliance upon a Woman?, a comedy play
• Toward a New Atlanticism, (article in the Washington Times)
• Time to Reinvent the Alliance, (article in the Washington Times)
• Engagement and Provocation, (published by Macmillan)
• What do the Germans Want?, (published by Macmillan)
• Reporter in Deutschland, a reader for beginners{{cite book | title=bib item 1 | publisher=WorldCat |oclc = 4387313}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Drath, Viola Herms}}

Category:1920 births

Category:2011 deaths

Category:American women dramatists and playwrights

Category:German women dramatists and playwrights

Category:Writers from Washington, D.C.

Category:People from Düsseldorf

Category:Emigrants from Allied-occupied Germany to the United States

Category:University of Nebraska alumni

Category:People murdered in Washington, D.C.

Category:American socialites

Category:20th-century American dramatists and playwrights

Category:20th-century American women writers

Category:20th-century German dramatists and playwrights

Category:German people murdered abroad

Category:20th-century German women

Category:21st-century American women

Category:Women in Washington, D.C.