The Kiefer Brothers

Felix and Theodor (Tor) Kiefer were the youngest brothers of Oskar Kiefer, a sculptor from Ettlingen in Baden, Germany. Their father was Alexander, a renowned architect in the town. The brothers' other siblings were Erwin, who became a chemist, and three sisters: Sylvestra, Maria and Martha. Both Sylvestra and Maria worked as nurses in lazarets during the First World War.

Felix (standing) and Tor in their
brother Oskar's atelier

Born in 1891 and 1889 respectively, Felix and Tor both served in the Great War. Felix, who was studying in Munich at the outbreak of war, joined the Bavarian Reserve-Infantrie-Regiment No. 16 and became a Leutnant der Reserve (Reserve Lieutenant). Tor was also at university studying medicine and broke off his studies to join the Red Cross in 1914. Shortly afterwards, he was sent to the Western Front. However, both brothers spent much of the war at the Eastern Front. Felix was injured twice and had two spells in a lazaret, as well as a hospital in Hamburg, while Tor went on to become the deputy senior physician of his regiment.

Tor (left) and Felix Kiefer

Some of Tor's letters sent to his family from the Front have already been published on our partner blog www.ettlingenww1.blogspot.de, but a selection will also be published here under Tor's Letters.

Felix married Erne Schumann during the war, and a selection of their letters will be published here under Felix and Erne. In 1927, Felix and Erne, confronted with the poverty and hardship of the Weimar years in Germany, made the decision to emigrate with their children to Honduras, where he worked as a chemist. The next year, they moved to the eastern United States, where he continued his work as a chemist, specializing in food preservatives. His descendants still live in the US and have contributed a wealth of letters, diaries and photos which have served as a major source for this blog.

Tor set up a practice in Kaiserslautern as a dermatologist and later psychologist after the war, and became a patron of the arts. In addition to his medical work (he later became the senior Medical Counsellor for the city of Kaiserslautern), he was a prolific writer all his life, writing various novels (unpublished) as well as books of art criticism (published) and philosophical/psychological works (published). Tor also wrote poetry (despite his efforts, unpublished), some of which will be shown under Tor's Poetry and, particularly in the two years following the war, painted. Some of his pictures will be shown under Tor's Art.

Both brothers were deeply affected by their experiences during the Great War, and these memories and experiences remained with them all their lives.