Arthur R.G. Solmssen spent his early childhood in
Berlin, and his adolescence and later youth in the suburbs of Philadelphia. His ancestor was the German banker
Joseph Mendelssohn. He studied at
Harvard University, where he earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1950, and the
University of Pennsylvania, where he completed his law degree in 1953. Solmssen published several novels, the most famous of which is
A Princess in Berlin (1980). Solmssen received the
Athenaeum Literary Award for the novel.
A Princess in Berlin is a portrait of the early
Weimar Republic, and has been the subject of multiple translations, such as
Une princesse à Berlin,
Éditions Robert Laffont, 1982. Solmssen's works are catalogued by the
German National Library, among others.
The Comfort Letter, Solmssen's 1975 novel concerning ethics and assurances in public offerings, has been the subject of contemporary academic analysis in law. Solmssen was a Fellow of the
Salzburg Global Seminar, with which he maintained an active association. He also wrote a book about German
Luftwaffe pilot and general officer
Ernst Udet. Solmssen has three sons,
Peter York Solmssen, Kurt A. Solmssen, and A.R.G. Solmssen Junior. ==Bibliography==