Timeline

In this timeline, we provide documented dates and events of Traven’s life, as well as dates linked to Traven’s identity as Moritz Rathenau. We explain in the Biography section the reasons why he chose anonymity, and why we consider the Rathenau hypothesis to be the most plausible. An asterisk is added to those dates related to the Rathenau hypothesis for which there is no conclusive documentary proof.

1881

Emil Rathenau buys patents for Germany for electric light bulb and lighting from Thomas Alva Edison at Paris International Exhibition.

1881

1903

Erich Rathenau dies.Emil Rathenau, with Siemens and Halske, founds AEG Telefunken for the advancement of “wireless telegraphy”.

1903

1907

Ret Marut is hired as an actor at the Essen City Theater for the 1907/1908 season.
Esperanza López Mateos is born in Mexico City.
Gabriel Figueroa is born in Mexico City.

1907

1908

Marut works as a director for the play Young Hero and Lover in Suhl and Ohrdruf (Thuringia). Member of the Hansen-Eng Theatre Ensemble.
The first official mention of Ret Marut is in the 1908 edition of the Neues Theater-Almanach.

1908

1910 - 1911

Along with Elfriede Zielke, Marut is a member of the Neue Bühne (New Stage) Berliner Ensemble, with guest performances in East Prussia and Posen (Poznan). They perform primarily in small towns.

1910 - 1911

1912

Marut works for three seasons (until 1915) at the Düsseldorf City Theater. He plays minor roles, edits the theater newsletter Masken (Masks), and is the secretary of the Hochschule der Bühnenkunst (School of dramatic arts), founded in 1914.
First publications.
Irene Zielke is born on March 20.

1912

1915

On June 20, Emil Rathenau dies. Walther Rathenau becomes President of AEG.
On November 10, Marut cancels his residency registration with the Düsseldorf authorities and registers in Munich on November 13 as an American “stud.phil.” (as it appeared on the application).
On November 24, Irene Mermet, former student at the Düsseldorf Hochschule für Bühnenkunst and now a colleague of Marut’s, registers as a resident of Munich as well.
Rosa Elena Luján born in Progreso, Yucatán, Mexico.

1915

1916

J. Mermet Publishers, Munich, publishes Marut’s novella An das Fräulein von S… (To the Honorable Miss S…), written under the pseudonym Richard Maurhut.

1916

1917

The first issue of Der Ziegelbrenner (The Brick Burner) appears on September 1. “Responsible for publication, editing and content: Ret Marut, Munich, Der Ziegelbrenner Publishers, Munich 23.” Marut resides at Clemenstrasse 84, Munich.

1917

1918

Following the proclamation of the Bavarian Republic on November 7, Marut distributes the speech Die Weltrevolution beginnt (The World Revolution Is Underway) as a pamphlet in mid-December, and organizes two speaking events with that title.

1918

1919

Following the murder of Kurt Eisner (February 21), Marut is appointed to the press division of the Central Council as the censor of the München-Augsburger Abendzeitung (Munich and Augsburg afternoon newspaper).
On April 7, a Council (Soviet) Republic is proclaimed in Bavaria. Marut is director of the press division of the Soviet Republic’s central committee, and is a member of the government’s propaganda committee.
On May 1, Marut is arrested and sentenced to death following the invasion and victory of the White Guards sent from Berlin.
After he successfully escapes the death sentence and flees from Munich, the Bayerisches Polizeiblatt (Bavarian Police page) of June 23 announces that he is wanted for high treason.
Marut returns with Irene Mermet to Berlin.

1919

1919-1923

Marut spends some time accompanied by Irene Mermet under tha names of Mr. and Mrs. Scholl travelling around Germany and Austria. Most of his time is spent with an artists’ colony in Simonskall 70 km. west of Cologne and near the Belgian border. The colony is organized by Carl Jaatho and led by the painter Franz Wilhelm Seiwert, who becomes a close friend of Marut*.

1919-1923

1922

Walther Rathenau, Foreign Minister of Germany is murdered on June 24 by Organization Konsul, a far right antisemitic group. This act was considered by many to have been the beginning of the Holocaust.

