Manheim, Ralph F. (32977412): Difference between revisions

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|birth_date=4 April 1907

|death_date=26 September 1992

|birth_place=New York

|birth_place=New York City

|death_place=Cambridge, England

}}

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== Biography ==

~~Born April 4, 1907; died September 26, 1992 at the age of 85.~~ Manheim was born in New York to American parents of Lithuanian and German descent~~, and~~ graduated from Harvard in 1926.

Ralph Frederick Manheim was born on 4 April 1907 in New York City to American parents of Lithuanian and German descent. He graduated from Harvard in 1926, studied further at Yale and Columbia, and spent time in Vienna and Munich. He taught school in Connecticut and wrote under the WPA Federal Writers’ Project before turning to literary translation; his early wartime bibliography included an English ''Mein Kampf'' (1943) and Konrad Heiden’s Hitler biography.

~~For a time he was a schoolmaster in Connecticut~~, ~~and during the Roosevelt era began producing stories and articles~~ of his own, ~~helped by~~ the ~~Federal WPA writing project~~.

Drafted into the Army, Manheim trained at Camp Ritchie (Class 23) for prisoner-of-war interrogation but, by his own later account, was assigned instead to translating German documents—work that sharpened the military vocabulary he used after 1945.

~~His long bibliography of some 150 book translations begins ominously with Mein Kampf in 1943 and Konrad Heiden's biography of Hitler a year later, and when he was drafted into~~ the ~~army he was first sent to the intelligence training centre at Camp Ritchie to be made into a prisoner of~~ war ~~interrogator.~~

After the war Manheim became one of the leading translators from German (and French) into English, rendering Günter Grass, Brecht, Handke, Cassirer, and many others. He settled in Paris in 1951 and later in Cambridge, England, receiving a MacArthur Fellowship and the PEN translation medal. He died of cancer on 26 September 1992.

~~By his own account he was spared this unwelcome role in favour~~ of ~~translating German documents, and~~ the ~~command of military terms and expressions which this gave him would become useful after 1945. He was the outstanding literary translator~~ from German into English ~~since the second world war. Best known perhaps for his widely-read translations of Gunter~~ Grass, ~~starting with The Tin Drum for Kurt Wolff's New York firm Pantheon Books~~, ~~he worked for several leading belles-lettres~~, ~~academic and art book publishers on both sides of the Atlantic and also did some translating from the French (including Celine's novels~~ and ~~Proust's early letters)~~.

He ~~won~~ a ~~number of literary awards, culminating in the~~ MacArthur ~~fellowship~~ and the PEN medal ~~for translation, and was an internationally loved and respected figure~~.

He ~~thereafter studied at Yale and Columbia before going overseas to Vienna and Munich~~.

== Research notes ==

* 5th Army ?

* Normalized birth_place from “New York” to New York City. No military decoration is asserted.

== Technical record ==

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|}

== Timeline ==

* 4 April 1907 — Born in New York City.

* 1926 — Graduated from Harvard.

* 1943 — Published English translation of ''Mein Kampf''; drafted and trained at Camp Ritchie (Class 23).

* World War II — Assigned to German document translation rather than front-line interrogation.

* 1951 — Settled in Paris to translate full time.

* 1985 — After his third wife’s death, later settled in Cambridge, England.

* 26 September 1992 — Died in Cambridge, England.

</div>

</div><div style="clear: both;"></div>

== Sources ==

* ''The Guardian'', 29 September 1992 — John Willett, “Englishing the Germans from Hitler to Grass” (RB Archive ProQuest copy)

* Camp Ritchie Museum, Inc. (The Ritchie History Museum), Classes 1–31 roster data

* Dan Gross research spreadsheets, including original Excel timeline/roster work, combined with other research and records

@@ Line 24: / Line 24: @@
 |birth_date=4 April 1907
 |death_date=26 September 1992
-|birth_place=New York
+|birth_place=New York City
+|death_place=Cambridge, England
 }}
@@ Line 32: / Line 33: @@
 == Biography ==
-Born April 4, 1907; died September 26, 1992 at the age of 85. Manheim was born in New York to American parents of Lithuanian and German descent, and graduated from Harvard in 1926.
+Ralph Frederick Manheim was born on 4 April 1907 in New York City to American parents of Lithuanian and German descent. He graduated from Harvard in 1926, studied further at Yale and Columbia, and spent time in Vienna and Munich. He taught school in Connecticut and wrote under the WPA Federal Writers’ Project before turning to literary translation; his early wartime bibliography included an English ''Mein Kampf'' (1943) and Konrad Heiden’s Hitler biography.
-For a time he was a schoolmaster in Connecticut, and during the Roosevelt era began producing stories and articles of his own, helped by the Federal WPA writing project.
+Drafted into the Army, Manheim trained at Camp Ritchie (Class 23) for prisoner-of-war interrogation but, by his own later account, was assigned instead to translating German documents—work that sharpened the military vocabulary he used after 1945.
-His long bibliography of some 150 book translations begins ominously with Mein Kampf in 1943 and Konrad Heiden's biography of Hitler a year later, and when he was drafted into the army he was first sent to the intelligence training centre at Camp Ritchie to be made into a prisoner of war interrogator.
+After the war Manheim became one of the leading translators from German (and French) into English, rendering Günter Grass, Brecht, Handke, Cassirer, and many others. He settled in Paris in 1951 and later in Cambridge, England, receiving a MacArthur Fellowship and the PEN translation medal. He died of cancer on 26 September 1992.
-By his own account he was spared this unwelcome role in favour of translating German documents, and the command of military terms and expressions which this gave him would become useful after 1945. He was the outstanding literary translator from German into English since the second world war. Best known perhaps for his widely-read translations of Gunter Grass, starting with The Tin Drum for Kurt Wolff's New York firm Pantheon Books, he worked for several leading belles-lettres, academic and art book publishers on both sides of the Atlantic and also did some translating from the French (including Celine's novels and Proust's early letters).
-He won a number of literary awards, culminating in the MacArthur fellowship and the PEN medal for translation, and was an internationally loved and respected figure.
-He thereafter studied at Yale and Columbia before going overseas to Vienna and Munich.
 == Research notes ==
 * 5th Army ?
+* Normalized birth_place from “New York” to New York City. No military decoration is asserted.
 == Technical record ==
@@ Line 112: / Line 108: @@
 | row_source || both
 |}
+== Timeline ==
+<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed soldier-timeline">
+<div class="soldier-timeline-body">
+* 4 April 1907 — Born in New York City.
+* 1926 — Graduated from Harvard.
+* 1943 — Published English translation of ''Mein Kampf''; drafted and trained at Camp Ritchie (Class 23).
+* World War II — Assigned to German document translation rather than front-line interrogation.
+* 1951 — Settled in Paris to translate full time.
+* 1985 — After his third wife’s death, later settled in Cambridge, England.
+* 26 September 1992 — Died in Cambridge, England.
+</div>
+</div><div style="clear: both;"></div>
 == Sources ==
+* ''The Guardian'', 29 September 1992 — John Willett, “Englishing the Germans from Hitler to Grass” (RB Archive ProQuest copy)
 * Camp Ritchie Museum, Inc. (The Ritchie History Museum), Classes 1–31 roster data
 * Dan Gross research spreadsheets, including original Excel timeline/roster work, combined with other research and records