Peter Demant

{{short description|Soviet writer and essayist}} {{Infobox writer  | name = Peter Demant | image = | imagesize = 200px | alt = | caption = | pseudonym = Vernon Kress | birth_name = Peter Demant | birth_date = {{birth date|1918|8|22|df=y}} | birth_place = Innsbruck, County of Tyrol, Austria-Hungary | death_date = {{death date and age|2006|12|11|1918|8|22|df=y}} | death_place = Moscow, Russia | occupation = Novelist, short story writer, essayist | language = Russian | nationality = Austrian, Soviet, Russian | period = 1991–2006 | genre = | subject = | movement = | notableworks = "Zekameron of the 20th Century" ("Зекамерон XX века"), a memoir<br>“My First Life” ("Моя первая жизнь"), a memoir | spouse = Irina Veсhnaya | partner = | children = | signature = }}

'''Peter Demant''' (in Russian – Петр Зигмундович Демант) (literary pseudonym – Vernon Kress (in Russian – Вернон Кресс) (22 August 1918, Innsbruck, Austria – 11 December 2006, Moscow, Russia) was a Russian writer and public figure.

== Family ==

Peter Demant was born to an assimilated Jewish family.<ref>[http://www.referate-archiv.at/fach-deutsch/2-deutsch-referat/11-buchbesprechung-deutsch-joseph-roth-radetzkymarsch.html Joseph Roth "Radetzkymarsch": "der jüdische Regimentsarzt Dr.Demant"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120402133728/http://www.referate-archiv.at/fach-deutsch/2-deutsch-referat/11-buchbesprechung-deutsch-joseph-roth-radetzkymarsch.html |date=April 2, 2012 }}. Referate-archiv.at. Retrieved on January 24, 2012.</ref><ref>[http://www.artikel32.com/deutsch/1/paraphrase.php Der jüdische Regimentsarzt Dr. Demant] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111110220801/http://artikel32.com/deutsch/1/paraphrase.php |date=2011-11-10 }}. Artikel32.com. Retrieved on January 24, 2012.</ref> His mother, Paula Schweizer-Demant (1896–1941) in her youth was a famous writer Peter Altenberg's intimate friend.<ref>As it is evident from the correspondence between Peter Altenberg and Paula Schweizer ([http://www.literaturhaus.at/index.php?id=4181 Ricarda Dick: Peter Altenbergs Bildwelt] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120320164248/http://www.literaturhaus.at/index.php?id=4181 |date=2012-03-20 }})</ref> Peter Altenberg dedicated two books to her: "Nachfechsung" (1916) and "Vita ipsa" (1917).<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=3I1vi41k2CQC&dq=paula+demant-Schweitzer&pg=RA1-PA306 Briefe an Sidonie Nádherný von Borutin, 1913–1936, Volume 2 (стр. 306)]. Books.google.com. Retrieved on January 24, 2012.</ref><ref>[http://www.zeno.org/Literatur/M/Altenberg,+Peter/Biographie Biography of Peter Altenberg]. Zeno.org. Retrieved on January 24, 2012.</ref><ref>[http://orawww.uibk.ac.at/apex/uprod/f?p=LLW:4:0::::P4_ID:1296 Peter Altenberg]. Orawww.uibk.ac.at. Retrieved on January 24, 2012.</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=Fw55Ok_NreUC&dq=paula+demant&pg=PA911 Peter Sprengel "Geschichte der deutschen Literatur" (стр. 252)]. Books.google.com. Retrieved on January 24, 2012.</ref> Yet in 1917 she married a doctor and a career military officer in the Austro-Hungarian (later – Austrian) army, Siegmund Demant (1887–1942), and moved to Innsbruck, Austria, and later to Natters. Zigmund Demant was born in Ternopil (now in Ukraine) to a family of a local lawyer, Moritz Demant, who moved to Czernowitz [http://home.arcor.de/mlelgemann/Cz1898Total.xls not later than 1898]{{dead link|date=March 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, and was working there as a financial adviser ([http://home.arcor.de/mlelgemann/Cz1909Total.xls Oberrechnungsrat]{{dead link|date=March 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}). Zigmund Demant was studying in Czernowitz, Bukovina (currently Ukraine,<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=-6sUAAAAYAAJ&dq=moritz+demant+czernowitz&pg=PA54 List of Czernowitz Gymnasium students in 1903 ("Siegmund Demant, 18 years old, from Ternopil" – p. 54)]. Books.google.com (January 29, 2008). Retrieved on January 24, 2012.</ref> and in the Vienna university from 1914. He appeared in a novel "Radetzky March" by Joseph Roth (1932).<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20160202004707/http://leobaeck.oxfordjournals.org/content/48/1/348.extract Participation in Cultural and Public Life. Leo Baeck Institute Yearbook (2003) 48 (1): 348—376]. Leobaeck.oxfordjournals.org (January 1, 2003). Retrieved on January 24, 2012.</ref><ref>[http://lithes.uni-graz.at/lithes/beitraege10_03/kuzmics.pdf Emotionen und Habitus von Offizieren im Spiegelbild schöner Literatur] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120402135227/http://lithes.uni-graz.at/lithes/beitraege10_03/kuzmics.pdf |date=2012-04-02 }}. (PDF) . Retrieved on January 24, 2012.</ref><ref>Ingrid Kästner: "Der Regimentsarzt Dr. Demant in Joseph Roths "Radetzkymarsch"". Das Bild des jüdischen Arztes in der Literatur. Hg. v. Albrecht Scholz u.a. Frankfurt/Main 2002, S. 92—101</ref> His sister, Charlotte Eisler-Demant (1894–1970) was married to a composer Hanns Eisler. Demants were leading bohemian lifestyle. Their close friend was ballerina Grete Wiesenthal.<ref>[http://webapp.uibk.ac.at/alo_cat/card.jsp?id=4032981 Paula Demant and Grete Wiesenthal (picture)]. Webapp.uibk.ac.at. Retrieved on January 24, 2012.</ref> In 1919 Demants settled in Czernowitz in the Greater Romania by then.

