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As a librarian and archivist at GeoSphere Austria, I collect almost everything related to geology and geologists; this also includes parties. Word gets around. On October 20, 2025, Christoph Rothschuh, with whom I had written an article about Fritz von Benesch in 2024, wrote to me: "I dropped something off for you at the post office today: That's three parts for your collection."
Two were geology related. That of Leopold Freiherr von Egger (born 1923), he had Gertrud Tietze, one of the three daughters of the geologist Emil Tietze (1845–1931), who was director of the k.k. from 1902 to 1918. Geological Reichsanstalt in Vienna, married. And those of Dr. Gottlieb August Crüwell, about whom Christoph wrote to me: "As you may remember, he was the one who was appointed as guardian for Alma and Fritz v. Benesch after the death of their father, Paul v. Benesch, in 1909. He was a relative of the family by marriage and later also supported Fritz in Vienna. The Dr. Paul Clairmont mentioned on the parte was the well-known surgeon (Vienna, Zurich)."
The Benesch mentioned here was a geologist who died at the front in the First World War. As his guardian and mentor, Crüwell also had a certain connection to geology. In his day job, Crüwell was a librarian, i.e. a colleague.
A look at Wikipedia shows that Crüwell was no stranger. He headed the Vienna University Library (UB) from 1924 and was also active as an author, so he was an interesting personality. Once again the importance of parties is shown here. If December 19, 1931 is given as the date of death in WIKIPEDIA and also in the Austrian Biographical Lexicon (ÖBL), we find December 22nd on the page.
The ÖBL describes him as a “historian” and calls the speaker for English studies at the UB a “mediator of English thought”. Otto Michael Gugler, librarian and also a specialist at the University Library, underlines Crüwell's expertise in his term paper for his librarian training, which he completed in 1994: "He cut a good figure as an English specialist; his knowledge of modern English literature was impressive." Numerous feature articles in the Neue Freie Presse bear witness to this. Crüwell wrote, among other things, about Rudyard Kipling's fairy tales, English novels and Victorian literature.
Now to the biography. Details can also be found in Hansjörg Ostertag's work "Gottlieb August Crüwell: a forgotten Viennese playwright" (1959). Crüwell's father, Georg August, came from Bielefeld (Germany) and went to Leangolla in the then British Ceylon (today: Sri Lanka) in the early 1860s to make money growing coffee. His wife Cornelia, née Mücke, daughter of the Protestant pastor in Schladming (Styria), followed him. Their daughter Isabella was born here and their son Gottlieb August was born on September 10, 1866. The family happiness did not last long. In 1868, a leaf disease destroyed a large part of the coffee plantations there. The Crüwells were left with nothing. The mother went back to Austria with the small children. The father stayed on site but died after a few years. After working in Graz and Linz, the young Gottlieb gained a foothold in Vienna as a high school student. In 1878, when he was just twelve years old, his mother and sister went to San Francisco (USA), where his mother's brother was consul. This put an end to their financial worries, but “Goody”, as he was affectionately known in the family, was alone. He found accommodation with an aunt in Vienna and graduated in 1885 from the "k.k. Franz-Joseph-Gymnasium" in Vienna (Innere Stadt), which was then on Hegelgasse. In 1912 he moved to the address Stubenbastei 6-8. From autumn 1885 he studied history at the University of Vienna, whose main building on Ringstrasse had been ceremoniously opened the year before. The long period of study - he only received his doctorate on July 16, 1896 - is explained by his precarious circumstances. As a student, he worked, among other things, for two years in the library of Duke Wilhelm of Württemberg in Karlsruhe (Germany).
Before he accepted a traineeship at the UB on November 17, 1897, he went to England, perfected his English there and studied English literature. From September 1897 onwards, occasional feature articles in the Neue Freie Presse brought meager per-page fees. Only when she married Alma Clairmont (1869–1946), daughter of a wealthy family, on May 28, 1898 did her financial worries end.
Gugler lists all the stages of his career at the University Library in detail; one date is highlighted: From August 8, 1898, his annual salary was 500 guilders, which would be equivalent to EUR 9,240 today. The newlywed couple initially lived at several addresses in Vienna Währing before moving to Jaquingasse 15 (Wien Landstrasse) in 1915 with a view of the Botanical Garden. Here the Crüwells, who remain childless, had an open house with friends on the first Sunday of the month. Poets like Max Mell and Robert Musil but also scientists like the botanist Hans Molisch came.
