Stefan Zweig was one of the first to dream of a cosmopolitan and modern Europe. But on 22nd February 1942, he and his wife Lotte committed suicide in Petropolis, Brazil, where they were exiled. Why did the novelist, who enjoyed phenomenal success during his lifetime, gave in to the call of the void?

Stefan Zweig is one of the world's most widely read writers. His work, which became public domain in 2013, is held in high esteem by a wide range of readers and continues to sell extremely well in the USA, Germany and France, for example. This is a major exception for a novella writer like him, as this genre does not normally produce bestsellers. What makes this writer so fascinating to this day?

The documentary ‘Stefan Zweig - A European of the World’ therefore emphasises the obvious connection between Zweig's life and European history, as the key dates of the first half of the 20th century coincide with those of his biography: The writer witnessed the tremendous technological and social progress, the flourishing culture in Europe, but also experienced the most terrible disasters of the time.
In order to draw conclusions about Zweig's personality, the documentary focuses primarily on the content of his novellas and his two novels as well as their publication history, which was made more difficult by the Nazi era and exile. The stories that Zweig tells in such a masterful way reflect his psychoanalytical knowledge, and his pacifist convictions.