Papers, c.1910-1970s, of Werner Bienert, migrant from Germany to Scotland.

Werner Bienert was born in Thale Am Harz, Germany in1902 to a sawmill owner. His early life until 1922 was spent working in the timber trade in Germany and Holland before moving to Edinburgh, Scotland in 1924 on a year’s visa. There he met his future wife, Rose Tinney, with whom he had three children. They were married in 1925 before Bienert was forced to move back to Germany, settling in Hamburg. The Bienerts returned to Edinburgh in 1927 where Werner became a graduate of the University of Edinburgh (1928-33). He then attended Moray House Training College becoming a fully fledged teacher of languages including German, French, English and Latin. Between 1940 and 1949 he taught at various schools throughout Britain in areas including Wrexham, Dunstable, Kinross-shire and Edinburgh. Bienert had always been an eager writer and enrolled in correspondence courses at the London College of Authorship, the London School of Journalism and the School of Successful Writing. He wrote several articles for a variety of magazines between 1938 and 1964 as well as several unpublished short stories, gradually changing his name to Walter Benert.

The papers mainly consist of letters between Rose and Werner Bienert as well as other family members, together with the family’s personal documents. Also included are Bienert’s diaries from 1932-1979. As Bienert was a keen writer, the collection also includes both his published and unpublished work from 1925 to 1964 as well as several undated pieces. Also of interest are two manuscripts written by Bienert detailing his early life, beginning in Germany in 1902, up to his death in 1988.