Wilhelm Speyer

Born in Berlin in 1887, Wilhelm Speyer became known as a German writer and screenwriter. His best-known work is Der Kampf der Tertia, a 1927 novel that later became a film, and his career also reached into cinema through scriptwriting.

Speyer was Jewish, and after the Nazis came to power he left Germany and went into exile. He eventually settled in Switzerland, where he continued his literary work.

He died in Basel in 1952. His life and career reflect both the popularity of German popular fiction in the interwar years and the deep disruption faced by writers driven from Germany in the 1930s.