Editing Lev Nussimbaum (section)

==Life==
Lev Nussimbaum was born in October 1905. He claimed that he was born in a train.<ref>Essad Bey claimed he was born on a train in an autobiographical essay published in ''Die literarische Welt'' (Berlin, 5/1929, No. 48, page 5) after German police traced his birth to Kiev. At that time he had already written two books (''Blood and Oil in the Orient,'' and ''Twelve Secrets of the Caucasus'') promoted by his publishers as written by a native-born Bakui. Thus, saying that he was born "on a train" in ''"Die literarische Welt"'' provides a slick cover for claims he had made earlier. Being "born in Baku" would have lent more credibility to his writing and, thus, made his books more profitable. This was a typical practice of Nussimbaum (Essad Bey). He was always trying to lay claim to the national identity of the topics and personalities about which he wrote. When he wrote about Stalin, he was Georgian. When he wrote about Nicolas II, he was Russian. When he wrote about Persian matters of divorce, he was Persian. When he wrote about Mohammed, he was Muslim. All were calculated efforts to convince readers that what he wrote was credible though it was often nonsense. See Betty Blair, No. 4 "Too Many Identities, Essad Bey as Core Author of Ali and Nino: Seven Reasons Why It Just Aint' So," in ''Azerbaijan International'', Vol. 15:2-4 (2011), pp. 186-190.</ref> Documents in the [[Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine|Kyiv State Archives]] and the [[Great Choral Synagogue (Kiev)|Kyiv Synagogue]] state that Lev Nussimbaum was born in Kiev.<ref>Kyiv Central Historical Archives: Fund 1164, List 1, Case 473, Page 635, according to an official letter sent to Azerbaijani philologist Abdulla Ajaloghlu, dated November 4, 2008, signed by L.Y. Demchenko, Director of the Kyiv Archives and referenced in article: "Archives: What a Hoax! Vacca's Sensational Biographical Account of Essad Bey," in ''Azerbaijan International'', Vol. 15:2-4 (2011), pp. 146-149.</ref> Nussimbaum's birth was originally registered in the Kyiv Synagogue.<ref>Letter from Kyiv Central Historical Archives signed by Director L.Y. Demchenko and head of Information Department E.V. Polozova. Letter No. 02-1132, dated November 4, 2008 addressed to Azerbaijan philologist Badulla Ajaloghlu in Baku. Photo p. 159 in [http://azer.com/aiweb/categories/magazine/ai152_folder/152_index_eng.html Azerbaijan International, Vol. 15:2-4, 2011] "Who Wrote Azerbaijan's Most Famous Novel, "Ali and Nino": The Business of Literature.</ref>

His father, Abraam Leybusovich Nussimbaum, was a Jew from [[Tbilisi|Tiflis]], in present-day [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]], born in 1875. He later migrated to Baku and invested in oil.<ref>The A.L. Nussimbaum & Binagadi Petroleum Pipeline Co. was sold to the Nobel Brothers Petroleum Company in 1914 for 131,500 rubles. Azerbaijan Republic State History Archives, Fund 392, List 1, Case 199, Page 1.</ref> His mother, Berta Basya Davidovna Slutzkin Nussimbaum according to her marriage certificate,<ref>Marriage Certificate (October 26, 1904), Georgian Central State Historical Archives, No. 675, p. 10. The marriage of Lev Nussimbaum's parents was originally registered in the Tiflis (Tbilisi) Synagogue.</ref> was a Jew from Belarus. She committed suicide on February 16, 1911 in Baku when Nussimbaum was five years old.<ref>Azerbaijan Republic State History Archives, Fund 1044, List 1, Case 571, page 4.</ref> Apparently, she had embraced [[left-wing politics]]<ref name="lazare" /> and was possibly involved in the underground Communist movement. Nussimbaum's father hired Alice Schulte, a woman of German ethnicity, to be his son's governess.<ref>Alice Schulte: ''Biographie Essad-Bey,'' unpublished biography, Rascher Archives at the Central Library, Zurich, Switzerland.</ref>

[[File:Lev Nussimbaum berlin.jpg|thumb|right|Memorial plaque on the house in Berlin ({{Interlanguage link|Fasanenstraße (Berlin)|lt=Fasanenstraße|de}} 72) where Lev Nussimbaum lived for two years]]
In 1918, Lev and his father temporarily fled Baku because of the massacres that were taking place in the streets between different political forces. According to Essad Bey's first book, ''Blood and Oil in the Orient,'' which historians do not consider to be very reliable, the two travelled through Turkestan and [[Persia]]. Researchers have found no record of this adventurous journey except in Nussimbaum's own writings.<ref>Essad Bey, "Əsəd Bəy, "Şərqdə neft və qan" (1929).</ref> Nussimbaum and his father returned to Baku, but when the Bolsheviks took Baku in the spring of 1920, they fled to Georgia. They stayed there until the Bolsheviks took Tiflis and Batumi.

