Walter Benjamin

Walter Bendix Schönflies Benjamin (German: Walter Bendix Schönflies Benjamin, July 15, 1892 - September 26, 1940) was a German Ashkenazi Jewish philosopher, cultural critic and essayist. His thoughts and doctrines combined elements of German idealism, romanticism, Western Marxism, and Jewish mysticism. He made lasting and influential contributions to aesthetic theory, literary criticism, and historical materialism. He was considered a thought leader in the field of cultural studies at the time. His thinking and writing were influenced by his association with the Frankfurt School, especially his friendship with Theodor Adorno. He also maintained friendships with thinkers such as the playwright Bertolt Brecht and the kabbalist Gershom Scholem. He was related by marriage to the political theorist and philosopher Hannah Arendt through her marriage to his cousin Günter Anders. His most famous works include the essays "Artistic Works in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction" and "Theses on the Philosophy of History". His major work as a literary critic includes articles on Baudelaire, Goethe, Kafka, Kraus, Leskov, Proust, Walser, and translation theory. He also translated French works, Charles Baudelaire's "Les Fleurs du Evil" and Marcel Proust's "In Search of Lost Time" into German. He was a native of Berlin. After completing his studies, he returned to Berlin to work as a freelance writer because he was unable to hold the teaching position at the University of Frankfurt that he wanted. During this period, he also went to live in the Soviet Union and France. In 1933, he fled to Paris as a secular Jew to escape the Nazi German government. In 1940, when the German Wehrmacht attacked France, he committed suicide near the Spanish border town of Porvoo while trying to escape.