Stefan ZWEIG – One of the last letters of his life.

Stefan Zweig (1881.1942)

Autograph letter signed to Count Carnaxides.

One octavo page, in French, on letterhead of the Paysandu Hotel in Rio de Janeiro

Rio (1941).

"I will write to you again from Petrópolis."

A moving letter from Zweig from Brazil, a few months before his suicide.

“My dear friend, excuse me for not being able to give you a manuscript more worthy of a friendship such as yours. But ‘pazienza’—if I can return to England again, you will have one that will be better. [the Portuguese poet Afonso Lopes Vieira] discourse on the character of Camões: very beautiful and very interesting! I will write to you again from Petrópolis. This in haste and with great gratitude. Stefan Zweig.”

Fleeing the rise of fascism, Stefan Zweig left Vienna in 1934. Having been in contact since 1932 with Abrahão Koogman, a prominent figure in the Jewish émigré community in Brazil, he visited the country in 1936. After a period of residence in England, he made his first substantial stay in Brazil from August 21, 1940, to January 21, 1941, interrupted by a trip to Argentina and Uruguay. He then spent a short time in England and the United States before returning to Brazil in August 1941. He resided in Petrópolis, except for two stays in Rio de Janeiro in August 1941 and from February 15 to 17, 1942.

Viscount António Batista de Souza Pedroso of Carnaxide represented the Portuguese State Secretariat for National Propaganda in Brazil, which had been headed since its creation in 1933 by a close associate of President António Salazar. He had become acquainted with Stefan Zweig in 1936 and subsequently rendered him significant services: he facilitated his settlement in Brazil, organized receptions for him, and obtained visas for Zweig's first wife.