== Biography == Peter Demant spent his childhood and youth in Czernowitz. He studied at a German secondary school, then at the Universities of Brno, Czechoslovakia, and Aachen, Germany. In 1939, when North Bukovina became part of the Soviet Union, he worked at the local museum of Natural History.

On 13 June 1941 he was arrested by the NKVD and on 18 June he was exiled to Siberia<ref>[http://gazeta-bukovyna.cv.ua/main/10.06.2008/index213.htm First life by Peter Demant (Ukrainian:Перше життя Петера Деманта)]{{dead link|date=January 2012}}</ref><ref>[http://www.hartung-gorre.de/margit_russ.htm "Czernowitz – Siberia – Israel" by Margit Bartfeld-Feller (Маргит Бартфельд-Феллер "Черновцы—Сибирь—Израиль")]. Hartung-gorre.de (September 21, 2005). Retrieved on January 24, 2012.</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://y-chorney.vkursi.com/2374.html|title = "Моєю єдиною батьківщиною залишається Czernowitz" (частина 1) / Блоґ: Юрій Чорней / ВКурсі.ком}}</ref> along with his family, which perished on the way: mother Paula and his mother's second husband Arthur. Later, during the German occupation his father Dr. Siegmund Demant, his new wife, Gisela, and an infant daughter, Gerda, perished in a Nazi concentration camp in Transnistria, too.<ref>[http://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/bukowinabook/buk2_219.html List of the Jews from Bukowina who perished in Transnistria]. Jewishgen.org (December 24, 2011). Retrieved on January 24, 2012.</ref><ref>[http://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/bukowinabook/buk2_075b.html History of Bukowina Jews]. Jewishgen.org. Retrieved on January 24, 2012.</ref><ref>[http://www.yadvashem.org/wps/portal/!ut/p/_s.7_0_A/7_0_FL/.cmd/acd/.ar/sa.portlet.FromDetailsSubmitAction/.c/6_0_9D/.ce/7_0_V9/.p/5_0_P1/.d/4?related_key=&DTsearchQuery=&todo=2&images=%5B%2Fleading_folder%2Fromania_new.jpg%5D&imagedescs=%5B%2Fleading_folder%2Fromania_new.jpg%5D&itemid=5131300&q1=DfN5DutTWng%3D&q2=UvGQWsB7QsXIbjNffTOowh8CTwvQb1bA&q3=okouBZ0m6hU%3D&q4=okouBZ0m6hU%3D&q5=jmImiwn1bsw%3D&q6=VG0ZiniCfaE%3D&q7=UTh1RFbCh9Ax4Vj4xo5K2KUVFeFEZqyN&npage=&zoomdesc=&victim_details_name=+Demant+Sigmund&fromSearch=yes&victim_details_id=5131300&imagenum=0&searchfor=7#7_0_V9 "The Yad Vashem Museum" in Jerusalem]: personal card of Zigmund Demant.</ref><ref>[http://www.yadvashem.org/wps/portal/!ut/p/_s.7_0_A/7_0_FL/.cmd/acd/.ar/sa.portlet.VictimDetailsSubmitAction/.c/6_0_9D/.ce/7_0_V9/.p/5_0_P1/.d/3?victim_details_id=5131300&victim_details_name=Demant+Sigmund&q1=DfN5DutTWng%3D&q2=UvGQWsB7QsXIbjNffTOowh8CTwvQb1bA&q3=okouBZ0m6hU%3D&q4=okouBZ0m6hU%3D&q5=jmImiwn1bsw%3D&q6=VG0ZiniCfaE%3D&q7=UTh1RFbCh9Ax4Vj4xo5K2KUVFeFEZqyN&frm1_npage=4#7_0_V9 Site of "The Yad Vashem Museum"]: List of Jews who perished in Transnistr concentration camps (in Romanian); [http://www.yadvashem.org/wps/portal/!ut/p/_s.7_0_A/7_0_FL/.cmd/acd/.ar/sa.portlet.MultipleSearchPageSubmitAction/.c/6_0_9D/.ce/7_0_V9/.p/5_0_P1/.d/2?q1=DfN5DutTWng%3D&q2=UvGQWsB7QsXIbjNffTOowh8CTwvQb1bA&q3=okouBZ0m6hU%3D&q4=okouBZ0m6hU%3D&q5=jmImiwn1bsw%3D&q6=VG0ZiniCfaE%3D&q7=UTh1RFbCh9Ax4Vj4xo5K2KUVFeFEZqyN&npage=4#7_0_V9 in the same list] is his wife Gisela and his daughter Gerda.</ref> On the way to Siberia Peter Demant escaped, but was caught 5 months later, accused of spying for Austria, and sentenced to 10 years in a hard labor camp, plus additional 5 years of exile.