Lev Nussimbaum, as Essad Bey, wrote his first book ''Oel und Blut im Orient'' (''Blood and Oil in the Orient'') in German in 1929. Although he claims that his account was autobiographical, historians in Azerbaijan and Georgia discount this claim, as there are many major factual errors in the historical description.<ref>Dr. Zaza Aleksidze (Georgia): "I am sure that 'Blood and Oil in the Orient' is not an autobiography as Essad Bey claims. It is a fiction, full of tales and mistakes and no one should rely upon it as a source for reconstructing the biography of Essad Bey." Also Dr. Farid Alakbarli (Azerbaijan), "Correcting all of Essad Bey's errors in this book would be an endless job." Both in "Critics: Fact or Fiction? What Essad Bey's Contemporaries Said," in [http://azer.com/aiweb/categories/magazine/ai152_folder/152_index_eng.html ''Azerbaijan International'', Vol. 15:2-4 (2011)], p. 169.</ref> Essad Bey describes his delight when, at the age of 14, he and his father left Azerbaijan. In the final passage of the book, he writes: "At that moment, Europe began for me. The Old East was dead."<ref>Essad Bey, "Oil and Blood in the Orient" (San Francisco: Aran Press, 1997), p. 317.</ref>

They purportedly boarded a ship bound for [[Istanbul]], where thousands of refugees had fled. Nussimbaum eventually settled in Berlin (1921–1933),<ref name="lazare" /> where he enrolled simultaneously in high school and in [[Humboldt University of Berlin|Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität]]. He did not graduate from either school, but told people that he had received a Cand. Phil. degree.<ref>Gerhard Höpp, "Mohammed Essad Bey: Nur Orient Fur Europaäer?" (Orient for the Europeans), in ''Asien Afrika Lateinamerika'' 25:1 (Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 1997), p. 78.</ref>

In 1926, he began writing under the pen name of Essad Bey for the literary journal ''Die literarische Welt'' (The Literary World). At least 120 articles were published under this name.<ref>Index for "Die literarische Welt 1925-1933, Vol. 1" (Nendeln: Kraus-Thomason Organization Ltd, 1976).</ref> By the early 1930s, Essad Bey had become a popular author throughout [[Western Europe]], writing mainly about contemporary historical and political issues.<ref name="lazare">{{cite web |url= http://www.thenation.com/doc/20050328/lazare |author= Lazare, Daniel |title= Jews Without Borders |accessdate= March 28, 2005 |work=[[The Nation]]}} Lazare and Reiss are secondary sources for Lev Nussimbaum's biography, not primary sources.</ref>

Politically, Essad Bey was a [[monarchist]].<ref>Essad Bey boasted that he was a monarchist in "The Story of My Life" (Die Gelchichte Meines Lebens) in ''Die literarische Welt'', Berlin, Vol. 7:5 (January 30, 1931, pp. 3-4). Essad Bey also wrote a sympathetic "biography" about Nicholas II (1935).</ref> In 1931, he joined the ''German-Russian League Against Bolshevism'', the members of which, Daniel Lazare remarks, "for the most part either were [[Nazism|Nazis]] or soon would be". He joined the Social Monarchist Party, which advocated restoration of Germany's [[House of Hohenzollern|Hohenzollern]] dynasty. He also had connections to the pre-[[fascism|fascistic]] [[Mladorossi|Young Russian]] movement, headed by [[Alexander Lvovich Kazembek|Alexander Kazembek]].<ref name="lazare" />

In 1932, Essad Bey married Erika Loewendahl, daughter of shoe magnate Walter Loewendahl. The marriage failed, ending in scandal.<ref>Essad Bey had Erika arrested when she arrived by ship in New York. He notified authorities that she planned an assassination in the United States. It was a totally false allegation - totally imaginary, but gave Erika serious legal problems. "Gerichtssaal: Scheidungsprozess Gegen Den Schriftsteller Essad Bey / Courtroom: Divorce Proceedings Against the Writer Essad Bey." ''Neues Wiener Journal'' 15, (1937), p. 33.</ref> Erika ran off in 1935 with Nussimbaum's colleague [[René Fülöp-Miller]]. Erika's parents, who were wealthy, succeeded in getting the marriage to Nussimbaum annulled in 1937.<ref>''Los Angeles Times,'' November 19, 1937, p. A12.</ref>

In 1938, when Nazi Germany [[Anschluss|annexed Austria]], Nussimbaum fled to Italy and settled in the seacoast town of [[Positano]]. He died there of a rare blood disorder which causes [[gangrene]] of the extremities. This was most likely [[Buerger's disease]], which is known to afflict [[Ashkenazi Jews|Ashkenazi male Jews]],<ref>{{cite journal|title=The Lives of Two Writers - Yusif Vazir Chamanzaminli and Lev Nussimbaum (See the section on ''Cause of death'')|journal= Azerbaijan International|volume=15|issue=2–4|year=2011|page = 39}}</ref> rather than [[Raynaud's Disease]],<ref name=Reiss/> which is more prevalent in women. It is possible that Essad Bey denied his Jewish ancestry to doctors who were treating him, which led to the misdiagnosis of Raynaud's instead of Buerger's.<ref>Essad Bey consulted doctors in both Switzerland and Italy and they all insisted that he did not have Raynaud's Disease. However, his doctor in Positano assumed Raynaud's. Alice Schulte's unpublished hand-written 12-page manuscript entitled "Biographie Essad-Bey (in German, 1943), p. 5. Archived in Central Library of the University of Zurich, Rascher Fund 78-III, A-2; B6498 and A0570.</ref>{{better source needed|date=August 2023}} Little was known in the early 1940s about Buerger's disease, especially that the disease could be reversed if the patient stopped smoking. Essad Bey, who was known to be a heavy smoker,<ref>Armin Wegner's diary: "[Essad Bey's] bed cover was full of cigarette holes." Gerhard Höpp, "Mohammed Essad Bey: Nur Orient Für Europäer?" ''Asien, Afrika, Lateinamerika'', 25:1 (Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 1997), p. 89.</ref> died a painful death at the age of 36.<ref>Wilfried Fuhrmann "[http://essadbey.de/pdf/EB_im%20Auftrag%20von%20Mussolini.pdf Essad-Bey: im Auftrag von Mussolini und die Raynaudsche oder die Buerger Krankheit], August 25, 2009, pp. 4-5, at essadbey.de.</ref>