In addition to his work as a librarian, Crüwell was always active as a journalist. With his translation of the science fiction classic "The War of the Worlds" by Herbert George Wells (1866–1946), published in 1901, he helped the English author to achieve a breakthrough in German-speaking countries. “Some readers who pick up this book may find that they read the work from the first to the last page in one go,” wrote the Illustrirte Wiener Extrablatt on August 19, 1901. The book in one sentence: “In the novel, the author describes a military campaign by the “Martians” against our earth.” A topic that is still fascinating 125 years later.
The librarian and translator, who worked as a feature writer, also tried his hand at being a playwright and had a promising start. On November 27, 1912, in the k.k. Hofburg Theater (today: Burgtheater) premiered his play “Schönwiesen”, directed by Hugo Thiemig. In January 1913, the play, whose action takes place on three consecutive days in late spring in 1774, was also shown in Graz. Alexander von Weilen, full professor at the University of Vienna for modern German literary history, theater critic and feature writer, wrote a mixed review in the Wiener Zeitung on November 28th. "For its very difficult treatment, the material would require either a captivating temperament, which one is happy to forgive for excesses, or the finest art of psychology, the highest tragic irony. The author, however, approaches his task with completely impersonal coldness and has no real art at his disposal, but does have a vast amount of small theatrical skills, he works with symbolic clock strikes, melodramatic accompaniment, he understands how, like the oldest veteran, he knows how to divide his work into five acts stretch where three would have been completely sufficient."
The Graz audience saw “Schönwiesen” for the first time on January 12, 1913 in the Graz Schauspielhaus under the direction of the young dramaturg Karl Theodor Hoeniger. Crüwell tended to have more positive press in Graz. "The Old Viennese play, which was sympathetic except for the marresi's sacrifice, was also well received in Graz. Especially the homely old Austrian milieu, which would have liked a more artistically and ethically valuable plot. The performance, although somewhat North German in tone, was also good." (Grazer Volksblatt, January 13, 1913). Crüwell's other plays, "The Trap", "Noah's Ark" and "The Carpet", did not see any performances. He bore his failure as a poet with "quiet decency." (Quote: Gugler, page 2).
On the occasion of his appointment as head of the Vienna University Library, he was acknowledged to have the highest level of expertise. "[…] an outstanding librarian expert, a man of energy and organizational talent, so that he appears capable of leading the important institute in an exemplary manner, even under the current difficult circumstances that have created economic hardship and a shortage of civil servants." (Neue Freie Presse, August 30, 1923). He was appointed library director on May 27, 1924 by Federal President Michael Hainisch.
A few years earlier, Crüwell had made headlines with his article, “Please help for the libraries” (Neue Freie Presse, June 20, 1920). The years after the end of the First World War were difficult for the general population as well as for public institutions; Massive inflation was a problem for everyone. "A jump in book prices by 500 to 1,000 percent is not uncommon today and could be the norm tomorrow." Crüwell saw a possible way out in patronage, as is common in the Anglo-American region. “Shouldn’t the simple but noble and enduring fame of a patron be just as tempting as the medals and titles of yore?” Richard Kola, banker, writer and publisher, responded promptly to Crüwell's call for help. By founding a large domestic publishing house, he wanted to produce books more cheaply in order to become independent of the foreign book market (Neue Freie Presse, June 22, 1920). Crüwell stood by his opinion and countered a week later. "I therefore regret having to insist on my conviction that only the acquisition of funds can help the Austrian library system overcome the worst embarrassments." (Neue Freie Presse, June 30, 1920).
His commitment to law and justice at the university library can be found in a short note, "An Incident in the University Library", dated November 17, 1923 (Neue Freie Presse). When students broke into the UB and “stormily demanded the removal of the Jewish visitors,” Crüwell showed courage. He "declared firmly that he was unable to comply with this request." Crüwell was successful and the students withdrew.
In 1929 his name appeared again in the media when it came to additional space for the University Library. The Neue Wiener Journal headlined on July 13, 1929: “A second university library in Vienna. – Conversation with the head of the department, Hofrat Dr. Crüwell.” Although Ballhausplatz in front of the Federal Chancellery is initially mentioned, in later articles in the paper (July 14 and 23, 1929) only the then still undeveloped Otto-Wagner-Platz in front of the National Bank in Vienna Alsergrund appears. Today the Ostarrichi Park with the Shoah Name Wall Memorial is located here. It would take almost 100 years before the UB's longed-for book depot in Vienna Floridsdorf could be opened on May 7, 2025 with space for 130,000 linear meters of books.
The fact that Crüwell died on December 22, 1931 in Santa Margherita is documented by the party. However, it is Santa Margherita on the Ligurian coast east of Genoa and not the one in the northeast of the island of Procida near Naples, as the ÖBL and Wikipedia report. (Thomas Hofmann, February 13, 2026)