Although being freed in 1953 on an amnesty, the KGB made him work as a loader in the seaport of Magadan in the vicinity of Siberian peninsula Kamchatka, for 23 years. Peter possessed two University degrees, knew several languages, and had technical skills that were at the time scarce in that region, but the KGB did not factor these facts into their decision. While staying in Siberia Peter kept a Post Restante address and was in touch with his sister Erni-Zita Rauchwerger in Israel and with many of his friends who supplied him with the latest books, musical records and news of the world and family. Eventually Peter was allowed to return to European portion of the Soviet Union, to the Crimean region.

Peter then married Irina Vechnaya, and therefore was able to leave Crimea for Moscow, where his wife resided. All the charges against him were dropped in 1991, and he was able to travel abroad. He traveled throughout the world – Far East, Africa, Middle East, he repeatedly visited surviving members of his family – his sister Erni-Zita in Ramat Gan, Israel, and his niece – Erni's daughter, Dr. Tamar Erika Ben-Ami in the United States.

Peter Demant was named an honorable member of the Russian society “Memorial,” dedicated to recording and publicizing Soviet Union’s totalitarian past and human rights abuses.

== Literary works ==

* “Aunt Sarah’s Mirror” ("Зеркало тети Сары"), a novel * “Montana’s Gold” ("Золото Монтаны"), a novel * “In Passing” ("Мимоходом"), a memoir * “My First Life” ("Моя первая жизнь"), a memoir * “My Three Steamships” ("Мои три парохода"), a memoir * "Zekameron of the 20th Century" ("Зекамерон XX века"), a memoir * Short story and essay collections: “Idol” ("Идол"), “Terekhov’s Career” ("Карьера Терехова"), “Siberian Mirages” ("Сибирские миражи")

== References == {{Reflist|colwidth=30em}}

==External links== * [http://www.gulag.memorial.de/person.php?pers=117 Peter Demant] (in German) * [http://www.rg.ru/2007/01/10/kress.html "Even in Hell you still could be a human being" by Lidia Grafova] (in Russian) * [https://archive.today/20130419082120/http://www.zn.ua/articles/54772%23article "Peter Demant, romantic from Gulag" by Youry Chorney] (in Russian) * {{cite news|url=http://h.ua/story/90485/|title=Черновцы спасли ему жизнь…|author=Егор Соколов|newspaper=Хайвей|date=24 March 2008|accessdate=July 27, 2011|archive-date=5 May 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120505020138/http://h.ua/story/90485/|url-status=dead}} (in Russian) * {{citation|author=Андрей Василевский|title=Вернон Кресс. Зекамерон XX века. Роман|url=http://magazines.russ.ru/novyi_mi/1994/1/oknig02.html|work=Новый мир|year=1994}} (in Russian) * [http://www.umoloda.kiev.ua/regions/71/219/0/41092/ Ірина Вишневська "Подарунок за заповітом"] (in Ukrainian)

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Demant, Peter}} Category:1918 births Category:2006 deaths Category:Writers from Chernivtsi Category:People from the County of Tyrol Category:Jewish Austrian writers Category:Soviet Jews Category:Soviet writers Category:Russian male essayists Category:Russian male novelists Category:Russian male short story writers Category:Gulag detainees Category:Soviet novelists Category:20th-century Russian short story writers Category:20th-century Russian essayists Category:Soviet male writers