KALMER, Josef (born Joseph Kalmus). Nehrybka, Galicia (now in Poland) 17.8.1898 — Vienna 9.7.1959. Austrian Poet. Born in a Jewish family, son of Max Kalmus, an estate manager. School in Przemyśl and Czernowitz (Černivci) and from 1915 Vienna, after matriculation served as voluntary in WW I. After war studied law and Chinese at Vienna, without degree, and began his literary career, also worked as journalist. After brief imprisonment by Gestapo escaped in 1938 to Czechoslovakia and 1939 to the U.K. After internment worked for Ministry of Education until 1951 (British citizen 1947), then returned to Austria. Married Erica Ehrenfest (1913–1987). He was a polyglot, beside Chinese he knew Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Marathi and numerous other languages.
Publications: Dschainendr Kumar, Tyagapatra oder Die Entsagung. Aus dem Hindi übers. von J. Kalmer. 75 p. Munich 1956.
– Other translations from European languages and from Chinese, own poetry.
Sources: R.D. Findeisen, “‘I am a Sinologist and an Expert…’ — The Translator Joseph Kalmer as a Propagator of New Literature”, SOS 10, 3011, 389-412; Wikipedia (more in German version).
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