Biarritz

Biarritz (French pronunciation: ​[bjaʁits]; Basque: Biarritz [biarits̻] or Miarritze [miarits̻e]; Gascon Occitan: Biàrritz [ˈbjarits]) is a city on the Bay of Biscay, on the Atlantic coast in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in southwestern France, 35 kilometres (22 mi) from the border with Spain. It is a luxurious seaside tourist destination known for the Hôtel du Palais, originally built for the Empress Eugénie around 1855, its casinos, and its surfing culture.

Geography

Biarritz is located in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in the Aquitaine region. It is adjacent to Bayonne and Anglet and 35 kilometres (22 mi) from the border with Spain. It is in the traditional province of Labourd in the French Basque Country.

History

Biarritz is a Basque name with locative suffix -itz (cp. Isturitz) attested Bearriz in 1170, Bearids in 1186, Bearritz in 1249.

Biarritz has long made its fortune from the sea, as a whaling settlement from the 12th century onwards. In the 18th century, doctors recommended that the ocean at Biarritz had therapeutic properties, inspiring patients to make pilgrimages to the beach for alleged cures for their ailments.

Hermann Goedsche

Hermann Ottomar Friedrich Goedsche (12 February 1815 – 8 November 1878), also known as his pseudonym Sir John Retcliffe was a German writer primarily remembered for his antisemitism.

Life and work

Goedsche was born in Trachenberg, Silesia, then in the Kingdom of Prussia, today part of Poland. In 1848 he worked for the Neuen Preußischen (Kreuz-)Zeitung, together with prominent Germans like Theodor Fontane, Otto von Bismarck and George Hesekiel. In 1853 he travelled as a journalist to Turkey.

Goedsche worked in the genre of historical romance novel, as typified by Walter Scott, Charles Sealsfield and Theodor Mügge, but he was also influenced by authors like Eugène Sue, Alexandre Dumas, père and George Hesekiel. Some of his works are critical of British colonialism. He was openly antisemitic and, although adopting an English pseudonym, he was a Prussian chauvinist who held a profound aversion against Britain and everything British. His political views on the "perfidious Albion" are clearly expressed in his novels.

Biarritz (disambiguation)

Biarritz is a city in France.

Biarritz may also refer to