Stefan Zweig (28 November 1881—22 February 1942) was an Austrian novelist, librettist, journalist, and biographer.  Zweig was born in Vienna to Moritz Zweig (1845-1926), a wealthy Jewish textile manufacturer, and Ida Brettauer (1854-1934) who was from a Jewish banking family. Zweig studied philosophy at the University of Vienna and in 1904 completed his dissertation on the philosophy of Hippolyte Taine to earn his doctorate. According to Zweig, religion did not play a central role in his education: “My mother and father were Jewish only through accident of birth.” He did not renounce his Jewish faith, however, and wrote repeatedly on Jewish themes, as in his story Buchmendel. Zweig struck up a friendship with Theodor Herzl, the founder of Zionism, whom he met when Herzl was the literary editor…