1922

1923

Marut arrives in London in August, where he is placed in investigative custody at London’s Brixton Prison on November 30 for failing to register as a foreigner.

1923

1924

Marut is released on February 15 with the help of members of the Pankhurst family, among others. He leaves for Mexico, where he arrives in the oil harbor city of Tampico.
Journal entry from July 26: “The Bavarian of Munich is dead.”
He rents a wooden hut north of Tampico, which he keeps as his primary home until 1930.

1924

1925

Birth year of Traven’s writer’s existence as B. Traven. In spring, a short story appears under that name in Vorwärts.
His novel Die Baumwollpflücker (The Cotton Pickers) is published in Vorwärts for the first time in 22 installments from June 21 to July 16.
On September 15, Ernst Preczang, director of the editorial Büchergilde Gutenberg (Book Guild of Gutenberg), founded in 1924, accepts The Cotton Pickers for publication as a book, and requests additional manuscripts.
Preczang confirms the receipt of Das Totenschiff (The Death Ship) on October 19.

1925

1926

In April, The Death Ship appears as the first Traven book from the Bûchergilde Gutenberg.
In May, The Wobbly, a version of The Cotton Pickers expanded to book length, is published.
As a “Norwegian” photographer named Traven Torsvan, having been taught photography by Edward Weston and Tina Modotti, Traven participates in an expedition to Chiapas, in southern Mexico, organized by archaeologist Enrique Juan Palacios.
He leaves the 30-person team in San Cristóbal de Las Casas at the end of June, and continues his journey through Chiapas alone until early August.
On August 8, Traven offers the novel Der Schatz der Sierra Madre (The Treasure of the Sierra Madre) to the Büchergilde; the manuscript is accepted.

1926

1927

Der Schatz der Sierra Madre (The Treasure of the Sierra Madre) is published.
Die Brücke Im Dschungel (The Bridge in the Jungle) is serialized in Vorwärts from May 14 to June 24.
In his journal Fanal, Erich Mühsam, Ret Marut’s friend from his days in Munich, asks “Where is the Brick burner? (Wo ist der Ziegelbrenner)?”
Traven attends six-week summer courses at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), taking Spanish, Mayan and Nahuatl languages: Culture and History.
He visits Chiapas.

1927

1928

Traven travels to Chiapas from January to June, where he visits the Maya community of the Lacandons on the border to Guatemala and the excavation sites of Chichen-Itza.
He attends summer courses in Latin American literature and Mexican history at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.
The volume of stories Der Busch (The Bush) and the anthropological book Land des Frühlings (Land of Springtime), with photos taken by Traven, are published by the Büchergilde.

1928

1929

Die Brücke im Dschungel (The Bridge in the Jungle) and Die weiße Rose (The White Rose) are published by the Büchergilde.
Traven returns to Chiapas, the setting of the Caoba cycle, from mid-December 1929 until March 1930.

1929

1930

On July 12, Traven receives a foreigner’s identification card as the North American engineer Traven Torsvan.
He buys a little house on the city limits of Acapulco (“Parque del Cachú”). He travels to Chiapas again at the end of the year.

1930

1931

The Büchergilde publishes the first two volumes of the Caoba Cycle: Der Karren (The Carreta) and Regierung (Government).
The Büchergilde’s June newsletter reports the great success of the Traven books; more than 100,000 copies of Das Totenschiff (The Death Ship) have been sold.
Traven moves out of his wooden hut north of Tampico, and returns to Chiapas in October to look for material on Monterias, the mahogany industry in the jungle.

1931

1933

The offices of the Büchergilde Gutenbergare occupied by Hitler’s SA on May 2. The publishing house is absorbed by the Deutsche Arbeiterfront (German Workers’ Front).
On May 23, Traven withdraws all rights to his works from the Berlin Büchergilde, and transfers them to the Büchergilde publisher in Zurich, where the leadership of the Büchergilde has gone into exile.
The third volume of the Caoba cycle, Der Marsch ins Reich der Caoba (March to the Monteria), is published as the first book of the Büchergilde Zurich.

