October 18, 2026

Which 1933 novel by Franz Werfel, the Jewish Czech novelist, grew out of his January-to-March 1930 trip through Egypt, Palestine, Syria and Lebanon, was based on the Armenian genocide of 1915, and foreshadowed the Holocaust of World War II?

A The Song of Hiawatha
B Maqamat al-Hariri
C Book of Joshua
D The Forty Days of Musa Dagh

The Forty Days of Musa Dagh grew out of Franz Werfel's January-to-March 1930 trip through Egypt, Palestine, Syria and Lebanon. Werfel rewrote much of it in May 1933 responding to the rise of Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany, and for several years the book could still be read there despite the book burnings of other Jewish authors' work.

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