Rudolf Greinz

Rudolf Greinz (16 August 1866, Pradl, County of Tyrol, Austrian Empire — 16 August 1942, Innsbruck, Reichsgau Tirol-Vorarlberg, Germany) was an Austrian writer, poet, and traveler. He is primarily known to German-speaking and Russian readers, coincidentally — on behalf of his 1904 poem, "Der Warjag," inspired by the unprecedented heroism of Varyag's cruiser naval crew in the Battle of Chemulpo Bay during the Russo-Japanese War and published in Jugend ("Youth") magazine. Translated by Еvgeniya Studenskaya in April of the same year for the New Journal of Foreign Literature ("Новый журналъ иностранной литературы") in Saint Petersburg, it was soon arranged by military composer Aleksey Turischev (1888—1962) as a popular song and the Russian Navy's long-lasting unofficial hymn, "Our proud Varyag won't Surrender to the Enemy" (Врагу не сдается нашъ гордый „Варягъ“). In the early 1920s, Czech humorist and writer Jaroslav Hašek again reintroduced Rudolf Greinz to the Russian audience in his "Good Soldier Švejk" novel (overwhelmingly popular in the USSR and modern Russia) — quoting Greinz's poem from Die Eiserne Faust collection printed on the propagandist German postcard portraying Sir Edward Grey (1862—1933) on the gallows.