1933

1934

The Death Ship, Traven’s first book translated to English, is published by Alfred Knopf in New York and Chatto & Windus in London.

1934

1936

Two additional volumes of the Caoba Cycle, Die Troza (Trozas) and Die Rebellion der Gehenkten (The Rebellion of the Hanged), are published in Zürich.
The April issue of the Büchergilde newsletter is dedicated to the “10 Years of Traven.”

1936

1937

The executive board of the Zürich Büchergilde advises Traven to thoroughly revise the manuscript of Ein General kommt aus dem Dschungel (General from the Jungle).

1937

1938

A letter of solidarity from Traven to the anti-Fascist Spanish fighters appears in the Spanish daily Solidaridad Obrera (Barcelona).

1938

1939

On January 14, Traven officially withdraws from the Zurich Büchergilde. Josef Wieder becomes his agent for Europe until his death in 1960.
The last volume of the Caoba Cycle is published in Swedish Djungelgeneralen (General from the Jungle) by Holmström publishers in Stockholm.

1939

1940

Dutch publisher for German exiles Allert de Lange (Amsterdam) publishes Ein General kommt aus dem Dschungel (General from the Jungle) in German.
On August 21, Leon Trotsky is assassinated in Mexico City.

1940

1941

During the 400th anniversary celebration of the city of Morelia in the Mexican state of Michoacán, a dramatized version of The Rebellion of the Hanged is performed with great success.
Esperanza López Mateos, sister of Adolfo López Mateos, who would later be president of México (1958-1964), translates The Bridge in the Jungle for the Mexican edition. In the following years, she translates seven more of Traven’s books into Spanish, and becomes his agent.
Warner Brothers acquires the film rights to The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.

1941

1944

The name Hal Croves appears for the first time in a letter addressed to Esperanza Lopez Mateos dated June 29. He now signs for B. Traven and appears on his behalf.

1944

1945

In an essay titled La tercera guerra mundial (The Third World War) published in the November/December edition of the Mexican journal Estudios sociales, B. Traven warns against the risks of armament and a third world war.

1945

1947

Filming of The Treasure of the Sierra Madre begins in spring; John Huston writes the screenplay and directs, and the film stars Humphrey Bogart and Walter Huston. As the agent of the author, Hal Croves participates enthusiastically in the filming, but denies suspicions that he is B. Traven.

1947

1948

The film The Treasure of the Sierra Madre opens to rave reviews and wins three Oscars, for best director, best screenplay and best supporting actor.
Mexican journalist Luis Spota tracks down B. Traven in Acapulco in July. On August 7, the magazine Mañana runs the headline that restaurant owner Berick Traven Torsvan is the world-famous B. Traven. Torsvan denies this in several newspapers.
Preczang sends a letter from Ret Marut/B. Traven’s daughter to Traven, in which she claims that Traven is her father because he and Ret Marut are one and the same person. In his letter of response, Traven denies being Ret Marut.

1948

1951

The first issue of BT-Mitteilungen (BT Information), a hectographed publication about B. Traven, edited and published by Josef Wieder, appears at the end of January and is sent to literary agents.
Traven Torsvan is granted Mexican citizenship on September 3.
Esperanza Lopez Mateos commits suicide on September 19.

1951

1953

Rosa Elena Luján begins to work for Traven.
The New York Times names the English edition of Macario (The Third Guest) best short story of the year.

1953

1954

La Rebelión de los Colgados (The Rebellion of the Hanged), with the screenplay by Hal Croves, is filmed in Mexico. Hal Croves is involved in the shooting as the agent of B. Traven.
The film premières at the Biennale in Venice on August 28.
Traven and Rosa Elena Luján travel to Europe, attended the première and visited Antwerp, Venice, Paris and Amsterdam, among other places.

1954

1957

Rosa Elena Luján and Hal Croves are married on May 16 in San Antonio, Texas.
Traven moves from Acapulco to Mexico City, at Calle Durango 353, (Colonia Roma); this is also the headquarters of the “R.E. Luján Literary Agency,” which administers Traven’s rights.
In the following years, Rosa Elena translates the Traven books that have not yet been translated into Spanish for their Mexican editions, and compiles two volumes of his novels.

