B. Traven

Hi all,

I'm not sure how coherent my telling of B. Traven's story was (it's a fairly incoherent story to begin with) so I'm posting some of my (possibly incoherent) notes.

If you're interested, you should also check out this supremely coherent BBC documentary from 1978. It's about an hour long, but pretty fascinating.

http://www.brightcove.tv/title.jsp?title=1119131104&channel=219646953

Speculations on Traven’s identity:

• Jack London, writer
• Ambrose Bierce, writer, disappeared 1914
• An African Slave
• An American Millionaire
• Arthur Cravan, boxer
• Illegitimate son of Kaiser Wilhelm II
• Adolfo Lopez Mateos, former President of Mexico.
• Plutarco Elías Calles, former President of Mexico

Aliases (almost all untraceable in public records):

Traven

• Publication of his work began in Germany in 1925 and dried up around 1939

Hal Croves

• Traced in Mexico from 1925, but really surface in early 40s
• Claimed to be Traven’s “agent”
• Sat in on the filming of “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre”
• Editions of Travens books were tampered with during Croves’ “era,” references to Germany and the past were excised, there were also new stories and a novel that were not well regarded
• Died in Mexico City, 1969
• Proved to be the same man as Torsvan

Torsvan

• Found by a Mexican reporter, who broke into a security deposit box and found documents addressed to both Traven Torsvan and Martinez
• Reporter befriended Torzvan
• Ran a roadside café

Martinez

• Proved to be the same man as Torsvan

Two Mexican Men

• Croves denied being Traven, said Traven didn’t even exist, that the work was the product of two men: one Mexican man had the experiences, the other wrote them down (if the writer died in 1939, the quality of the books would decline).

Ret Marut

• A German anarchist thought he recognized Traven’s voice as that of his old comrade
• A real, historical figure
• An actor first heard of in Germany in 1907 (bit parts)
• In Munich, editor of Der Ziegelbrenner (the brick maker), an anarchist newsletter during first world war—magazine was the size, shape and color of a brick
• “I shall at all times prefer to be pissed on by dogs, than to be pissed on by readers of Der Ziegelbrenner, with letters that attempt to sniff out holes in my garment in order to pin me down.”
• “No visiting allowed. There is never anybody home. We have no telephone.”
• Insisted on anonymity
• Croves denied he was Ret Marut, as did his wife, at first
• Member of Revolutionary Workers Soviet organization, which was crushed by authorities
• Under sentence of death, may have gone to Mexico “thereby, I cease to exist”
• 1923-1924, known to be in London (CIA, FBI, State Dept, British Home Office) arrested because he had no papers
• Photographs of Marut match those of Croves and Torsvan
• If he could prove he was American, he could escape death in Germany
• Worked passage to Mexico as a fireman (hero of “The Death Ship” was a fireman too)
• Couldn’t have got to Mexico until 1924—how did he earn a living and absorb enough culture to write “The Cotton Pickers” and send it to Germany in 1925?
• Many scholars think he couldn’t have written the books in time…believe Traven must have lived in Mexico for at least 10 years
• But if the product of two men, the problem would be resolved (did an American write the original manuscripts? No evidence)
• Still not German. Identiy card claimed he was born in San Francisco in 1882 (all records destroyed in 1906 fire and earthquake)
• Claimed his father’s name was William Marut
• Others think he was the Son of Kaiser Wilhelm II (looked very much like him and the Der Ziegelbrenner was sometimes oddly sympathetic to the Kaiser)

Herman Albert Otto Maximilian Feige

• The "real" Traven, according to the BBC documentary
  
• Found birth record in town hall, and birth certificate in Swiebodzin Poland
• Told police this name, address, parents, and parent’s occupations in 1923
• Could Traven have stolen this identity? Used “Wienecke” as an alias (maiden name of the mother) and knew specifics about the mother’s occupation; father made bricks (town was German before WWII, so father was literally “Der Ziegelbrenner”)
• Had brothers and sisters in Germany who said Otto disappeared
• Said mother received one letter from London, in which Otto said he was being deported
• Recognized photos of Croves/Torsvan/Marut
• Theory not popular with scholars (but I was pretty convinced...)

Other aliases: Arnolds, Barker, Traves Torsvan, Richard Maurhut, Albert Otto Max Wienecke, Kraus, Fred, Gaudet, Goetz Ohly, Lainger, Anton Räderscheidt, Robert Bek-Gran, Hugo Kronthal, Wilhelm, Scheider, Heinrich Otto Becker