German Jewish biographer, novelist, and playwright. He achieved fame with a series of biographies which include lives of Jesus, Bismarck, and Lincoln. In 1932, on the eve of the Nazis’ seizure of the German government, Ludwig became a citizen of Switzerland. Several years later, the Nazis burned his books. During World War II Ludwig lived in the U.S. The genre of the critical biography, stressing character and psychology, rather than history, is considered Ludwig’s outstanding creative achievement.