author

Frederic Reitlinger

A French lawyer, public figure, and memoirist, he wrote from close experience of the upheavals of 1870. His work combines firsthand drama with the eye of someone deeply engaged in law, politics, and public life.

1 Audiobook

A Diplomat's Memoir of 1870 being the account of a balloon escape from the siege of Paris and a political mission to London and Vienna

A Diplomat's Memoir of 1870 being the account of a balloon escape from the siege of Paris and a political mission to London and Vienna

by Frederic Reitlinger

About the author

Born in Ichenhausen, Bavaria, on June 18, 1836, Frédéric Reitlinger later built his career in France. Reference sources identify him as a French jurist, and the Bibliothèque nationale de France lists him as an author born in 1836 and dead in 1907. He studied law in Munich and Heidelberg, and an early encyclopedia entry also notes earlier Talmudic study under Abraham Geiger.

Reitlinger gained recognition as a lawyer and became known for writing on cooperative societies in Germany and France. Contemporary and library records connect him with works on social and legal questions as well as with A Diplomat's Memoir of 1870, the book for which many readers know him today.

That memoir stands out because it draws on direct involvement in the crisis of the Franco-Prussian War. Published in English through a translation by his nephew Henry Reitlinger, it presents Reitlinger's account of a balloon escape from besieged Paris and a political mission to London and Vienna, giving his writing both historical value and real narrative energy.