Ludwig Bemelmans

Ludwig Bemelmans was an Austrian author, an internationally known gourmet, and a writer and illustrator of children's books. He is most noted today for his Madeline books, six of which were published from 1939-1961. A seventh was discovered after his death and published posthumously in 1999. Bemelmans was born to the Belgian painter Lambert Bemelmans and German Frances Fischer in Meran, Austria-Hungary . His father owned a hotel. He grew up in Gmunden on the Traunsee in Upper Austria. His first language was French and his second German. In 1904, his father left the family for Ludwig's... governess. His mother Frances took Ludwig and his brother to her native city of Regensburg, Germany. Bemelmans had difficulty in school as he hated the German style of discipline. He was apprenticed to his uncle Hans Bemelmans at a hotel in Austria, but he reportedly shot and seriously wounded a waiter. Given the choice between being institutionalized and emigrating to the United States, he chose the latter. He spent the next several years working at hotels and restaurants in the US. In 1917, he joined the U.S.
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