Frank Arnau (March 9, 1894 – February 11, 1976) was the pseudonym of a German
crime fictionwriter, born as Heinrich Schmitt.
Biography
Arnau was born in
Vienna, the son of a hotel manager.
He began his literary career as a
newspaperjournalist. With the political ascent of
Hitler, this avowed opponent of
National Socialism emigrated in 1933, first to France, then in 1939 to Brazil, where he lived until 1955. There he was further active as
journalist and
freelance writer. After his return to Germany he worked as a freelancer for Stern magazine.
Arnau wrote over a hundred books and was president of the German league for
human rights.
He wrote
stage plays,
novels,
detective stories and critical studies about
society and the
legal system.
In 1934 he described the ascent of the
Nazis in his novel Die braune Pest (The Brown Plague).
In 1959 he published a book about counterfeiting art, entitled Kunst der Fälscher – Fälscher der Kunst. 3000 Jahre Betrug mit Antiquitäten (translated in English as The Art of the Faker - 3,000 Years of Deception).