1957

1958

On September 30, a warning is published in Börsenblatt für den deutschen Buchhandel (Journal of the German Publishers’ Stock Exchange) about false Traven manuscripts, saying that only those offered by Josef Wieder are authentic.
The manuscript for Aslan Norval is finished and announced in BT-Mitteilungen.

1958

1959

Macario, screenplay by Hal Croves, is filmed in Mexico.
On September 14, Traven undergoes surgery in Berlin for his progressing deafness.
On October 1, Das Totenschiff (The Death Ship) premières at the Hamburg City Theater in a co-production of Ufa (Germany) and Producciones José Kohn (Mexico). The screenplay is by Hans Jacoby; the film is directed by Georg Tressler and stars Horst Buchholz. Mr. and Mrs. Croves attend the première.

1959

1960

Aslan Norval is published by Desch following a thorough stylistic reworking of the manuscript by Johannes Schönherr, the former Büchergilde editor.
The last issue of BT-Mitteilungen is published in April.
Josef Wieder dies.
Theo Pinkus from Zurich takes over the representation of Traven for the German-speaking world and the socialist countries.

1960

1963

Stern magazine reporter Gerd Heidemann follows Traven’s tracks in Mexico.
In September, Traven moves with Rose Elena Luján and her two daughters into the house on Calle Mississippi 61 in Mexico City.

1963

1966

In December, Gerd Heidemann, posing as an archaeologist, interviews Traven in Mexico City.
Stern subsequently reports that Traven is the illegitimate son of Emperor Wilhelm II.

1966

1969

Traven signs his will on March 4, saying that he was born Traven Torsvan Croves in Chicago in 1890, that he used the names B. Traven and Hal Croves during his career as a writer. He bequeaths his entire estate and the rights to his works to Rosa Elena Luján, stipulating that on her death his stepdaughters Rosa Elena and Maria Eugenia Montes de Oca Luján would inherit it.
Traven Torsvan Croves dies on March 26 at about 6:00 pm. The death certificate specifies the causes of death as kidney sclerosis and prostate cancer.
His ashes are strewn over Chiapas from an airplane.
On March 28, Rosa Elena Luján, according to her husband’s wishes, announces to the press that her late husband was the German actor, writer and revolutionary Ret Marut.

1969

1978

Rosa Elena Luján lends more than 60 works by Franz Wilhelm Seiwert, an inheritance from Traven, for an exhibition held at the Ludwigsmuseum in Cologne. She then donates them to the museum and is awarded the Jabach medal by the mayor of Cologne.

1978

1990

On December 13, Ange-Dominique Bouzet writes in the French newspaper La Libération that, in an interview with her, Gabriel Figueroa has stated that Traven was born Moritz Rathenau, the son of Emil Rathenau, founder of AEG, and Helen Mareck, an Irish actress.
Later the same month, Figueroa explains his revelation to Malú Montes de Oca Luján de Heyman, Traven’s stepdaughter and her husband, Timothy Heyman.

1990

2016

The first ever exhibition of the work, life and legacy of B. Traven is inaugurated by Rafael Tovar y de Teresa, the Mexican Minister of Culture, and held at the Museum of Modern Art in Mexico City from June 16 to October 30. It is the second most visited museum exhibition of the year. The catalog for the exhibit wins the prize as the best exhibit catalog for the year in Mexico.

2016

2019

On March 24, an interview by Andreas Rosenfelder with Malú Montes de Oca Luján de Heyman and Timothy Heyman on Traven’s parentage is published in Die Welt am Sonntag in Germany to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Traven’s death on March 26, 1969.
In May, an article in Spanish by Timothy Heyman entitled “El Triunfo de Traven” (Traven’s Triumph), providing evidence and arguments to support the revelation of Marut’s identity as Moritz Rathenau. is published (to coincide with the 100th anniversary of Traven’s escape from the death sentence in Munich on May, 1919) in Letras Libres, a leading Mexican literary magazine. It is subsequently published in English in a literary blog “Madam Mayo” and in French in the magazine La Règle du Jeu.

2019