Charles Lewinsky: A Different Story

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  Charles Lewinsky – Ältere Person mit Brille und blauem Hemd vor grünem, unscharfem Hintergrund mit Blättern.

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  Charles Lewinsky_Eine andere Geschichte – Hut auf Koffer im Raum; farbige Wände in Gelb, Grün, Blau. Text: Charles Lewinsky, Eine andere Geschichte. Roman, Diogenes.

“Sleepless in Los Angeles”—that could be the subtitle of Charles Lewinsky’s new novel. The multi-award-winning author, who ranks among Switzerland’s most prominent writers, sends his protagonist, Curt Melnitz, to a psychiatrist because of persistent insomnia. There begins a life story that captivates the reader from the very first page.

Curt Melnitz, 83 years old, is no longer prescribed sleeping pills by his family doctor. Instead, the doctor prescribes therapy sessions. Over the course of 37 sessions, he looks back on an extraordinary life—at first reluctantly, then with increasing candor. What still keeps him awake to this day remains a mystery for a long time.

Yet Curt Melnitz is not a fictional character. The film executive, born Kurt Chmelnitzki in Leipzig in 1879, actually lived and was a distant relative of Charles Lewinsky. As a child, the author heard about this mysterious relative, who is said to have come to Leipzig from Hollywood in the 1930s to urgently warn his Jewish family about the Nazis. Decades later, Lewinsky discovered that the story was true—and made Curt Melnitz the hero of his novel.

Before the readers’ eyes, a dazzling life unfolds between Leipzig, Hollywood, and Europe. Melnitz meets Charlie Chaplin, works as his press agent, and later becomes the European representative for United Artists. With great narrative skill, Lewinsky blends historical reality and literary fiction into a panorama of 20th-century Jewish history that is as entertaining as it is moving.

Next date:

• Date Monday, 16/November/2026 20:00
• Venue Neue Synagoge Berlin
• Address Oranienburger Straße 28-30, 10117 Berlin-Mitte